More Paint

Today we painted the third floor bathroom (translation=Lauren painted and Adrian “supervised”)  We decided to paint over the existing green walls with a neutral beige that matches the floor.  We really just plain on making some minor cosmetic updates to this bathroom so that we can start living on the third floor as soon as possible.  We may revisit the idea of giving this bathroom a full renovation after we finish renovating the rest of the house J

Final Inspection!

In addition to having our TV hooked up this weekend, we also had the bank inspector come out and do the final inspection for the 203-k loan.  He checked everything off and said everything looked fine, so we are officially done with the 203-k loan work!  Now we can do whatever we want and bring in our own (better and more qualified) contractors :)

We Got The Hookup!

Today we had a bunch of people hooking us up, literally.  We had AT&T, Comcast and Direct TV scheduled to come out and connect our services, however AT&T stood us up :/

Here's a photo of the dish that was installed -after MUCH coaxing- on the very top of the house.  The Direct TV guy did not want to go up that high and

 kept asking if he could put it on the sunroom roof or the mudroom roof,

but we insisted that it go on the very top away from any sight lines :)

And here's what the Direct TV hook up looks like in our

 nice new network hub that was installed earlier this week.

Blue Monday...errr...Friday

The painters officially finished today!!! Here's are some before and after photos.  We LOVE the new blue color.  We're also really happy we decided to change all the cream trim to white.  It really makes the color pop.  Now we just have to finish the porch :/

This is extra great news because this was the last item that we needed to complete for the 203-k loan sign off.  Now we just need the inspector to come out and confirm that all of the work has been completed and we are free and clear...to start our other projects ;)

BEFORE                                              AFTER

BEFORE                                               AFTER

Home Networking (& paint!!)

Our home network was installed today!  The guys from Alert Protective Services ran Cat6 for internet and phone and Coaxial cable for TV!! In Adrian's opinion, we can now officially start living in the house.  I'd have to disagree considering we don't have a stove or washing machine yet, but maybe this cable is SUPER high tech and can cook food and wash clothes :)  

The two white network hubs to the left were installed today

Wiring through the basement

Cool jacks that were installed in the rooms.  They have the cable, internet AND phone line hookups all in one!

That white plate is where the keypad will go. 

Cables are all wired, just waiting to get the actual keypad.

So when I went over to the house to take some photos of the work Alert did, the painters were there!  We had no idea they had already started to repaint, so this was an awesome surprise.  The flat paint looks 1000x better!  In the photo below you can see the updated blue and white vs the older blue and cream.  We can't wait for it all to be done.

Siding is the new paint color, but the porch railings are still the old blue and the porch door hasn't been painted white yet.

 

It's almost done!  Still need to paint the cream fascia white. 

Flat, Please!

The so-called painter professional inspector came out to look at the house a few days ago and called Adrian to tell him that he could see that the house was a little shiny and that the satin paint finish was definitely different than the finish that had been on the house. THANK GOD! We were afraid this bozo would come out and tell us that the satin looked fine or something, so we're thrilled that this guy acknowledged that something didn't look right.  He gave us two options 1) keep the satin paint and get a discount or 2) repaint it flat and someone (not us) loses out.  Sorry guys, but we're clearly going with #2. Hopefully, this means they can finish painting soon.

Exterior Update

Adrian spoke to the foreman for the paint crew today and the guy apologized, but said that the contractor told him it was supposed to be satin paint.  He even admitted that he thought it was a little strange but went ahead with it since that's what he was told.  We went back and pulled up our contract and nowhere on it does it mention a paint finish.  The only thing we signed off on was a paint color.

Adrian then called the contractor who explained that they had already purchased $1,000 in paint (don't care) and had the audacity to ask us if they could leave the back and one side in satin and finish the front and other side in flat!!  WTF?!? The contractor then told Adrian he was going to send a professional painter out there to look at the house and determine how bad it was.  I don't even understand why since it doesn't matter what they think.  If we don't like it then it needs to be changed.  We're waiting to hear back from someone higher up because we were told that an appeal had to be sent to someone before they can do anything.  So again, our house just sits without getting finished.

Our experiences with the 203-k loan approved contractor and workers had been awful.  Every single thing has been done half-assed or wrong.  It's so incredibly frustrating. 

Shiny and (Not So) New

Adrian and I stopped by the house today after landing at the airport and when we first drove up it looked like the painters hand't been back, however, when we got out of the car, we realized that they had started with the back and one side of the house. 

We were pleased with the color, but there was something that looked wrong.  It took a few minutes, but we realized that the house was super shiny and all of its old home imperfections were glaring at us in the sun.  We realized that the painters had painted the house in satin finish as opposed to flat.  Not only had we requested flat paint, but the house, prior to this screw up, had flat paint on it.  Who would paint a 117 year old home in satin finish paint?!?! Also, you can tell that the painters used a spray machine as opposed to an actual brush because you can see all of the spray strokes in the sun! 

In addition to being painted with the wrong paint finish, we also noticed that they did a half-ass job with the scrapping.  Upon closer ispection, we were able to go up to the house and literally still pull off chunks of the previous paint job with our fingers.  It looks like they just painted right over the old stuff.  Not cool.  This kills me because I had spoken to the guys a few weeks ago about how I wasn't pleased with the scrapping.  During college, I did exterior home painting, so I'd like to think I learned a thing or two from the extensive training I endured back then. 

Here are some photos of the awful paint job...

Hallelujah! We Have Sun!

So it looks like we are finally going to have some dry days headed this way.  FINALLY! Adrian and I leave tonight to go out of town for the week for a wedding, but hopefully, when we return the house will be a new color :)

Paint Finishing Touches

The third floor is completely painted!   I may have carpal tunnel and a REALLY stiff back, but it's done :)  Adrian's dad came over on Friday and finished the areas that were too high for me.  So now the wall paint goes all the way from the ceiling to the floor. 

Over the weekend we finished up with the trim and the window seats.  The window seats were a golden yellow color and looked pretty dated, so we decided to paint them white to match the rest of the trim.  Now we can get some cushions and maybe actually use these spaces.

No More Rain!

No progress still on the exterior painting, and it doesn't look like there will be any progress anytime soon.  I checked the weather this morning and it doesn't look too good for the rest of the week :/  Please Sweet Baby Jesus, NO MORE RAIN!!

On a positive note, the holes in all of the walls got patched, so we can continue with the interior painting.