The better half and I moved again and we're nearly settled in. It's taking most of my time. This is a big place. Lots to do. Lots of husbandry. Lots of things to figure out.
The water here in Chicago is really hard and the prior owners never bothered to wipe the walls down after taking a shower. Nearly every time I'm in the shower it's getting spritzed with one chemical or another and then getting wiped down. It's slowly improving, I think. I've used straight vinegar, Lime-A-Way and Barkeeper's Friend so far.
There's been a bit of deferred maintenance, too. I was shocked to hear that in the 8 years the prior owner (let's call them PO) was here, they never once had the exterior windows cleaned! I could not believe it. Since the house is four stories in total, with a two story window brightening the foyer, I wasn't going to get on a ladder to do it, but it was only about $250 to have it done. What a difference clean windows make! So worth it. This needs to go on the semi-annual rotation, I think.
PO also had a thing for cigars. I think he thought he was being careful, but when the air would kick on there was the faintest whiff of smoke. Yuck! So we had all the ducts cleaned and what a difference that made! No more smokey smell. That, plus having the nearly-ready-to-catch-fire dryer ducts cleaned, only set us back about another $525, but worth it to eliminate the smokey smell and guard against the house burning down because I am trying to dry a pair of chonies.
Had the locks changed within the first two weeks, as well. There were probably 8 - 10 different keys for all of the different doors. Who wants to carry that many keys? Had it all keyed to one key. Again, a little thing, but totally worth it. Also to guard against maybe a random prior babysitter with a stray key and a nefarious streak. That, too, set us back about $500, but one of the locks had to be replaced to have them all conform. Only needing to use one key makes it all worth it to me, though.
When we had the guy out to do the windows, he also power-washed the place - sidewalks and decks mostly. A ton of work but everything looks so freshly scrubbed, it's really nice. A lot of the concrete had a green tint to it, so it was nice to wash away all the algae or whatever it was.
PO also, quite brilliantly, had the place wired for in-ceiling speakers. Unfortunately, PO never installed the speakers. Just got that done last night, and it was a wonderful way to be watching the Olympics. Sounded like we were right there in the pool room. Speakers weren't all that expensive and the room looks so much better without the speaker stands and wires cluttering things up. Another modest investment, but a good one for down the road, I think.
We've also needed to outfit some of the outdoor space we have here. We managed to find some really great deals at Pier 1 of all places. I haven't really shopped there in 20 years or so, but they had some great deals on outdoor rugs and hurricane lamps and things. Check the clearance bins. One of them was a floor model with a little smudge on it. But it was going outdoors, so who cares. Plus, a couple of heavy rains cleaned it right up! We got that for 75% off. Similarly, Arhaus furniture had some huge pots on deep discount. $50 each and regularly $325 each. I'll take two! We weren't looking to buy those at the time, but it was too good of a deal to pass up and it was nice to get two huge pots that matched.
PO sold us a lot of their furniture that they weren't going to be able to take to their new place. That turned out to be a really good deal for us, since we were coming from a 1500 sf condo into a 4300 sf house. The place is surprisingly well filled out now. Not too cluttered, which is just how I like it. A couple of what I like to call "dance floor" spaces. Room for the inevitable baby grand one day, we hope.
Finally, the kitchen in the new place is just amazing. Better Half thinks I could film a cooking show here and I am not sure I disagree. This is the first time in my life that all of my kitchen stuff is in my kitchen. Previously, there was always something in a guest room closet or some other out of the way place that dissuaded me from using whatever thing had been exiled. I'm suddenly using stuff I haven't used in years, just because it's so easy to get to it. It's really great, and I'll talk more about that in the coming weeks, as well as my new love for sous-viding things.
Happy Friday!
The water here in Chicago is really hard and the prior owners never bothered to wipe the walls down after taking a shower. Nearly every time I'm in the shower it's getting spritzed with one chemical or another and then getting wiped down. It's slowly improving, I think. I've used straight vinegar, Lime-A-Way and Barkeeper's Friend so far.
There's been a bit of deferred maintenance, too. I was shocked to hear that in the 8 years the prior owner (let's call them PO) was here, they never once had the exterior windows cleaned! I could not believe it. Since the house is four stories in total, with a two story window brightening the foyer, I wasn't going to get on a ladder to do it, but it was only about $250 to have it done. What a difference clean windows make! So worth it. This needs to go on the semi-annual rotation, I think.
PO also had a thing for cigars. I think he thought he was being careful, but when the air would kick on there was the faintest whiff of smoke. Yuck! So we had all the ducts cleaned and what a difference that made! No more smokey smell. That, plus having the nearly-ready-to-catch-fire dryer ducts cleaned, only set us back about another $525, but worth it to eliminate the smokey smell and guard against the house burning down because I am trying to dry a pair of chonies.
Had the locks changed within the first two weeks, as well. There were probably 8 - 10 different keys for all of the different doors. Who wants to carry that many keys? Had it all keyed to one key. Again, a little thing, but totally worth it. Also to guard against maybe a random prior babysitter with a stray key and a nefarious streak. That, too, set us back about $500, but one of the locks had to be replaced to have them all conform. Only needing to use one key makes it all worth it to me, though.
When we had the guy out to do the windows, he also power-washed the place - sidewalks and decks mostly. A ton of work but everything looks so freshly scrubbed, it's really nice. A lot of the concrete had a green tint to it, so it was nice to wash away all the algae or whatever it was.
PO also, quite brilliantly, had the place wired for in-ceiling speakers. Unfortunately, PO never installed the speakers. Just got that done last night, and it was a wonderful way to be watching the Olympics. Sounded like we were right there in the pool room. Speakers weren't all that expensive and the room looks so much better without the speaker stands and wires cluttering things up. Another modest investment, but a good one for down the road, I think.
We've also needed to outfit some of the outdoor space we have here. We managed to find some really great deals at Pier 1 of all places. I haven't really shopped there in 20 years or so, but they had some great deals on outdoor rugs and hurricane lamps and things. Check the clearance bins. One of them was a floor model with a little smudge on it. But it was going outdoors, so who cares. Plus, a couple of heavy rains cleaned it right up! We got that for 75% off. Similarly, Arhaus furniture had some huge pots on deep discount. $50 each and regularly $325 each. I'll take two! We weren't looking to buy those at the time, but it was too good of a deal to pass up and it was nice to get two huge pots that matched.
PO sold us a lot of their furniture that they weren't going to be able to take to their new place. That turned out to be a really good deal for us, since we were coming from a 1500 sf condo into a 4300 sf house. The place is surprisingly well filled out now. Not too cluttered, which is just how I like it. A couple of what I like to call "dance floor" spaces. Room for the inevitable baby grand one day, we hope.
Finally, the kitchen in the new place is just amazing. Better Half thinks I could film a cooking show here and I am not sure I disagree. This is the first time in my life that all of my kitchen stuff is in my kitchen. Previously, there was always something in a guest room closet or some other out of the way place that dissuaded me from using whatever thing had been exiled. I'm suddenly using stuff I haven't used in years, just because it's so easy to get to it. It's really great, and I'll talk more about that in the coming weeks, as well as my new love for sous-viding things.
Happy Friday!
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