House of Swank

Getting My Money's Worth

I just paid $135 to have an electrician come to my house and replace a switch.  OUCH!

However, he was a good man and made sure I got my money's worth out of the trip.

First off, $135 to ensure I'm not going to electrocute myself is money well spent.  I didn't know the switch needed to be replaced.  I knew one of the basement light fixtures was not working, and I knew there was no current at the fixture but there was current at the switch.  Turns out if I'd opened up the switch I could have used my tester to confirm it was a bum switch, and the electrician talked me through how to do that so that if the same problem happens in the future I'm not out the money.

He also noticed we've got non-grounded outlets throughout the upstairs of our house.  And talked me through how I can swap all of them out for three-prong outlets safely and legally.  It's a bit of an undertaking time-wise, but it will definitely be added to the list of things to do in the house.

And, when it comes time for us to update the electric in the basement I know who we're going to call.

The Living Room

Before:

During:

After:

Oh, man was that carpet horrible stuff.  I am so glad we have pretty hardwood floors now.

The living room is my favorite room in the house.  I love that there's a place to hang out WITHOUT a television right there staring you in the face.  It has already cut down the TV viewing in my life significantly.

I'm also pleased with how this room is coming together.  The chair is an antique that belonged to my Great-Uncle Charles, and we've tried to coordinate the rest of the room around it.  I like the pop of the red couch.  To the right of the fireplace is Sweetie's Christmas gift to  me - a seven foot tall giraffe that fits perfectly in the room.

As much as I love this room, it is far from done.  That's the challenge of moving into a space significantly larger than the one you came from - you've got all kinds of extra space to fill now, and filling that space takes money.

Specifically, things to be done, in somewhat priority order:

• Area rug for the seating area.  I think something fairly plain, but graphic.  This comes first, because it will be easiest to select it before other fabrics are added to the space.
• Window coverings.  The picture windows behind the loveseat are quite spectacular and lovely.  You can also feel them sucking the heat out of the house on a cold winter's evening.  And since they are east facing the morning sun can be deadly.  We'll probably do sheers in addition to something more substantial - we face out to a pretty major roadway, and it would be nice to let the light in without having to watch the cars drive by.
• Tables.  Specifically:  A large end table for between the sofa and the loveseat.  A small table for next to the chair (My parents may have something that will fit this bill that I can hijack from them when they clean house in the spring).  Also, some sort of table/cabinet/desk for wall between the red couch and the fireplace.  It's a fairly large space of empty air at the moment that will take a special piece.  I think it's one of those "I'll know it when I see it" pieces, and will likely wait until the room has taken a little more shape before it is decided on.
• Light fixture.  The ceiling fan/lights we received at the house, while functional, are really not my style.  And in the living room Sweetie sometimes runs the risk of bumping his head.  I'd like to replace it at some point.
• Shelving.  We have a random bookshelf sitting in the little niche to the left of the fireplace because we needed something to go there, the bookshelf needed a home, and it all worked out that way.  It does an OK job there, but eventually I think I'd like some sort of built-in there that better fits the space.
• Fireplace.  I want a mantle clock.  Don't need one, don't know what I want it to look like, but I want one.  We also want to find something to replace the Poinsettia when it dies.  It was a random gift from my parents as they were heading out of town after the holidays.  The red works perfectly with the red in the rest of the room, so we need to find something to fill its place (although it's still fairly healthy, so we have time).  Also, WAY down the line, I'd like to find a more attractive fireplace insert that better shows off the tile, but that's a LOW priority.

Next stop:  Dining room

Sweet, Sweet Water

Once upon a time, grigorpdx and his lovely wife, Al, bought a house.  I fostered their fish for a month (who then committed suicide when he was reunited with his original family).  I also helped them move out of their apartment.

One of the items to be moved out of the apartment was a stand-up piano.  It was on casters, so shouldn't have been a problem for the four of us there to move it that day.  Unfortunately, we all seemed to forget the laws of physics and almost rolled a Ryder truck parked on an incline.  It really was quite an adventure, and added the phrase "at least it's not a piano" to our vocabularies.

Yesterday grigorpdx and his lovely wife were visiting family that lives near us, and we had invited them over to see the new digs.  We had informed them we would be lousy hosts, as there was nowhere to sit in the living room, no food in the house, and depending on what time they arrived there may or may not be running water.

They decided they wanted to see the place, anyway, and even brought their own brie, so as to make sure that there WOULD be food in the house.  They arrived about 1 pm, and left around 8 pm.  And we weren't procrastinating and visiting all that time.  Grigorpdx was installing our bathroom fixtures for us.  Sweetie lifted and carried the toilet.  Al and I talked, assembled the bed, and gave grigorpdx's co-worker a ride to the airport.  Throughout the day we insisted that they were far too generous for such lousy hosts as ourselves, and they just reminded me that at least it wasn't a piano.

I tried to do the math with them... as dramatic as the piano incident was, it was done in about 1/2 an hour.  They were helping us for nearly 7 hours (OK, we had dinner in there, but the least we could do was feed them).  But apparently they've decided that the math still works out in their favor.  So we're all considering it a win-win situation at the moment.

Today I finished installing our washer and dryer, and have already put them to good use.  The first box hasn't officially been tackled, but that should be happening later this evening.

And you will be happy to know that Vancouver Mall offers free wi-fi, so as long as I can make it to the mall until we get internet of our very own installed, the blogging should go off without a hitch.

With Confidence

We now have all of our stuff AND a house, and it's all in the same place!  OK, there's still the stuff we have at our parents, and a few oddball things in a storage unit, but all of our stuff stuff will be in the house no later than Tuesday, and the cat and his stuff will come join the party a week from tomorrow.

Our house is HUGE and I love it more than ever now!  My time spent "measuring" "our furniture" at IKEA paid off, and I must have been estimating high, because the points that had me worried the most all worked out perfectly.  We will actually be able to have people sit comfortably at the dining room table, which was a bit of a concern for me initially.

After the movers were done we went to Lowe's to acquire the necessary items for the completion of the bathroom renovation so that we can get started with that first thing tomorrow.  We went, pondered toilets and sinks, picked what we wanted, then went to get a flatbed to load it all up.

When we made it to the aisle with the flatbed we were shoppers with a mission, just go in there, grab what we want, and get on our way.  There was a fellow there with his two young children, pondering all the toilets, and I think he was a bit impressed by us.  He, obviously, did not see us pondering and discussing the merits of toilets earlier.

"How the heck do you pick one?"  he asked.

"We're buying this one.  It's $100 and has EVERYTHING you need to install it (wax ring, bolts, really, everything), we figure if in 6 months we hate it we can spend more time researching and buy a new one, knowing we're only out a hundred bucks."  He seemed to like that logic.

Tomorrow night we sleep in the new house.  If I weren't so exhausted today (not so much from stuff done today, but just a culmination of the last several weeks), I may be too excited to sleep tonight.

Don't Shop Home Depot

This letter I just sent to their corporate office should explain why:

Hello,

I am sending this e-mail to let you know that I have received horrid service from Home Depot in conjunction with my husband and I wishing to have a bathroom in our home re-tiled, and as a result I don't know that I will ever be able to shop in a Home Depot again.  Which is a shame for you, as we've just bought a 57 year old home, and are planning a fair number of renovations to come.  Additionally, I will likely encourage my friends and family to avoid Home Depot as well.

I had purchased tile at the Home Depot in Beaverton, planning to do the job myself.  Upon starting the work, I realized that with the other projects on my plate at the moment and the work involved it would be money well spent to have a professional install the flooring.

I went to the Jantzen Beach Home Depot the afternoon of Sunday, November 3, and spoke to Brandon.  He explained that first someone would come and measure the floors, then a quote would be prepared and then the work would be done.  I asked him the time frame for all this, and he said a lot of it was dependent on my availability, but if I was available things could likely be done in about a week.  I believe he said a day to get the measurements done, a day for the quote, and 3 days for the installation. 

The group scheduled to do the measurements called me on Monday and tried to schedule me for Friday.  The earliest they could get me in was Thursday afternoon.  Already, the schedule was shot.

When the measurer came out I asked him about time frames.  He indicated the measurements would likely make it to Home Depot the next day (Friday) and he did not know, beyond that, how things worked.

Friday afternoon I received a call from Tracy at the Jantzen Beach store.  She wanted to let me know that they had not received the measurements yet, and she was not working for the next two days, so we would not receive a quote until Monday.  Once we had the quote we could pay in full and once we were paid in full the job could be scheduled.  I questioned her, at that time, on what the expected turnaround time would be from payment to installation and she could not give me an answer.  First, she said it depended on how quickly we made payment, I indicated we planned on making payment as soon as we had a quote.  Then she said it depended on whether or not the tile was in stock, I informed her that we already had the tile and supplies, which should have been included with my information on file.  Then she said it depended on what the measurements and specifications were, and she did not have that information from the measurers.  I had the basic information - I knew the room was 32 square feet, based on what the measurer had told me, and that the vinyl flooring is being removed and 12X12 tiles are being installed.  I would expect a professional could give an estimate based off of experience based on that information, but apparently without the hard information in front of her Tracy was unable to do anything.

Monday afternoon I received a call from someone, I was in my car at the time and did not write down the associate's name.  She indicated that Tracy was off and she was helping her out.  She had the quote, and she reviewed it with me and my husband (on speaker phone).  We amended a couple of items on the quote, and paid for it at that time with my husband's credit card.  I asked her what the time frame was for installation.  She indicated that someone would call us within two days, and when we indicated that we were very anxious to have the work completed and that we were already beyond the initial time estimate given by Home Depot she said she would ask them to call sooner if possible.

As of Wednesday at 1:20 pm we still had not heard anything, so I called Tracy at Jantzen Beach Home Depot again.  She seemed surprised that no one had called me yet, confirmed my telephone number, and indicated that I would be hearing back soon.

As of 4:00 pm I had not heard anything, so called back.  Tracy had gone home for the day, so I originally spoke to Melissa.  She indicated that it was impossible that we would hear anything before 72 hours has passed, and did not seem interested in hearing the information I had to the contrary from previous phone conversations.  She then seemed to indicate that she did not have contact numbers for installers.  I asked to be transferred to a manager.

I spoke to Anthony, gave him a rundown of what had happened earlier that day, and he indicated that we were scheduled for the 16th but he did not know what time and would attempt to find out for me.  I questioned him as to how I would have been scheduled for the 16th when no one had contacted me, and he was unsure, but indicated that he would call the installers to find out the schedule and get back to me shortly.

As of about 5:15 pm I had not heard back from Anthony (about 45 minutes after we had hung up), so I called back.  He indicated that he had told me he would call me back within an hour (untrue) and only half an hour had passed (also untrue).  He also indicated that he had left messages for the installation company and the actual installer to no success, but he would get back to me as soon as he could.  I pressed him as to if this meant later that evening or some future day, and he was non-committal.  At this point I had reached my breaking point, and explained to Anthony the entire ordeal that we had been through thus far.  He seemed sympathetic and understanding as to why this was an unacceptable response to me, and indicated that he would attempt to get a hold of the installers again that evening, and that he would contact me by 6 pm to either let me know what time we were scheduled for or that we would not be able to find out that evening.  During that conversation I also asked to speak to the store manager.  Anthony indicated that the manager was off that day, but would be in the store from 9 am to 5 pm the following day.

During the conversation, he also informed me of the standard 72 hour response time in regards to installation, and further informed me that because the payment had been made after 2pm on Monday that the 72 hours did not begin until Tuesday morning.  As someone who functions on a standard 8am - 5 pm business day this seemed ludicrous to me.  After hearing his explanation in regards to scheduling I can understand why that is the case, but no one ever informed me of that earlier.  In fact, they did not inform me of 72 hours, but said 2 days.  My husband was witness to that conversation.

Anthony called me back shortly before 6 pm to indicate that he had not been able to make contact with the installers, but that I would get a call back from someone "first thing tomorrow."

As of 10:15 am I had not received a call from Home Depot.  I called the store, and asked to speak to the store manager.  This has reached such ridiculously epic proportions in terms of bad customer service I felt he needed to know what was going on.  The associate who answered the phone indicated that the manager was not there, even though the schedule said he should be there, and seemed to indicate that depending on meetings and whims the manager may or may not be there at a scheduled time.  The associate offered me one of two assistant managers, and I accepted.

I spoke to Doug, and gave him a brief outline that I had spoken to Anthony the night previously due to bad customer service by other associates, and I just wanted to know when my floor was going to be installed.  Doug transferred me to Tracy, rather than attempting to assist me himself.

Tracy was unaware that there had been any contact between me and Home Depot from when I had spoken to her the day before.  She said that she had called the installers and asked them to call me in response to my phone call from the day before, but I informed her that no one had ever called me, and that she had not indicated WHO would be calling me back, but simply that I would be getting a call.  She seemed completely unaware that I was scheduled for the 16th, and offered to give me the phone number for the installers to see when I was scheduled for.

I insisted she make the call, as I was tired of having to jump through all of these hoops for a simple tile floor installation.  She originally offered to call me back, but based on past experiences I asked to hold until I could receive a response.

When she came back on the line she indicated that the tiler would need to come out to my house to see the bathroom because there was some question as to what cuts were needed around the tub.  My schedule is very full today, so as to keep things open for the 16th when I thought the tilers might be showing up, so I indicated that would be difficult, but the house was built 57 years ago and it was a standard tub of the era, where the middle bows out and there are indentations on the side.  She indicated that depending on the complexity of the cuts would determine the timing of the job, so a  firm appointment may not be able to be made until the tiler had seen the bathroom. 

She indicated that the installer would call me within 15 minutes to discuss the situation and hopefully schedule me.  Mike called, as promised.  I explained to him the type of tub that we have and his response was "no problem" and that he would no longer need to inspect the bathroom.  He is scheduled to come between 8-8:30 tomorrow morning. 

In summary, virtually every interaction I have had with a Home Depot employee through this process has been filled with misinformation and a distinct lack of follow-through that leaves me with a very bad taste in my mouth.  Which is too bad, as I had already started pricing out refrigerators at Home Depot in anticipation of a small kitchen remodel my husband and I are planning for the future.

P.S. to Home Depot:  Your website doesn't have any confirmation that comes up when you send an e-mail, so I hit the send button 10 times.  Hopefully you get the message at least once.

Chim-Chimeree

I find it adorable that the chimney sweep that came to our house today was wearing a black felt hat, just like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. 

Uncles Charles' Chair

My Great-Uncle Charles died before my Dad even met my mom, so he's not a family member I ever met, but his wife, my Great-Aunt Zella, aka Auntie, was one of my favorite people in my youth. 

When she passed my mother received some candelabras and Uncle Charles' chair.  This was the cause of great family drama at the time.  Originally Auntie's will was set up for my Grandpa and Mom to split everything, and if one of them was gone the other got it all.  But then our family moved away from St. Louis and Mom's greedy cousin got Auntie (who we suspect suffered from dementia or Alzheimers) to change her will and pass everything to her.

It was not worth the fight, and my Mom was happy that she got Uncle Charles' chair at least. 

One night my dad woke up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water.  He walked into the living room and there was a man sitting in the chair.  Dad woke up Mom, explained what had happened, and it was determined that it was Uncle Charles.  What looked like, what he was wearing, and how he was sitting all pointed to that.  From that point on the chair has been magical in my eyes.

Sweetie and I will be inheriting the chair within the next year, so it's necessary that the living room furniture match the chair.  Several years ago Mom paid to reupholster the chair and it's an EXPENSIVE chair to reupholster, and in lovely shape now, so we can't work the other way around.

We went living room furniture shopping today, and have selected the ensemble that we want.  Luckily, the upholstery choice that we most took a shine to in the store will work well with the chair.  So we'll get all that ordered sometime this week. 

This is the fun part of moving, getting to shop for new things.  Tomorrow morning it's back to the non-fun part of it all, removing the damn staples from the damn floor.

War Wounds

Lessons learned today:

• It is easier to get blood off of hardwood floors than off of vinyl.
• Where it hurts is not necessarily where it is injured.
• The Walgreen's closest to our house does not open until 8 am.
• Target opens at 8 am (which only mattered at the time in that I was already out, so wanted to get that trip taken care of while I was out).
• If you're going to cut a finger, the tip of the pinky on your non-dominant hand is the place to do it.

Fulfilling Expectations

I've been sort of obsessed with floors lately.  Mainly because those are the things we have to get in order before we can move into the house.  The bathroom, because I'm not living in a house where you can see the plywood subfloor in the room where liquid is always sloshing about.  The rest of the house because once there is furniture in the place I know we'll never get around to pulling up the carpets.

Things have calmed somewhat, as we've admitted defeat on the bathroom floor and are calling in professionals to do the job.  Mainly because ripping up 57 year old linoleum that isn't water damaged is a pain in the ass.  This removes some responsibility from my plate, and also delays the move as we have to work on other people's schedules now.

So now it's just the approximately 900+ square feet of carpeting being ripped up.  That's a physically grueling task!  When I started the job on Thursday there were some pesky staples that weren't coming up with the needlenosed pliers.  I decided to ignore them for the time being, as there was already plenty on my plate.  Today the last bit of tack strip got pulled up, and now it was time to address the stubborn staples.  This was now an even bigger problem, as they were prevalent in the living and dining rooms.

I'd been trying to figure out what tool I could use to get them up since I first encountered the problem, and while pacing the aisles at Home Depot today it came to me. 

A staple remover.  It's right there in the name.  The tool is designed to remove staples.

So I scurried over to Target to pick up a staple remover.  Works like a charm!

Guess what's on deck for tomorrow?  My shoulders are dreading it already.

A Resolution Regarding Our Bathroom

WHEREAS we have already gone well over budget in regards to the bathroom; and

WHEREAS we are currently committed to replacing the shower head, flooring, and toilet; and

WHEREAS the current vanity is a cheap  piece of shit that appears to be made out of cardboard that has suffered some water damage in the past;

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SWANKPOET FAMILY CONGRESS that we should buy a new sink to install and just call it a complete bathroom remodel, rather than reusing the one we've currently got.

Hereby enacted this 4th day of November 2007 at around 5:45 pm according to my watch, but really it was 4:45 pm because I'd forgotten to reset it for the end of daylight savings time.

I'm serving as assistant coach to Sweetie's debate team at the moment.  It's a lot of fun.  For some reason, while he was out for a bit this afternoon, once I decided we should replace the damn sink I decided to write a Student Congress style resolution in support of it.