Not house related for a change!

Heading to All Points West today and tomorrow, right next door in Jersey City. Here is the schedule for Friday's line-up:

Looking forward to some Fleet Foxes, Ra Ra Riot, Vampire Weekend, The National, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and maybe some Mstrkrft.

Tomorrow's schedule is as follows:

Looking forward to White Rabbits, Cool Kids were pretty fun last time I saw them, Arctic Monkeys, Gogol Bordello I think should be insane gypsy fun, Crystal Castles, Ting Tings, My Bloody Valentine, no thank you to tool. Im sure I'll discover some other bands in that bunch that I enjoy.

Hopefully I'll have some good pictures for you cats, I'll be snappin pics live from the photo pit!

hit the deck!

If I never mentioned anything about a deck in my previous posts, its because I never thought I'd just get a whim to build a deck. The only deck I thought about building so far was a deck on top of the roof, which is put off until fall or next year. In fact my original intentions for the backyard were to just cement most of the yard and leave a small amount of grass for my dog to piss on and maybe my drunk friends if it came down to it.

I then realized several days before my July 4th party, I needed a place to hang since the inside wasn't done and the "grass" (read - weeds) looked atrocious. So we embarked on an adventure and I decided to build a deck. Things got out of hand and went from a small, simple deck, to a larger and slightly more complicated one with the decking laid at 45 degree angles and a step up. Not that big of a deal, but I didn't plan this out really and it was the first deck I've done. Here goes nothing:



This is what I started out with. You can see my painting, debri, and work station.




Fast forward a bit. After wasting a lot of time at Home Depot, we purchased most of the supplies, leveled everything, decided to add the step up, continued to frame. Check out that back wall, I actually like it. To the left of the deck is a couple feet and then my neighbor, which I may put up a fence for some privacy.





And then here is the ALMOST finished product. We trimmed the tree back a bit, I still need to stain or waterproof the deck, put a step on the front, grey pavers around the side and front of the deck, but at least now I have a place to hang, drink, and eat.

Some freebies or cheapies I picked up

Here is a sneak peak of just 3 of my recent cheap finds which I am very excited about:


Panda bear needle point I picked up at a flea market last year. I like that a lot.
Sugar or flour holder has a funny story behind it.




50/60's chair - Picked this up online for free, needs a bit of work to make it pristine but its relatively good condition. Real excited about this and it should fit very well with the old world feel of the house.

Is this a good idea?

I'd like to get any opinions from anyone readng this. Here is a picture of walking up from ground level to the 2nd floor living room:

That door in the right of the picture seems to have been previously been the front entrance, which they since knocked the steps out, put new siding up, and we put a new window in. I don't have the funds or time to make that into a front door again, so I'm contemplating what else to do, and have 3 options. Options continued below, here is a closer picture:

I'm thinking I can knock it out (have to really look into this first to make sure its a possibility) which would give me a bigger and more usable living room space (pretty narrow right now and I'm unsure where to put the TV and furniture). I can use it as a guest closet, but I already have a guest closet space downstairs. OR, and perhaps my favorite, I can make it into a small bar?

Its a cool space, with molding in there, I would put up a tin ceiling, snazzy lighting, and the bar top across where the door currently is, maybe extend it to the wall. Don't worry I wont throw the door out, its going in storage. Then where the semi ripped up wall is on the side, I'm going to blast a whole through there and that will be the entrance. I'm just worried I'm so excited about a bar and all the options I can get creative with it that I'm not thinking logically and that its going to be out of place. Someone guide me!

A pictureless update

I have the worst renovation blog out there =[

For those that are dreamers and can just close their eyes and envision things, here is where I am at.

Stressed out and very snappy and miserable at times. I decided to have a 4th of July party at my house, which really lit a fire under my ass and we started getting A LOT done. Except I have 24 hours, and here is what is left on the to do list.

1. Finish the deck. I decided to build a deck on Saturday, rain has hampered things along with work. What started as a simple square deck turned to 45 degree angle planks and a 2 level deck. Pair that with an uneven yard, it was a bit complicated and is just about completed. This was the most dangerous project so far. The shield on the chop saw has been loose, and I used it anyway, and it bit me in the ass. The shield tilted and got caught in the teeth and was ripped off, hitting me in the head and both arms. I thought I had been cut in half.

Like a fool, I used this the next day as well with the shield rigged back on, this time it did it again striking me in the fingers and shearing some metal piece off. Im done with it.

2. 12ft wall in kitchen needs gas line run behind it and then drywalled. Bathroom needs to be drywalled or patched in 3 places, and ceiling in kitchen and front bedroom need to be primed.

3. Paint walls and ceiling on first floor.

4. Re assemble painted fridge and deliver to the house.

5. Purchase grill

6. Spackle 2nd floor giant livingroom with 10ft ceilings and prime.

7. Spackle and prime 3rd floor drywall. Lay down already purchased laminate.

8. Clean.

+1 = 9. (Forgot about this one, but its important ). Fix the plumbing in the downstairs bathroom so people can use the sink, instead of the spicket outside.

I have work for 5 more hours, and then begins the 24 hour deadline to get everything accomplished, except for cleanup.

I have my free coffee coupons to 7-11 ready, but I don't think this will be enough. Im starting to think this is not going to be worth it. But I guess once everyone is drunk they will forget about it, and the NYC fireworks that I am anticipating will be in my face, better damn well be in my face.

flooring ideas.

Im not even near being done with the HVAC, drywall, painting process, but I can't stop thinking of the flooring I want to go with to tie it all together.

For the most part I have it figured out except for the first floor.

4th floor office room (I think this will look good, but I haven't seen it done yet) I plan on painting the floor white. Its a small room, low ceiling, sort of a getaway and overlooking the city, so I want it to be open and airy. I happen to also like to see some woodgrain, so after I paint it white im going to give it a quick sand so the top of the woodgrain shows through. If its not smooth enough I'll throw some clear polyeurethane on top. Hopefully this doesn't make the floor too busy, if it does, I'll simply keep it all white. I was worried about it getting dirty, but there are 3 other floors to walk through before your dirty feet can even touch this floor.

3rd floor is 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in the middle. Most likely both bedrooms will be getting new hardwood or laminate, the hallway in between may be granite, depending on what I do with the bathroom remodel.

2nd floor I am going to refinish the old wood floor. Perhaps its more of a subfloor (but not plywood, actual strips of pine), but this floor reminds me of the place I lived in over the summer in Brooklyn. I'll keep this a darker wood color most likely.

1st floor is what is making me think, but with the situation at hand, maybe I can get creative with the flooring. It is ground level, but the back of the house is a bit below grade. With the kitchen also in the back, Im worried about any potential water issues, so this kind of rules out wood or laminate, plus tracking water in from the outside. Seems to be a simple fix with some tile, but I don't want to tile the whole first floor as the front will be a bedroom or 2nd living room, wow! Polished cement slab sounds nice...nice and cold. All these stipulations I've created in my head are making things difficult, so I've come up with a plan to combine all three of them. The entrance that leads to the stairs to the 2nd floor may be polished concrete. Easy clean, water is not a problem, pretty contemporary, I get my polished cement fix. The kitchen and dining room is in the same room, so I'll tile 4 feet off the wall that the cabinets are on. The rest of the eating area, hallway, and front room are going to be laminate (I'm thinking a very very light/white-ish color).

Hopefully its not too much, but since I do all of this myself, if I have to change it down the road to sell, not a problem, plus when I change it I can put the latest style down which should help with the sale. I think all this floor talk calls for me to bust out my architectural skills and show the world what I've come up with.

Blogging is tougher than remodeling

Everything is sort of working with me right now with the renovations, and against me with the blog. Camera is MIA again and all my friends with their fancy SLR's are...MIA. And I have no female accomplice to do the bloggins.

However, I pretty much hit the lottery in terms of stuff for the house. I got a TON, litterally a ton, of granite. Amazing, amazing granite slabs. This will probably make the place look like some ritzy hotel from NYC, well thats because they were intended for a ritzy hotel.

Oh yea, I hit the lottery twice actually. I also scored 3 nice Ikea Udden cabinets that are in great shape from some fine folks in Brooklyn. What makes this more awesome, is that I was planning on picking up the Udden wall cabinets and piecing something together for the bottom. It took many trips to scoop them all up, and those damn tolls, but it was worth it. Actual pics to ensue, but here is a teaser:

The only issue now is deciding between this setup for a quick free-standing kitchen, or utilizing my new granite in my kitchen. Otherwise my bar and bathrooms can use some granite.

'Cause God is on my side...

And all the wine is all for me

And all the wine is all for me

And all the wine is all for me

Thanks.