My Fair Home

I’ve found a cool house in Red Bank! (Near the brick yard & The Southern.) Checking into more details…

This is the exterior of the house I’m buying – my first very own piece of property!

Rough floorplan of the house, as paced off by my large feet. I’m excited about the prospect of moving in! The closing isn’t until September, though.

At the end of a long day, and the end of a long week (horrifying, horrifying Tuesday!), the offer for my new home has been accepted.

Final walk-through of the house. There’s a video that goes along with this — I’ll try to link it up to this post.

Went down to Atlanta for the day to check out furniture. Lots of choices, but I’m going to stick with my current collection until I see how things work out in the new spaces.

Yay! Closing was successful! As they say, it’s the close that makes the man! The seller should be moved out by next weekend (Sept 29) and then I start moving in…

I’m considering this color for the living room walls.

Packing is moving along (so to speak), albeit slowly. It’ll be a nice change to move from the 780-sq ft 1-bedroom apartment to a 1200-sq ft 2-bedroom house!

Began working on the house, specifically painting the living room & trying to repair the damaged plaster over the fireplace. Here are “before” shots.

Made some progress on living room last night. Tonight I finish packing in prep for the movers’ arrival Thursday morn. Here are “after” shots.

For Labor Day I began to teach myself the mystic art of electricity, replacing light switches and, with Dan Landrum’s help, track lighting for the living room:

It would seem that my long-lived system of dealing with my laundry (i.e., taking 20-30 loads to my favorite laundromat every so many months) isn’t as perfect as it appears. And what with living in a house and trying to make more sense out of my domestic responsibilities… I’m creating a New Laundry System. (I’m sure this will capture your interest on a daily, if not hourly, basis. I am a slave to the entertainment demands of the public.)

In my basement (to be precise, at the end of the “garage”) I’m setting up the Kenmore washer & dryer that came with the house. Oh, if it were as simple as that last sentence sounds. The previous owners of the house evidently drained the washer into the garage floor, and so on. I’m determined to Bring It Up To Code, and have retained a plumber and an electrician to arrive on Thursday, 9/26/02, for all the technical connections and such.

Meanwhile, I’ve been constructing — from scratch, mind you — the platform for these units. On Monday (9/23/02) I hit Lowe’s and returned with a CR-V full of lumber & masonry.

 

On Tuesday (9/24/02) I laid out the supports for this 6′ x 5′ platform (using pressure-treated 2x4s, pre-cut to size at Lowe’s):

After screwing the boards together (using 2.5″ galvanized screws) I attached the 3/4″ plywood floor:

Then I raised the platform by setting it on the concrete deck blocks — probably easier with two people, but I managed to Philip-handle the very heavy box on top of the blocks:

So this is the elevated platform (some 9″ off the basement floor, yet enough headroom for 6’4″ me to stand on it):

On Wednesday (9/25/02) I almost installed a ceiling light over the laundry area, but put that off for another time when I have some screws that aren’t as long; also, I plan to double-check my electrical train of thought with the electrician on Thursday. I applied adhesive to the plywood and laid down the vinyl floor:

Here’s a close-up of the vinyl floor pattern:

On Thursday (9/26/02) the plumber (Action Plumbing) and electrician (Electric Medic) showed up and did the necessary work for attaching the washer and dryer. I hooked ‘em up — they seem to run!

Washer & Dryer seem to be working here at the house. And the new living room track lighting, too!

Phase Two of my new Laundry System is pritnear complete.