Spring Break Plans

Instead of visiting warm locales or dropping in on loved ones during my spring break, I will be cuddling up to the kitchen backsplash. It's high time we start wrapping up the many items on the kitchen punch list. I look forward to tiling - I feel like I've seen it done enough times on TV that it almost seems second nature but of course I've learned never to say that something is easy. Our fabulous friend-made-hardware-store, Paul, loaned us the trowel and float. He also offered the tile saw he has but I was admittedly freaked out. I think I'll deal with the tile cuts a bit later. Anyway, I'll pick up the tiles today or tomorrow and then I'll update you with my progress next week.

Advice on threshold?

When Paul and I installed the new cork floor in the kitchen we had to remove the existing thresholds. This one, going from the kitchen to the dining room, is now a problem. I think we didn't quite extend the floor as far as we should have and now the existing threshold is not wide enough to cover the expanse from the end of the cork to the finished floor. Unfortunately, they don't seem to make them wide enough. Any thoughts on how to find a threshold that fits? I'm getting pretty tired of looking at this unsightly mess.

Happy Housiversary!

Before

After

It is the one year anniversary of owning our house today! Hooray! How the time has flown!

And, what better way to commemorate one's housiversary than to buy a power tool and fix sumpin'.

I have been staring at bare drywall and plaster for six months now and finally decided to fix those dang baseboards. A couple were destroyed in trying to remove them to prep for the floor so I finally sucked it up and bought me one of them there compound miter saws. Oh, yeah, baby. It was actually a pretty sweet deal - we got a couple gift cards for the holidays (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and used them to get the saw.

I will confess my deep, dark secret to you, though: I am a bit terrified of power saws of any kind. The only power saw with which I feel comfortable is the jigsaw - probably because it seems more isolated to one spot and it's just generally easier to maneuver. So I was a big wuss and had Thom do a couple of the cuts but woo-doggies, does it cut nice! After using the stupid miter box for the trim on the cabinets a few months ago, I totally see the wisdom, efficiency, and super awesomeness of the power miter saw. I can't wait to finish up this puppy and get the molding on!

Anyway, Happy Houseiversary!

Okay, okay!

Wow, who knew that mentioning New Jersey could cause such a stir! Well, after much soul searching and contemplation, the Bangor Foursquare will still be in Maine. It was tough giving up such a nice salary and perks but our hearts are in Maine. Moreover, when I had our realtor come by the other day to give us an appraisal, I had a complete visceral reaction when she told me she was certain that the first person to walk in our house would want it. I thought, "What? Someone else can't have MY house!" So, I'm clearly not ready to give up this house yet.

So, all is well here. No harm, no foul.

In the meantime, I have found that I loathe miter boxes. I too am a product of my quick-fix generation and do not like to spend excessive amounts of time doing something that I could do in a matter of seconds. To make matters worse, I spent 30 minutes cutting a baseboard's miter to only find out that it was 2 inches too short for the space. Sigh. This is what happens when one has taken too long of a break from home improvement.

Caulk rocks!

Hark, fair readers! I have returned from a lengthy respite. Okay, maybe not so much a respite - I've been ridiculously busy with work. But the home improvement bug has bitten me once again. After staring at the cracking paint around the inlay of the cabinet doors for the past several months I finally decided to do something about it. Using nothing more than common latex caulk, I have fixed the problem. So for those of you attempting to paint cabinets such as ours, I would recommend caulking the inlaid portion of the doors first before priming and painting. It really has made a big difference.

My big plan is to finish up the details over spring break. Paul is willing to loan us his tile tools (including wet saw!) and I will finish the backsplash. We also need to get the thresholds redone and there is still a bit of trim and baseboards to fix. Perhaps I can talk my wonderful husband into helping me do this project tomorrow.

In other news, this Bangor blogger may soon become a Jersey blogger as I have been offered a job at Rutgers. I'm still contemplating this news but the idea of having to sell the house is certainly inspiring a bit of motivation. I would really hate the idea of taking a loss on the house in this market, however, so we've also discussed the idea of keeping it for a few years and perhaps renting it to a fine, upstanding faculty member or graduate student. We'll see what happens. I have a couple weeks to decide. It breaks my heart to think of leaving Maine - we do so love it here - and leaving this house is even more unsettling. Perhaps a new foursquare is awaiting us in New Jersey? I'm sure there may be one, just probably at the cost of three times what we purchased this one.

Happy Holidays!

We went out looking for our Christmas tree today. It was considerably warmer than last year but much more muddy. We were happy to get a ride back from the tractor to avoid some of the nastiness. The lot we've gone to is right outside of Orono (where the University is) and you walk in, tell them what size of tree you think you'll want (we said 6 feet tall), and they tell you where you can find those kind. You bring it back, put it in your car, and then walk back in and they charge you based on what you said you'd find. So refreshingly honest here. It's nice.


On our way back to the house we realized that this is most likely the first Christmas tree this house has ever had (remember that we're in a house that was built in a Jewish neighborhood - walking distance of the synagogues) so it feels kinda special. And, the smell in the house is heavenly.

Decorating the house for the first time also feels very gratifying. I love the holidays and knowing it's in our own house this time feels so great. I was psyched to hang our stockings on the mantle and am very excited to hang some garland on the stair railing. There's a bit of mistletoe in our archway and and we hung our new wreath on the front door and some lights out on our porch. Ahhh, home. I'll put up a few more pictures once the house is decorated.

I know, I know...

Driving through our first Bangor snow on the way to breakfast this morning, Thom remarked that it has been a while since I posted anything on the blog; indeed, this is true and I humbly apologize. I think that ever since Thom's hospitalization in October, things have been pushed aside for the time being. I do want to emphasize, however, that I have all intentions of finishing up the kitchen over our holiday break in January. We'll be doing a lot of traveling to the West Coast to visit family but then we'll be back and I plan to finish everything: trim, baseboards, backsplash. We even made a sweet deal with Sarah & Ken (bangorbungalow.blogspot.com) to trade some technical work for some plumbing, meaning that we'll have a working water and ice maker on our fridge after the holidays. Woot! So, that's the update, folks. I'll at least try to get a few pictures up of our decorated home - it's our first holidays in the house and I'm beyond excited!