it's home

So, the summer o' work has ended and Mom and Dad are currently packing up the truck to pull out of this L.A. tomorrow morning, heading toward the other LA. We've accomplished quite a lot this summer (and by "we" I pretty much mean "they") and if it wasn't for them coming here for three busy, work-filled months, I definitely wouldn't be in this house. But, it feels cozy now, and the potential I saw when I first walked into this old, messed up house is now a reality. Sure, there are still a few boxes that need to be unpacked and things need to be organized, but it's definitely liveable.

I was going to make this post a recap of the entire summer, posting tons of before and after photos, but we have a party to get to with fireworks and everything, so that'll have to come later (or you can just browse back through the blog). But, here are our after photos...

Living room (with too much furniture!):


Kitchen:




Computer Room (with today's view from the mini deck):





Stairwell and downstairs hallway:






Bedroom #1



Bedroom #2




Upstairs bathroom:




Downstairs bathroom:

things i learned this week

1. As much as I like my house, so do the ants. We seem to be finding them everywhere. Though, no presence as big as the 4-ant wide trail I found last night along one whole wall of my bedroom. Yep, spraying will be happening this weekend.
2. I have a virus in my left eye.
3. Eye doctors don't really like to hear the following: "Well, yeah, I've been dealing with this eye thing for the last two months or so. I haven't worn my contacts all summer. Yeah, it got really red and pretty weepy."
4. Tommy Lee and the rest of the band from Supernova have NO taste in picking a new lead singer (this is regarding the TV show Rockstar: Supernova)
5. Sometimes spinach IS bad for you.
6. Even if wildfires aren't close to you, you still never get used to seeing bits of ash on your car (which I noticed yesterday after parking my car outside for an hour at a meeting)

And now on to the downstairs bathroom. This is it! It's done, just needs an additional coat of clear sealer on the floor and it's complete. Because of limited cabinet and storage space, the shelves will be so handy!




And, the new rug in the utility room. The old rug was just bits of indoor/outdoor carpet and since the previous owner was a smoker, I just wanted to get it out of the house. Floor below is still covered with the nasty tile that used to be throughout the downstairs, so we've decided to just cover with a new rug and this is a room that can be tackled much later. I mean, as long as the washer and dryer work, who cares if the room is pretty?

And yes, that is a small dorm fridge on top of the cabinet. So, if you're hanging downstairs or in the backyard, you don't have to go upstairs for a cool, refreshing drink.

entering the home stretch

We're now working on the last remaining room in the house... the downstairs bathroom. The walls behind the toilet and on the side wall next to the water heater were all plywood instead of sheetrock. There was also a panel of plywood on the ceiling as well. So, we've replaced the paneling with sheetrock and should be ready to paint today or tomorrow.

The bathroom yesterday...
The gray color behind the toilet is the color we'll paint the entire bathroom, we just had to paint this first before putting the toilet back in.





Nice view of the water heater.


The bathroom today...
View to the water heater now closed.

are you with me?

Crowd at The Roxy giving Cowboy Mouth rhythm.

beatin path

Beatin' Path, great New Orleans band now strewn about the country after Katrina, opening for Cowboy Mouth, another great New Orleans band, at The Roxy in Los Angeles.

bookmark this!!!

So, if you're afraid that my blog may soon be coming to an end because housework is almost done (first, think again, because I still have to decorate, hang photos and there's still the whole OUTSIDE to consider) you need to bookmark this new blog: return to general diaz.



My dear friends Rick and Rob in New Orleans have just torn down their house that was severely damaged by Katrina and are determined to rebuild bigger and stronger than ever. After enjoying this blog (thanks!) they've decided to start a trend and do their own house blog! Today they signed their contract with a contractor to begin work (congrats!). I encourage you to bookmark their site, check back often and post comments like you've done for me here.

Rob is also the founder of SaintsforSinners.com where he sells hand-painted saints medals for all you sinners. He also posted before/after Katrina photos of their house here, which you should all check out.

we have furniture!!

So, we finally have started to move furniture into the house. Some of it works as expected, some of it not so much, but it's progress!

Computer room
You may wonder why I put my desk with the back facing the window and mini deck, but it's because I plan to fill the wall above the desk with shelving. I saw a home office in a magazine where they had lots of shelves above the desk and they put the computer monitor and printer on the shelf, so it left the entire desk surface open for work. Plus, I hope to eventually put a small table in front of the window and paint there.





Living room
Okay - way too big furniture. This sofa and chair set is 8 years old, so I intended all along to use income tax return money to invest in a new sofa set come January. Now I really intend to! This overstuffed combo overstuffs the living room! And I don't even have the TV armoire in yet... that's a whole other story. We intended to paint the old, lighter armoire with a stain/polyeurethane combo so it could match the rest of the dark wood in the room. Yeah, that didn't work so well. So, this coming weekend, we plan to just paint the armoire a dark brown with regular paint. I don't love the idea, but it'll certainly do for now. So, the TV cart will soon be replaced with a TV armoire. Added bonus: seeing Dad mesmorized by the History Channel.




Upstairs bathroom
I'm kinda bummed about these photos because I think the bathroom looks way better than these photos do.

bring in the base

Almost all mouldings are in place upstairs. We'd been waiting to finish the floors before putting in the baseboards, but since we're just in "curing" mode on the floor finish, baseboards have started to go in (floor finish is dry/hardened enough that we can walk on it, we just can't put furniture on it yet, according to the instructions).

Living room - it's trippy how the curtains give the room an orange tint.



Dining room with all the mouldings and the big fat light.



Computer room, and the second photo is taken from the top of the stairs looking through the computer room into the dining room.



Our first wall hanging! We put this clock in the living room, right across from the front door.

while i was gone

Lots of work got done! Floors are finished, just need to wait a week for the finish to cure then we can move in furniture!

Little hall between kitchen and computer room


Living room



Dining room


Computer room



And, the little deck off the computer room window is done too!