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New windows being installed

 All has been quiet on the condo renovation front lately. That's mostly because I spent several weeks painting all of the walls, baseboards and ridiculous ornate trim that is literally all over this place. Having wood beams running all across your ceiling with detail from top to bottom is great, until you have to paint over an old oil-based high gloss paint everywhere.

I painted after work. I painted on weekends. I blackmailed friends and family to help me paint. It wasn't pretty. Once I finally finished all that, I was ready to stop renovating for a while.

That changes today, as I'm having 15 brand new windows from Window World installed throughout my 1600-square foot condo.

New windows aren't always the sexiest part of a renovation, but the old ones were in such bad shape, that it was a necessity. Don't believe me? Well, I have pictures, so suck it.

Tranquility base here, the flooring has landed

No funny stories or hidden corpses this time, but my condo now has brand new hardwoods in both bedrooms and the connecting hallway. Friday and Saturday the new wood will be sanded and finished and the vintage woods in the living and dining room will get a new top coat. It's actually happening. Soon, I may actually be able to live in the place I bought at the end of June.

More photos below.

The Good, the Bad, and the Plumber: Showdown at the OK Commode

When moving into a new place, you find all kinds of little surprises along the way. Some are good, some are bad, all are expensive. The good surprises are the things that cost you slightly less to fix than you had anticipated.

The bad surprises are the ones you hadn't anticipated at all that tie a noose around your budget and leave it in the desert to die. 

Pre-purchase, I noticed that the toilet in the master bathroom was new and nice, but not all that firmly attached to the floor. The toilet still worked, and presumably didn't leak. It just had more swivel motion than is usually found in functional toilets.

My home inspector warned me that the swivel was the result of either a broken flange, which could cost $1500 to replace, or poor installation, which would only cost the plumber some time to bolt it down to the floor properly.

I called my home warranty company, on the off chance that anything found would be covered, and they sent out someone from an outfit called XXXXX Plumbing (name redacted for reasons you'll understand later).

Don't sweat the small holes, or you'll fall into the big ones

I posted here a couple of days ago about how angry I was that I had a hole in my vintage hardwood floor. It was a bummer, but since then I've learned a few things and been reminded of some I already knew.

Primarily, don't complain about the little things. It never ends well.

For example, when you waste a lot of time and energy complaining about a hole in your master bedroom the size of a 2-liter bottle, you inevitably rip up the carpet in the next bedroom only only to discover this:

Why yes, that is an enormous section of hardwoods that have been ripped out and replaced with plywood. Thanks for noticing.

CSI: My condo

Pop quiz, hotshot. What's the last thing you want to see when you're tearing out disgusting old carpet in your 80-year-old condo building?

Is it splotches of white paint on your vintage hardwoods, including white footprints that run the length of your hallway and master bedroom?

No. You were planning on refinishing those anyway, so while it makes you wonder what the heck happened, it's not a game-changer. Guess again.

How about the fact that whoever installed the last carpet did the job as if he were being paid by the staple, firing random bits of metal willy-nilly, like a 9-year-old with a new toy? Or perhaps the  telephone lines to each bedroom that were stapled every 8 inches down the middle of the hallway?

Nope. It's annoying for you to have to pull up all those staples, but after finishing, no one will know but you. Give it another shot.

Oh, I know. It has to be the CEMENT that some careless slob threw down on top of the hardwoods to level out a low spot in the floor.

Wrong again, although that will surely cost you.

Really? What could be worse than Portland cement in the middle of your hallway? Unless...

THERE'S A GAPING HOLE IN THE FLOOR OF YOUR MASTER BEDROOM!!!

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!! Or loser, as it were.

Condo renovation: bathtub refinishing accomplished

That's one small step for me... one giant leap for my condo.

That's right, the first of many home improvement projects on my new condo is complete: my bathtub no longer looks like this:

But instead, just $295 later, looks like this: