Moving In...

January 26&27, 2013:

My Stuff:

1 mid-sized sedan filled all the way.

Talla's Stuff:

2 16' Budget Van loads.
7 Mid-sized sedan loads (not packed super tight.. but no passengers could be taken.)

It took us a while to get it all in the house.  I don't know what we would have done without the valuable help our friends Ryan and Kelly.  Ryan (another former Davidson football player & future co-worker) was excited to get a free workout on his shoulders, forearms and back.  (We still owe you guys dinner.)  Talla cringed a few times when we bumped the walls with her nice furniture.... Oops!  

Leaving New York

Jan. 25, 2013 - It was 11 degrees and windy on a Friday afternoon when I began packing my car to move from New York.  Originally, I had planned to leave in the evening - arriving in Baltimore by midnight, and then heading the rest of the way to Charlotte on Saturday.  It never works out the way you plan, and I had to take off work early on Friday to get out by 2.  An impending snowstorm was dropping snow and ice up I-95 (My intended route), and it was going to strike NYC at 5PM.  Packing took longer than expected, and I finally finished packing the S60 at 4:30 with all of my belongings.

I leaned into the trunk as it clicked shut over the overstuffed linens wedged into whatever final crack that could be found.  I brought my numb, cracked hand up to my lips and blew some steam into my fist as I jumped in the car, and fired up the engine.  I pulled out of the driveway that I was illegally blocking (No ticket this time!)... and away from my New York home for the last time.  

Twelve months well spent in the greatest (big) city in the world. (Charlotte is a better place - I am very pleased to be moving back).  That one year was the longest I have gone without moving since I moved away from home when I was 18.  It was the only time and it was the only time I have ever lived in a home by myself.  

It has been real, New York... 

Here is a picture of Talla and me ice skating in Central Park two weeks before the move:

Kitchen Nightmares

Er, dreams.

If I get my way, the kitchen will be the first room we tackle in the decor department.

Before:

I'm dreaming the after will look something like this:

ReFINISHED

The floor refinishing is complete! They were actually done on the 7th but, well, you better get used to delayed updates around here. Real life happens faster than blog life.

Here's a preview. We went darker.

Curb Appeal

Google maps street view. Isn't that limb just screaming for a swing?

The wallpaper party goes disco

You know a party must be good when it lasts for two days. Yes, we're still talking about the wallpaper party. This is the last post on it until the day we decide to tackle the half bathroom.

Check out the double mirror action in these before shots.

Bathroom before (Realtor photo)

We had to take the wallpaper party up a notch in here. Before we could start on the a paper we had to remove the light fixture, towel rods, and big mirror. We also chose to remove the sliding bathtub doors.

Here are the steps we took to remove the doors. Surprisingly simple.

1. Removed each door by placing a hand on either side and gently lifting up and in. 
2. Lifted out the top piece of the door frame by removing the screws that attached it to the rest of the frame.
3. Used a sharp utility blade to cut the caulk/epoxy between the door frame and tile/tub.
4. Removed the screws attaching the door frame to the tile.
5. Gently coaxed the three remaining frame pieces from the tub and tile. This sometimes required cutting the caulk/epoxy again.
6. Scraped remaining epoxy from the tub and tile.

Here are a few pics of the action. As you can see, we have some follow-up work to complete. We plan on filling in the screw holes and resurfacing the tub.

Once everything was removed we partied with the wallpaper. The only spot we didn't get was behind the toilet. We left that excitement for another day.

Similar to the dining room, the wallpaper was applied directly to the drywall. It appears the previous owners had the wallpaper replaced at some point. The result is a very patchy wall. I'm concerned what it's going to look like when we paint...

And, done! We finished a bit earlier than anticipated and used the extra time to remove a few doors. The kitchen and master closet are now door-less.

Next project - floor refinishing! Alex hired some guys to take care of this while he is back in NYC.

Wallpaper Party

The wallpaper party contained so much excitement I couldn't get it all into one post. If you haven't already, read part one here.

After finishing up in the kitchen we moved on to the dining room.

The stripes in all their glory:

Dining room before (Realtor photo)

After stripping the stripes we quickly discovered the wallpaper was glued directly to the drywall. No primer, nothing. Ugh. It was definitely tougher to remove than in the kitchen but we adjusted our approach and knocked it out. Instead of scraping the adhesive layer (this damaged the drywall) we heated the "juice" and allowed it to thoroughly soak in before attempting to peel it away in large strips. We shouldn't have jumped the gun and scored before we stripped (hehe). The scoring marks made some of the adhesive layer a little more difficult to remove.

After:

Phew!

Bathroom stripping next.