My house is a disaster. Working construction all week leaves me feeling less inspired to work more construction come the weekend. The shoe cobbler’s kids go shoeless, and all that. Looking through all the photos I have of the paid jobs I’ve completed, then looking at the construction zone I call a home made me realize it’s time to get the ball rolling again, and on a more consistent basis.
Figuring out all my financials, I can work 5 days a week then spend one day a week working on my own home, with one day off to do ANYTHING but construction. I decided to put this plan into effect this Saturday past. With a helper wanting to learn the trades, I put a list together of all the stuff that needs to be done in order to call my home “finished”. Although as most homeowners know, “finished” happens only when you no longer own it. Otherwise, there is “before” and “during”.
Any who, I took a pad and paper and went room by room by room, (including the garage and outside too!) jotting down notes as to what needs to be done to complete the room. That was much harder than I thought it would be, and created a list longer than I thought it would be. However, I now have the foundation for “The Plan”. I like making nice, organized, linear plans. And, I’m good at it. I can see a project from start to finish, moving smoothly from before to after with nary a bump.
In construction, there is a natural flow to the work. It doesn’t make much sense to paint the walls before they are built, now, does it? The flow should start with any structural changes, followed by plumbing and electrical work, then adding insulation, closing up the walls, preparing the wall surfaces for paint/paper/tile. Afterwards finishing the floors, then moving on to the final touches including installing all the baseboards, moldings, trim, and, if the homeowner needs help, accessorizing the finished room with curtains, wall hangings, etc.
The current project finds me wanting to move my TV, surround sound, and furniture out of the TV room, and put it all in the living room. I’d like to then use the TV room as a rental bedroom (or spare bedroom when times get better.) Before I can move the TV room into the living room, I have to paint the walls, sand the floors, and install the baseboards, window/door casings. Construction logic dictates that it should be in that order. BUT, all the trim for all the rooms is sitting in the living room, preventing me from painting the walls and sanding the floors.
Which is how installing kitchen cabinets became the first part of a plan to rent out my spare bedroom.
As I have written before though, any plans in this house started as linear always turn into a pyramid plan. Such is the case with my current plan. It did not really make much sense for me when I decided to finish refinishing my cabinets before mudding the walls and ceiling, but sense is an infrequent visitor to my home.
With the kitchen cabinets installed, I can move the trim to the garage!
“No way, Jose!” I say. Fortunately, hanging on the wall in the hallway are two charts depicting the flora and fauna of the region, and right there, in black and white and orange is my little bird. Scanning down, the name is revealed!
