Tan Stripes... Zebra Stripes... MORE AND MORE STRIPES!

     Ok... So I missed yesterdays post. We were actually pretty busy and I didn't get a chance to post all the things we did. The day started with a trip down to the Tile/Stone District of Orange County, better known as Anaheim's Ball Rd. The goal was to get some information on granite and find out about how much we will be paying for the stone to update our kitchen. After the drawings I posted from the last post, we had a pretty good estimate and felt pretty confident about our trip out. We got to one of the first places and met the nicest guy I think I've ever met in sales. His name was Mike and he spent around 45 minutes walking Katie and I around the showroom and teaching us about granite and the process and he informed us that he couldn't sell to us, because they were wholesalers and we needed a fabricator. But he continued to show us around and gave us a recommendation for the Glendora area and really was incredibly helpful. I told him how much he helped us and he responded with, "I have four kids, and I remember how lost my wife and I were when we were setting up our house, so when I see couples with the same look on their faces, I just want to help as much as I can." WOW! Didn't think that kind of thing existed anymore.
     We did all kinds of things in the afternoon, but we decided that painting another coat of red on the bedroom wall and adding more paint to the rest of the walls in the bedroom would take care of something. We worked until around 7pm when Katie and I decided that we should try to lay out the stripes on the wall. Now, while that sounds easy, the technical things involved in figuring out how to do stripes was very... involved. We measured, and measured again, and then took that number and divided it by several different numbers to get an even number of stripes. Then we actually went to set it up, the measurements were wrong and that's not even mentioning how difficult it is to get a straight line on an 8 foot ceiling. We ended up going with 13 inch stripes, with only 2 exceptions in the whole room. We did this by measuring from the top, the bottom and in the center. This way the tape could follow the lines. This idea was far better than the crappy lazer level I had with a bowing lazer line... That didn't work out so well. Anyways... after Applebees (cuz we do that every Thursday night with our friends) we went back to the condo, and tried to get our first couple lines done. SUCCESS! The next morning we got up early, went to the condo and tried to finish the stripes... The result...

     After about 2 hours of taping we took a break. Katie went to work and I went to lunch... I got back to the condo and began correcting wiring issues above the mantel... I think I've wired and rewired things about 12 times. Then I finished creating the tick marks that we used to guide the tape. Katie arrived shortly after and we finished taping and began to paint... We used the same color as before, but instead of a flat, we used a semi-gloss every other stripe. The result here...

     We left again to meet with Katies grandfather and the rest of the family, he's not doing too well and it was a day full of agony and pain for the poor guy. We sat with him, met with the family and ate together. Around 9:30pm we got back to the condo and now had a considerable amount of extra work to do, because a friend is helping us move all of our large furniture and is able to bring the truck tomorrow at 8am... This wouldn't be that bad, except it means now that we have to have the walls done, the floor clean and the tarps up to move all the furniture in. We immediately started pulling tape off the walls like it was Christmas morning. Tape was going everywhere and with every strand we finally got to see the the fruit of our creation.... A BIG TAPE BALL! and GORGEOUS WALLS!

     Finally... after the tarps were up, Katie engaged in a milestone of the house and performed her first wifely duties in the home... Thats right... She used the Swiffer... Now, she's not in pearls and she not in high heels, but a girl has to save something until after the wedding... Why buy the cow, if you can get the milk for free.

     We ended the night by setting up our huge Zebra rug and getting all set up for the furniture delivery tomorrow... I can't wait.

Special Three Day Post

     Ok... So I know I missed a few days. I'm sure the four of you who actually subscribe to the blog don't mind. But, 4/4/11 was Ryan's birthday... On top of driving to Disneyland in the morning, going to San Fernando Valley for work, we also went out to Huntington Beach for Sushi to celebrate Ryan's birthday. Thus, 4/4/11= nothing done at the condo.
     On Tuesday, I had to work at Baldwin Park. It was nice though to be done at 3 and Katie and I got to work on the master bedroom. Our goal was to get everything in the bedroom primed and prime we did. We finished priming the bedroom in around 2 hours and went to Home Depot to get the paint to finish painting the bedroom.
     Today, I got in the condo around 1:30pm and I started painting right away. I found out that I couldn't actually figure out how to use the edger, which IS embarrassing. So I gave up on that venture and started rolling before Katie got there. As soon as Katie got to the condo, she started using the edger. We got the all the tan on the walls and began to paint the red on the west wall. For whatever reason, the paint was weird. It didn't really cover the wall and really had an uneven color. I went downstairs and cleaned out all the nasty muck that was left in the koi pond, which makes things sounds a little nicer. We finished the quart we bought (since we thought a quart could cover, the one wall) and went back to Home Depot and bought another gallon of the red color.

     We finished putting the first coat of red on the walls and ended up heading out to meet my family for dinner. We went back to the condo to give moms friend, Mary Lynn, the grand tour. Katie and I then spent around 40 minutes measuring all the kitchen counters and bathroom vanities so we can have an accurate measure when we go to shop for granite tomorrow. I guess a couple of my old math teachers were right when they said I would actually use the math I was learning. It got a little out of hand.

     Today, I would love to introduce everyone to our first pet of the house. Its a bird that has been with the house since before I even bought it. However, it was recently decided that Juan Jose will be staying with us because he adds a certain something to the garage and we like how he greets us. 

     Long day planned for tomorrow... I'll keep you posted.

Nothing Went Right Today!

     I got to the condo around 12 and used the Fish Tape to actually rewire the fireplace mount. Then I spent about 45 minutes trying to solve the mathematical equation that is centering the TV mount on the fireplace. I left that job alone and went upstairs to the bedroom to finish taping and tarping so we could prime and paint. I ran home and got a couple things and headed back to the condo in time to meet with Katie and get some more work done. In the left over light of the day, Katie managed to go over all the edges of downstairs again to make it look better. I have to admit, while it was something I wouldn't have done, it made things look better. While she worked on the that, I got up above the fireplace and drilled the holes for the mounting bracket. Lifted the TV and realized that the coaxial cable pushed the TV back out because the mount was too thin. Katie and I went to Wal-Mart to buy a new coaxial cable, an HDMI cord, a right angle attachment to allow the TV to sit flush and an extension cord. We got to Wal-Mart and they only had the coaxial cable and an HDMI cable for $38 bucks. I wasn't about to pay that, so we went to target and didn't catch any breaks there. I immediately got on my phone and bought everything on ebay for $12 total. Its late and I'm once again tired, but we have a week of progress ahead and I'm optimistic of how things are going to change in the next few days.
     Today I learned that I need to wire a TV first before I mount it up on the wall, I probably should have painted the mantel AFTER i mounted the TV and I need to listen to Katie a little more and not to sweat the small stuff.

FIREPLACE... DONE... well... almost

     I got up this morning and went to the Warrior Dash, while Katie went to the mall with her mom. We both took a much needed break from the all day condo work. Around 5pm I went to Wal-Mart for more blue tape and tarps, followed by a trip to Home Depot for "Fish Tape." Which apparently is a tool used to string wires through holes in wall or carpet.
    Finally, over to the condo, I put up the "Prius Ready" poster that I demanded from the Toyota dealership when I bought my Prius. I put the poster up in the garage and on my side of the garage at that. I'm really happy about it. Anyways... I started in on the master bedroom, taking down any switch plates, outlet covers, smoke detectors and so on. Then, because I actually do love taping, I taped off the master bedroom. It was quite a different experience taping on carpet as opposed to the nice easy wood or tile. This was followed by a dinner break to meet up with Katie and the rest of the family (Johnny included) for dinner and then back to the condo for a tour. We painted the rest of the fireplace mantel and the baseboards and my personal goal was to set up and mount the TV tonight. That was a no go. I was tired, and I thought that if I drilled into the wall, any dust that fell would fall right onto the fresh sticky paint. Maybe tomorrow.

What a day... What a day!!!

     Today was basically a full day's worth of work. It started when I got to the condo around 2pm and finally took down the framed horse picture that was hanging in the garage. That hideous painting has been bolted down to the wall of the condo's garage since I bought the place and God only knows why anyone would have a framed picture of a horse in mid gallop in a garage. I got in and finished taping, touched up the primer in a couple places that I missed. I cracked open the Toasted Wheat with the Flat Enamel finish and began painting the corners and around the ceiling. Katie showed up after work and we painted, and painted, and painted and painted, and took a break for dinner, and then... we painted.

     In the middle of the painting, Kristie and Marissa came over to visit. Another momentous moment occurred when Kristie went to her car, came back and became the first person to ring our doorbell. We ran out of paint and had to do a Home Depot run around 9pm.
Fun Fact: Home Depot is open until 10pm
     Around 10:20 we finished painting and cleaned up. Plenty of before and after pictures were taken. The plan for tomorrow is to prime the bedroom, paint the fireplace and MOUNT THE TV! After that the before and afters will be posted. It was a good day, we finished a lot, we worked well together, and the way the colors pop on the walls does more than look good, it makes the place truly ours.

POWERS ON! Oh wait, we have to work at night now?

     Another day, full of work and and craziness. Katie did a great job today getting to the condo while I was still at work and started priming. We have now successfully taped, spackled and covered everything that isn't going to be painted with a tarp. I showed up about 6pm and parked my car in the garage next to Katie's car for the first time. The power got turned on today and Katie and I worked together, priming the walls until 8:22 when we started cleaning and headed out to meet everyone at Applebee's. We had a great time and figured out all the math on how wide the stripes needed to be. We've decided on just subtle stripes of the same color in different finishes running vertically though the entire downstairs. We thought this would add a nice interesting touch that would only be noticeable in certain lights and in certain places. After Applebees, Ryan and I went over to the condo, and shot ideas back and forth on things to do. Ryan helped me FINALLY PROGRAM MY CARS BUTTON WITH THE GARAGE!!! I love having friends that are intelligent, and more mechanically inclined than I am. Thankfully, he did a great job keeping me company, until I finished the priming and cleaning. We called it a night at 2am and tomorrow, we can actually start to paint. Long day, and a late post, but I had a great day, and tomorrow, we will actually see a difference in the walls.
    Today I learned about the importance of friends. They make things easier, they help when times are hard, they offer a new perspective and frequently, you can count on them to brighten situations. I had a great day and the condo is coming along. But, I'm tired and I'm going to leave this post at that.

Our First Piece of Furniture

     Today, Katie and I headed down to the condo together. We had to make use of the light we had, since the power doesn't actually get turned on until tomorrow. I took my Lil' Giant Ladder and the bar stools my parents bought us. We got in and Katie started washing the walls while I built the two bar stools that will probably double as a step stool and our only place to sit down for the next few weeks. After the project was complete I realized, as small as it was, that these were the first two pieces of furniture that Katie and I brought into our new home.

     Since the walls were done and the stools were built Katie and I began taping off the floors, the fireplace and anything else we didn't want to paint. She did a great job and I followed her up by carefully laying out tarps to cover the floors. I have a newly found appreciation for the work that Dexter puts into his murders. Carefully laying down tarps and taping them perfectly really takes a lot out of someone. Every time I mentioned Dexter, Katie got creeped out and told me to stop. After the tarps were up, Katie started painting primer on all the baseboards and corners. We worked until we ran out of light and met went to meet my mom for dinner.

     It was a great afternoon. I got to spend it with the girl I love, we got a ton of work done, we have something to show for it and I think I got my first glimpse of what a part of married life will be like. Something about the music streaming from Pandora, the warm weather and the work we got done together really made the afternoon a memorable experience.