VII: FIRE

1 week ago, my plans were put on hold when the house next door caught fire and it spread to our deck.

We're well covered by insurance, and people keep telling me that the apartment will be even better than before.  Stay tuned for the next chapter in home improvements.

VI: KITCHEN SHELF

My Business Associate came by today.  We split a sandwich and a celebratory beer at the new island, and then installed an amazing shelf to hang pots and pans on!  4 masonry anchors and 4 screws are holding this guy firmly in the wall.

V: KITCHEN ISLAND

Ikea time!  I wanted an island to give me a little more counter space, and our kitchen table just wasn't cutting it anymore.  The surface had gotten all cracked and bubbly and you couldn't roll out any dough on it, or even write a note.  Plus, using something that's table height as a workspace in the kitchen is super awkward--it's hard to chop stuff up when it's that low.  So I got a cart at Ikea!  It looks great.  We've got two tall chairs so we can sit at it, and I can't wait to take advantage of all the extra counter space.

I'm really looking forward to getting the cabinets nice and white to match the island!  Hopefully tomorrow, I'll get crackin' on slapping some paint down on 'em. 

IV: PRIMING THE KITCHEN CABINETS

This is the kitchen.  Dark, dark cabinets!  I'm hoping to brighten up the room with some fresh paint.  Today, I prime the cabinets, and this weekend, I'm going to paint them a nice, glossy white.  My Business Associate suggested to me that I get some cool knobs to keep greasy fingerprints off the cabinets--keep 'em looking fresh.  So I got some primer at the hardware store and spent the afternoon on the deck sanding and painting the cabinets.

I like the grey a lot--it's already brightened up the room!  It'll be really nice once they're white!

Plus, my girl, the lovely Avaflav just might help me make a baller backsplash!  A bright red zig zag all across the wall.  Things are really coming along.

$ spent so far:  $44 for paint for floor, $15 for primer.  $59 for a brand new living room, and halfway to a nice shiny kitchen.  Not too bad!

III: FINISHING THE FLOOR

    

All right!  Here comes the living room!  My Business Associate and her Lovely Ladyfriend came by and helped me finish the floor and rearrange the furniture.

Business Associate on Conference Call w/the Piano

Shielding my eyes from splinters w/Max's AC sunglasses

Success!  2nd half of the floor painted!

 And so, 1 large Santucci's pizza with the Works and 2 six-packs of lager later, we have a brand new living room.  I feel like that was the easy part.  Sh**'s gonna get real once I get into the kitchen.  Thanks to J&C for their help tonight.

II: FIRST COAT OF PAINT

So I put down the first coat of paint today, after sanding certain flaky parts of the floor.  I'm painting half of the floor at a time, so I can totally finish this half before I move the piano.  It's too heavy to move more than once, and I'm rearranging the furniture anyway, so it'll end up on the opposite side of the room from where it is now.  Anyway, all that aside, the painting is going well and looks great! 

Here's the paint!  It's pretty great. 

Pretty sweet half-painted floor!

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch in my kitchen, admiring the awesome white floor and drinking a black cherry soda from the deli.  Good stuff!

I: LIVING ROOM CARPET

Bright blue carpet: great for hiding stains, bad for tying the room together.  It fills my living room, bedroom and side room.  Today is the day, oh my Cookie Monster friend, that you're gone for good.  Well, just in the living room.  Next week, the bedroom.

Here we go!

Yuck

So there it is!  And here are some sort of lovely 'after' photos--they'll be more lovely after the floors are repainted.  I've been told that painting a floor is a bad idea, but I like the look of it and I'm gonna do it anyway!  Look for updates in Part II, in which I paint half of the floor and my wonderful Business Associate and her Lady Friend come by to at least eat pizza, and at most start sanding kitchen cabinets.

It's got that Urban Outfitters apartment feel...I guess they're going for the "just ripped up my moldy carpet" look

The Cat loves it.