First off, I’m sorry for the lack of updates. It has been an extremely busy and exciting time at the LocustPointRowhouse. Beth and I got engaged 4th of July weekend. I think the last time she was in a picture on here was when we were still tiling. Here’s a refresher:
Then we spent the next weekend doing nothing after a such a whirlwind of a holiday weekend. This past weekend I was at a bachelor party for one of my most faithful readers and best friends Kyle in Pinehurst, NC.
All three of those things have led to quite the significant drought in “renovation” updates. Its a busy summer for Beth and I with a couple weddings to go to a busy end to the fiscal year at work upcoming, and her finishing her masters. It would be impossible for me to go too long without starting up some new projects. Quite frankly many of you are probably really sick of me talking about the unfinished items here…bad news is…they’re still unfinished. Its funny how easy it is to not want to put in window sills or put a final coat of paint on a door when it doesn’t impact your day to day activities.
So lets get to my plan for the immediate future:
This weekend:
1. Finish the window sills. They are cut and at my parents house. This will involve installation, paint, caulking, etc. The sills that are missing are the kitchen and my bedroom.
2. Re-paint the front door. I painted it VT maroon last year and quite frankly it hasn’t held up. The NCAA color matched color from Home Depot was not very good so we had to darken it and I think whatever paint I used to accomplish that didn’t mix right. I think I am going to go with the red that is on the patio doors.
3. Finish painting the master bathroom door. This one is pathetic, its been on the punch list since oh…when I moved in?
Next Weekend:
1. Install hose bib out back to make watering the plants easier.
2. Install marble thresholds in the bathrooms (ordered today)
3. Prep shower door opening for frameless shower door (need to order).
In the near future:
Shop for tile for a kitchen backsplash. I’ve wanted to do this for a while but it has obviously never been pressing. I’d love to return my Dad’s tile saw to him so I figure I ought to knock this and the thresholds out so I have no more tile cutting to do for the forseeable future.
Here is what I was thinking about:
We’ll see. I guess I may need to take one of my cabinet doors and a sample of the tile on the floor to the tile place to really get a feel for it. I figured the stainless may be worth a shot because I have such a little area to do.
Also, I hope this isn’t just a teaser, but I’ve started doing some sketches of a third floor addition. I hope this will pick up some more steam with Beth moves in in the coming months, but she seems to be on board with it. I know I would have a great view of downtown from a 3rd floor roof deck, I just don’t know if the economics of it make sense with the fragile state of the real estate market. Regardless I have started doing some floor plans and am going to contact my architect in the near future. We would be thinking about an early 2013 start, but I know it will take every bit of a year to plan this out.
That being said, if anyone has built UP onto their rowhouse and they read this blog, I would love to hear your experience and if there is someone you recommend. I guess even a roofdeck contractor would be of help.
In a perfect world I would like to have the 3rd floor consist of a true master suite and bathroom, a small lounge like area with a couch and TV at the back of the house over top of where my brother’s room currently is with access to a small deck which would have a spiral to a roof deck. Dream I know, we’ll see what estimates end up being. My guess on paper was 45k, but that was with me doing little of the work. Ideally I would like someone to make me a air tight, water tight box with a roof deck so that I could save money doing the interior work myself and with SOME of the subs I used when my Dad and I gutted this place to get it to what it is today. More on this later. Hopefully with some imagery.
I will try and stay up to date from now on!
Stay tuned.