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Closet Renovation
Jun. 26th, 2005 09:54 amIt's been a busy day or two.
I got home from work on Friday, relaxed for a bit, and then started excavating the entire contents of my 13' wide closet, which involved not just finding reasonable places to stow the stuff that has been in storage, but keep the stuff I use handy, and get rid of the stuff I don't need anymore. And "stuff" is the right word. It's not just clothes (some of which I haven't worn in years), it's purses and bags, shoes, some of my daughter's old clothes kept for sentiment (all of which are going to charity), and other odds & ends I stuck in there and mostly forgot.
It took more than three hours, but when I was done, I felt great. Not only was the closet emptied, but the stuff that had accumulated in the corners of my room was also gone.
Saturday morning, Dave came over around 10am and stayed until around 5pm. We took the doors off the closet, removed the doorframes, unscrewed and took down the drywall, and carried it all up out of the basement. Then David took measurements, we talked about exactly what I wanted to do, I made sandwiches for everyone, and then we -- Dave, my daughter, and me -- went off to Home Depot to buy lumber. Dave did most of the work after lunch because it involved cutting the lumber to the proper size and putting it in with a huge nailgun. I helped by occasionally being an extra pair of hands, but that wasn't much.
All the cut wood fit exactly in the lines he sketched on the floor, and it all fit together perfectly. I'm not a construction expert, but I was impressed by how precisely it all went together.
I told him that a couple of people had asked, "Why is this guy going to spend a Saturday putting doing something like this for someone he doesn't know very well? Without being paid for it?" He just grinned and said that he enjoys doing this kind of work. For him, it's fun. And indeed, he was cheerful and grinning all day long.
What's more, once he saw my house, he was full of ideas for how we could re-do the kitchen, widen my entry way, and etc. If we embarked on a major renovation project, we'd negotiate compensation, but he would certainly cost much less than a full-time contractor. He also told me that he's volunteered to do work like this for other people at work, but they haven't taken him up on it. He'd like to do more of this kind of work.
Right now, I have the frame for my new closet -- which is now eight feet wide, and the rests of the space is becoming an alcove for the child's bed. Next Saturday we do the drywall and after that, the new doors go up, and the new moulding.
And after the adventure of home improvement, I took my daughter to see Herbie Fully Loaded which both of us enjoyed very much.
I got home from work on Friday, relaxed for a bit, and then started excavating the entire contents of my 13' wide closet, which involved not just finding reasonable places to stow the stuff that has been in storage, but keep the stuff I use handy, and get rid of the stuff I don't need anymore. And "stuff" is the right word. It's not just clothes (some of which I haven't worn in years), it's purses and bags, shoes, some of my daughter's old clothes kept for sentiment (all of which are going to charity), and other odds & ends I stuck in there and mostly forgot.
It took more than three hours, but when I was done, I felt great. Not only was the closet emptied, but the stuff that had accumulated in the corners of my room was also gone.
Saturday morning, Dave came over around 10am and stayed until around 5pm. We took the doors off the closet, removed the doorframes, unscrewed and took down the drywall, and carried it all up out of the basement. Then David took measurements, we talked about exactly what I wanted to do, I made sandwiches for everyone, and then we -- Dave, my daughter, and me -- went off to Home Depot to buy lumber. Dave did most of the work after lunch because it involved cutting the lumber to the proper size and putting it in with a huge nailgun. I helped by occasionally being an extra pair of hands, but that wasn't much.
All the cut wood fit exactly in the lines he sketched on the floor, and it all fit together perfectly. I'm not a construction expert, but I was impressed by how precisely it all went together.
I told him that a couple of people had asked, "Why is this guy going to spend a Saturday putting doing something like this for someone he doesn't know very well? Without being paid for it?" He just grinned and said that he enjoys doing this kind of work. For him, it's fun. And indeed, he was cheerful and grinning all day long.
What's more, once he saw my house, he was full of ideas for how we could re-do the kitchen, widen my entry way, and etc. If we embarked on a major renovation project, we'd negotiate compensation, but he would certainly cost much less than a full-time contractor. He also told me that he's volunteered to do work like this for other people at work, but they haven't taken him up on it. He'd like to do more of this kind of work.
Right now, I have the frame for my new closet -- which is now eight feet wide, and the rests of the space is becoming an alcove for the child's bed. Next Saturday we do the drywall and after that, the new doors go up, and the new moulding.
And after the adventure of home improvement, I took my daughter to see Herbie Fully Loaded which both of us enjoyed very much.
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