why "custom" is a dirty word
I will preface this with the statement that I'm totally PMS-ing.
Right now I'm feeling like we bought The Money Pit. We are so incredibly OVER budget on new house, I'm feeling a little grumpy. We knew going into it that it that we'd have a few things to do. However, what we didn't realize is that when you buy a 43 year old house, NOTHING is a standard size or a quick fix.
Case in point: The front doors. Faced with the choice of replacing them with custom doors (because they're too narrow to buy them at Lowe's or Home Depot) or just painting them and hoping that when we dress them up with some new custom kickplates they'll look passable, we've decided on the latter. So don't make fun of our fugly front doors when you come to visit.
Case in point #2: The back doors. Right now there is a standard (ha!) sliding glass door in the family room. I'm not a sliding glass door fan, so we decided to replace them with a set of French doors. I got the call today that this will be a custom job, as the doors aren't a standard size. Well, of course they aren't.
Case in point #3: The shower door in the master bath. Apparently the house was previously inhabited by Leprechauns or Little People... either way, I'm not even sure Mr. 6'3" is going to be able to squeeze through teeny weeny little door to make it into the shower. Even I would hit my head on the top door frame, and of course, it is the lovely golden color of brass. So that needs to be replaced, but the smallest size shower door you can buy off the rack is 27" wide. This is 25". Custom.
I think people in the 60's must have been considerably smaller with all of these small door issues we're having.
We had a handyman there all day today, replacing the barfy (yet brand new) brass fixtures with chrome ones and the disco-era, I-have-no-idea-who-the-hell-thought-that-was-even-remotely-not blinding foyer chandelier with a much more Pottery Barnesque one. (Seriously, you MUST click the link there for the chandelier... it will make you laugh.) He put support braces under the deck for our first big blow-out party. Oh, and surprise, surprise, there is a leak in the shower plumbing, so he had to remove tiles to get to something called the "mixer" that mixes the hot and cold water.
On the bright side, I do have a new stainless side-by-side fridge, and two new white (laugh now... because I won't be later) slipcovered sofas. I thought it would help my stress level to have two big white couches with three messy boys. I have a feeling that I'm going to be running zone defense on the entire living room area for the next 16 years. The family room floors are being installed this weekend, which means I will no longer have to look at the brand new pink-undertoned beige carpet in that room anymore. I fully expect that to be a mood improver right there.
That's all my griping for now. I won't even GO THERE with work stuff. Suffice it to say, I'm ready for Christmas to already be here and this insanity to be behind me until next September when it starts all over again.
Wow, I feel better just writing that all out. Who would have known that a blog post could actually be therapeutic!?
(Oh, and the sight of much stain-removing in the future:)
Right now I'm feeling like we bought The Money Pit. We are so incredibly OVER budget on new house, I'm feeling a little grumpy. We knew going into it that it that we'd have a few things to do. However, what we didn't realize is that when you buy a 43 year old house, NOTHING is a standard size or a quick fix.
Case in point: The front doors. Faced with the choice of replacing them with custom doors (because they're too narrow to buy them at Lowe's or Home Depot) or just painting them and hoping that when we dress them up with some new custom kickplates they'll look passable, we've decided on the latter. So don't make fun of our fugly front doors when you come to visit.
Case in point #2: The back doors. Right now there is a standard (ha!) sliding glass door in the family room. I'm not a sliding glass door fan, so we decided to replace them with a set of French doors. I got the call today that this will be a custom job, as the doors aren't a standard size. Well, of course they aren't.
Case in point #3: The shower door in the master bath. Apparently the house was previously inhabited by Leprechauns or Little People... either way, I'm not even sure Mr. 6'3" is going to be able to squeeze through teeny weeny little door to make it into the shower. Even I would hit my head on the top door frame, and of course, it is the lovely golden color of brass. So that needs to be replaced, but the smallest size shower door you can buy off the rack is 27" wide. This is 25". Custom.
I think people in the 60's must have been considerably smaller with all of these small door issues we're having.
We had a handyman there all day today, replacing the barfy (yet brand new) brass fixtures with chrome ones and the disco-era, I-have-no-idea-who-the-hell-thought-that-was-even-remotely-not blinding foyer chandelier with a much more Pottery Barnesque one. (Seriously, you MUST click the link there for the chandelier... it will make you laugh.) He put support braces under the deck for our first big blow-out party. Oh, and surprise, surprise, there is a leak in the shower plumbing, so he had to remove tiles to get to something called the "mixer" that mixes the hot and cold water.
On the bright side, I do have a new stainless side-by-side fridge, and two new white (laugh now... because I won't be later) slipcovered sofas. I thought it would help my stress level to have two big white couches with three messy boys. I have a feeling that I'm going to be running zone defense on the entire living room area for the next 16 years. The family room floors are being installed this weekend, which means I will no longer have to look at the brand new pink-undertoned beige carpet in that room anymore. I fully expect that to be a mood improver right there.
That's all my griping for now. I won't even GO THERE with work stuff. Suffice it to say, I'm ready for Christmas to already be here and this insanity to be behind me until next September when it starts all over again.
Wow, I feel better just writing that all out. Who would have known that a blog post could actually be therapeutic!?
(Oh, and the sight of much stain-removing in the future:)
posted by gretchen at 11/13/2007 09:15:00 PM
2 Comments:
I'm assuming that glass of wine will be RED, right?
The PMS is a good sign. Can you imagine doing all of this and wondering if you were pregnant too?
Post a Comment
<< Home