House Renovation
I've decided that since the renovation budget is on life support after the hall bathroom thrash that I'm going to move on to other things that cost little or nothing and come back to the expensive stuff later on.
Really the only thing left in the bathroom is the shower doors, vanity top, and vanity fixtures. I figure that since that bathroom doesn't get used anyway that to stop all progress waiting for funding on a room that sits unused anyway doesn't make sense. So onward!
I got the carpeting, baseboards, tack strips, etc. demo'd out of the living room and dining room. Sort of a milestone as that was the very last of the carpeting. As of this step there is no more carpeting in the whole house!
This is part of the living room and the bedroom set that I was very happy to see leave. I'm thinking I'm going to keep the tile and just run the wood flooring right up to it and then transition. It would be a ton of work and a huge mess to get it jack-hammered up.
Here's the last of the carpeting right before I tore it all out.
After what I've seen, I will NEVER have carpeting ever again. It is gross to say the least. That vacuum cleaner that you THINK is doing such a great job???? Guess again. It is only cleaning the top 1/3 of the carpeting. There's all sorts of disgusting stuff percolating down deep and that vacuum just ain't gonna dig it out.
Anyway, I'm in the process of stripping stuff off the walls and ceiling getting ready for ceiling paint. Pretty bare in there. Great echo chamber for the music though! In the last two pictures you can see my little bluetooth speaker sitting on the window ledge. Works really well! Just have to remember to charge it every now and then.
Un-Stuffing the House
Big steps recently. Finally got rid of the bedroom set as I mentioned. Moved a whole bunch of nick-nack stuff to the garage in preparation for it to get gone altogether. Part of the garage has turned into a staging area for stuff on it's way out. I give it all a last chance go-over before it goes totally out the door. Just to be sure that I'm not getting rid of anything that anyone wants.
The family room is next and then the house will be pretty well emptied out except for the kitchen and garage. The kitchen is going to be a whole project in and of itself. I'm kind of dreading that whole mess, and it WILL be a mess.
I'm dragging my heels a little on the garage as that will be the last space to get gutted out. Once the garage gets emptied and overhauled, that will essentially be it. I'll get rid of the renovation tools (chop saw, paint sprayer, air compressor, nail gun, etc.) and the house will go on the market.
RV Search
Well, actually truck search. The RV search is taking a small hiatus until the weather cools off a little. My forehead is peeling really bad after the last time out.
I did spend some time looking and pricing trucks. Didn't take long to figure out that I certainly will NOT be buying a new truck. Wow they are expensive.
Found a used truck dealer over in Orlando that deals only in trucks. Did some emailing back and forth with them and they agreed that when I'm ready I can give them a wish list of what I want and they will try to find a close match at the auctions. I've got some items that are must-haves (diesel, duelly, 4x4, etc.) and some that are nice-to-haves (leather, power everything, stripper pole, etc. Wait, what?).
My F-150 is really starting to show it's age pretty badly. It just turned over 210k miles and the list of stuff that doesn't work anymore seems to grow by the day. Luckily the drive-train is hanging in there but I'm wondering at what point my luck will run out. I'm hoping that it can hold on for a few more months.
Misc
In the last few days I've started having some thoughts that possibly a better idea would be to keep the house and delay my retirement for a while. I'm thinking that an additional two or three years would be about right. I still would get the fifth wheel and go camping with it all up and down the eastern seaboard. Monetarily it makes a ton of sense to stay working and use my vacation time to go camping. Eventually I would retire and then spend time out west.
I could very easily hire out lawn and pool services. It most certainly would NOT break my heart to not have to mess with the yard or pool anymore. Plus, I spent all the time and money getting the north side of the house all fixed up to store the BBQ trailer and it would work extremely well for keeping the fifth wheel plugged in and ready to go.
I'm even toying with the idea of holding off on the kitchen renovation until after I get the fifth wheel. Once the kitchen is wrecked I won't have any way of cooking for quite a while. The 5'er would make a pretty good option. Just don't tell the neighbors or the HOA. I would wager that they would take a very dim view of that.
Part of this thinking comes from the idea that I'm putting all this work and money into the house and then selling it right away. Hell, I put a LOT of time and sweat into this sucker, I may as well get some enjoyment out of it.
I'll be mulling this one over for a while before I make any firm decision. Yes, for once I'm actually going to think something all the way through before jumping in with both feet. That's right, a first for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment