Busy week of remodeling

Well, it has been a busy week, not only in my personal life but also with house-things.

First, my dad cut a hole in the wall of my kitchen.

It’s going to be a bar-style kitchen table, once it’s done, and I think it’ll really open up the space.

Mid-week, I selected all my paint colors, and purchased the colors from Sherwin Williams. The cost was $382.39 for all the paint needed for the interior of the house.

We also had an additional key made up for the house ($2.65), plus a Flex Joint Knife, painter’s tape, and Stain Killer ($49.89).

However, I returned the heat gun and paint scraper I bought from Walmart last weekend because they didn’t work (-$30.78).

But then while I was at Walmart to return the stuff, I bought a bunch of painting supplies ($40.00).

Last night I went to Home Depot to pick up a hot water heater ($232), a new toilet ($138), a water filter ($66.48), smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detector  ($13.35 and $17.78, respectively), a hose for the washer and dryer or something ($14.49), and a “Cop Vac Tee,” whatever that is ($8.57).

Now here’s the doozy. I went over to Lowe’s after that, and found a nice dishwasher in the “Scratch and Dent” section. I have been wanting to go to the local scratch and dent place, as I’ve heard great things, but the stupid place is never open when I’m not at work. And this was a $700 Bosch dishwasher on sale for $419, not including my dad’s military discount.

SO I decided to get the dishwasher, and since I was already spending a bunch, I decided I wanted this beautiful Whirlpool Stainless Steel range, which was priced at $499.

Except the cashier made a mistake when ringing me out, and I only ended up paying $830.50 for the pair, which was 20% off. Sweeeeet. Except Adam’s really mad at me because he thinks I should get lower-end appliances to stretch my budget further, so I’m sort of torn. And I have to spend an entire week being torn before I can check out the scratch and dent place in town next Saturday.

As for work done: Today I taped for painting, then primed the walls and ceilings of the living room and hallway, and also painted the floors of two of the bedrooms with Kilz to block the delightful cat urine odor that perfumes the house.

Here I am painting.

My dad dragged me kicking and screaming back to Lowe’s, where I bought another $24.47 worth of stuff, which included light bulbs, a ceiling box, a solder adapter, a plastic sump check (because our previous one was the wrong size, and a flex-a-spout. Then I returned the old sump check ($-6.21), and it was back to work with me.

We pulled the old range out, and found some fun stuff lurking underneath it.

And here is what the guest room looks like with the subfloor painted. We did that to block the odor before we install carpet.

And, a before and an after of the living room

Tomorrow I have to paint the ceiling in the living room white (it’s only primed so far), and prime the office/small bedroom, and hoooopefully I can start painting the living room the final color.

Whew! I got up at 7 AM to go to the gym, too, so that explains why it’s 8:45 PM and I’m ready for bed!

Oh, and my expenses have now ballooned up to $4180.05, leaving me with less than $900 left to finish the house. I'm pretty much screwed.