No, not possessed, but sometimes it kind of feels like that, too. This entry has nothing to do with nature or anything outdoorsy. It's my basement. For those who know me personally, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but truly, I am obsessed with getting this done.
For the past several months we (the upstairs residents of our little home) have really wanted them (the downstairs renters) to be gone. They were bad-mouthing and threatening our neighbors. They were messy. They got a new dog that wasn't truly house trained like they claimed. But they paid rent on time every month. And our budget isn't quite at the point of total self reliance with the mortgage payment. So they stayed.
But then something wonderful happened. "They" called me and said they were looking for a home to rent because they needed more space. One month later, September 1, they were gone. We couldn't be happier. The basement apartment couldn't be more disgusting. Time to clean, and fix and get it ready to rent again. Though we wish we didn't have to. But there it is...
So the obsession of cleaning and fixing and reclaiming the basement began. With a limited budget, most of the work will be done in-house. Some wonderful neighbors have offered to help do some of the more technical stuff, like tearing out and re-building a wall, and supplying needed tools.
I will be posting progress photos. I just need to download them first. Not right now.
First, here is a re-cap of what has been done thus far:
1) Tore out all the carpets (living room, two bedrooms, stairs)
2) Cleaned walls in the living room, bathroom, and one bedroom
3) Purchased Purgo flooring for the living room
4) Removed the toilet and vinyl flooring from the bathroom
5) Laid new flooring in the bathroom, painted the bathroom, bought a new toilet
6) Began painting one bedroom, and priced carpet remnants
7) Hauled out truckloads of trash, and piled up more for later hauling
Yet to do:
1) Install the new toilet
2) Clean the refrigerator (gross)
3) Wash the walls in the kitchen (gross)
4) Scrub the kitchen floor (I know it used to be white)
5) Paint the bedrooms, and the kitchen
6) Lay carpet in the bedrooms
7) Lay purgo flooring in the living room
8) Tear out a wall, and build a new one for easier access to the basement
9) Carpet both sets of stairs
10) Replace and/or add floor boards where needed
So, I spend every free minute downstairs working on this or that. When I'm at work (currently) my mind often drifts to the basement and how I would rather be there than here. When I sleep, I dream of working on various basement projects. My days off are spent in the basement. So don't be surprised if I drag you all down there with me in these blog posts.
You have been warned.
2 comments:
It's pathetic that your old tenants didn't even try to clean the place up before leaving, just out of self-respect--how rude! My husband and I recently moved out of an apartment where we'd been living for 10 years, and spent DAYS scrubbing the walls and cleaning the carpets, refrigerator and stove--only to be told on our move-out inspection that since we'd been there so long, they were planning on replacing everything anyhow, so we weren't responsible for cleaning any of it! Whatever...at least we got our deposit back...
And like you said, the self-respect was there. Good for you. Needles to say, my tenants didn't get any of their deposit back.
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