Listing photos!
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Brightening things up
Next up … replace the 80’s light fixtures..
Dining room & kitchen before …
I included the photo on the packaging because it’s a little hard to see the detail here.
We also put the same fixture in the back, outside the sliding doors from the kitchen.
Next up, under-counter lighting.
Did you know you can buy a pack of 6 battery-powered puck lights with a remote control for $30? And that all you have to do is stick them up removeable 3M adhesive strips? THIS IS AMAZING! I’ve wanted under-counter lighting for years, and I could have had it. DOH!
December 28, 2020: More demo!
Before & After: This is the cabinet in the kitchen, above where the desk was. I had my very first adventure with a saws-all for this project!
Man, those dividers were secure! There were 3-4 of these nails in the top and bottom of each one. But I prevailed!
Oh, and we voted. Doing our part to keep Georgia purple!
December Activities
The painting was completed the week of December 14th. Doug, Ivan and I headed out of town for the week to stay out of the way.
Before we left, we removed the backsplash in the kitchen. I think it was Formica, or something similar. We were as careful as possible, but it really did a number on the drywall.
Merry Christmas!
Sadly, we decided not to go to Asheville for the socially distanced visit we’d planned. Some positive COVID-19 tests at work made us feel that we should be extra cautious. My awesome family shipped all of our gifts to us and we had a lovely Zoom celebration on Christmas morning. For dinner I made Kale, potato and sausage soup. (Well, Doug had real sausage in his.) It was delicious! No more wallpaper!
Light gray walls, white trim and deliciously creamy kitchen cabinets. Aaaaah.
Now, let’s get of the antique brass hardware
We pulled and almost-all-nighter to replaced the hinges and pulls in the kitchen. (What a pain in the @$$, the hinges didn’t align exactly, of course.)
Ivan wanted in on the action since he supervised all of the work.
New door hardware, too!
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!
You know I love before/after photos!
Overall it’s still looking VERY BROWN, but once the trim and cabinets are lightened up it should be quite a transformation.
The bedrooms look much better with the new carpet, but it’s hard to capture in photos.
The bathrooms will be finished later this week.
Tear it down!
A little demo is good for you.
GARAGE BEFORE
GARAGE AFTER
Still a work in progress. The wall on the right side will come out entirely to increase the floorspace. There’s about 5′ more behind this wall that was used as a storage room. (Also pictured are the new toilets and refrigerator to go in after the new flooring is installed!)
BEFORE
Notice the desk on the left of the photo.
AFTER
If budgets weren’t a thing, we’d probably remove the upper cabinets here and open the kitchen up into the living room more. But, alas, budgets are a real thing. We’ll put a cart/island here that can be moved out for more work space when needed.
Remember that cabinet in the “master” bath?
After much head scratching, maneuvering, choice words and re-evaluation, we determined that this little bastard was assembled in place. It could not be removed in one piece. Doug tackled deconstruction and we managed not to bust the mirrored door in the shower.
And really, who doesn’t love a mirrored, sliding door in a bathroom the size of a postage stamp? Oh, and the door to the bathroom opened into the room. DOH! We’re going to re-hang it so it opens out.
Homeowners! (And other good news.)
November 3, 2020 – an auspicious day!
After some delays from out lender, the closing finally happened!
It took several days to find out just how auspicious the day was, but we’re writing this in hindsight!
Was the purchase a good omen for the election, or was the election a good omen for the purchase??? Who cares, both are awesome!!
Decisions, decisions.
Time to make decor choices!
The LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile – learning the lingo …) will be used everywhere but the bedrooms. The carpet on the bottom right will be in all the bedrooms.
We’ve decided to paint all of the trim throughout the house white.
Agreeable Gray for the walls, Pearly White for the kitchen cabinets.
Unexpected Developments
Maggie
“Look, that cute house is for sale. We should buy it and, if we move to Savannah, we can just rent it to Tim.”
Long silence …
Doug
“We really should do that.”
Maggie
“Yeah, let’s take a photo of the sign and call.”
About 12 hours later we submitted an offer. Here are the listing photos.
Storage anyone? These cabinets are in the back of the garage and Doug says they’ll be coming OUT.
Holy cabinets, Batman! Unlike the garage, this storage will definitely be staying!
This cabinet (below, right) in the VERY small “master” bath will eventually prove to be problematic. There’s a reason it was left in place … more on that later.
Come on, you know you want some of those curtains. We’ve decided to donate them to the Smithsonian, along with samples of the wallpaper.
A Trip Down the River
We were trying to decide how to spend our last day, so after a nice Portuguese lunch we went for a tour along the Tagus River. It would have been nice to spend more time in each location, but we definitely got a feel for some for the different areas of Portugal. Definitely not looking forward to mid 90’s and 90% humidity after being here… These are some government buildings near the dock where we left on the tour, just next to the main square of the city.
Of course, this is the Castle of St. George.
This is the April 25th Bridge. It was named so because that’s when Portugal staged a coup to overthrow their dictator in 1974! I didn’t know that until Margaret educated me. So, Maggie overthrew the bonds of her Mother’s womb on the 21st, then Portugal was inspired and overthrew theirs just four days later.
It also looks like the Golden Gate in San Francisco. It was designed by the same engineer, if I am remembering correctly. Blame Maggie if I’m not. Here is a statue of Charles Manson. I don’t know why they put that there.
The bus did not stop there to let people jump off. It is merely an illusion created by my superior camera and camera-ing skills.
The Wizard invested in Petroleum Futures, apparently.
Charlie don’t surf. He just stands over Lisbon and Rio.
This is what Charlie looked like after we ate some of the mushrooms they gave us to put on our salad.
Charles wanted us to stay and join the family, but we thought otherwise.
We wanted to hear some Fado music but we didn’t want to commit to a full dinner, etc. So we just decided to go have a drink and a snack instead as we relaxed on our last evening of this lovely adventure. Much to our surprise, the spot we chose had a performance outside for a few songs.
So, we had to go in after they relocated, and it was a perfect way to cap off a wonderful trip. Just in case you weren’t sure which bathroom to use…
Look up some Fado performances on the internet. It was truly amazing. The room below quickly filled up and there were about 20 people standing outside in the street just to hear. We were sitting right next to the performers! We really lucked out! There was one song where a bunch of older, Portuguese gentlemen joined in and everyone in the room was in tears. Fantastico! Adeus, Portugal!
dougandmaggie 