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Last night and tonight I’m making my push to finish up in the hallway. Although I thought the hallway would be relatively small place to start and finished, I forgot about the amount of doorways that take up the area. Lets just say there’s some ridiculous cornering going on there. Last night was also my first time with a circular saw.

I’ve always been afraid of tools with whirring blades and electricity combined. They creep me out, because i can so easily imagine wounds and blood and missing limbs. Granted the modern circular saw has a lot of safety features to prevent these kind of accidents. Yet I’ve been ever since I was a small child they terrify me. I’ll admit that in reality the circular saw was not that big a deal to use. Although, I still wind up using a handsaw a lot as well. I feel safe with my trusty hand saws and miter boxes. Now that Sidney’s back in town, I really need to get what I can of the flooring project finished.

Tags: home improvement

Not only have I begun work on changing out my flooring, but yesterday the condo association is redoing our exterior walls. I came home from work yesterday to see the back wooden walls of my neighbor’s house completely stripped to the installation. When I came around the corner to the front door, my living room window was covered in plastic sheeting. Apparently, all the units are getting new exteriors. Exciting, right?

Although I’m all for having these repairs done, having a plastic sheet over you’re window is incredibly disorienting. I feel like I’m living under the sea or something. Light gets in, but I can’t see out. Katie is also not a fan.

My interior improvements continue. I’ll be saw space under the door jambs tonight. I really need a circular saw though for the flooring. Handsawing ain’t cutting it (I mean sure it’s cutting the flooring, but it takes forever long.)

Tags: home improvement

Since I first moved into my condo (when I was renting the place), I’ve hated the beige? carpet that engulfs, the living room, hallway, and bedroom. It’s stained, old, smelly and filthy. No matter how much I vacuum it. I feel like it’s still dirty. Since I took Katie home with me, I’ve felt even more so that I just can’t get clean enough. I’ve finally reached the point where I can’t take it and have committed to laminate. I had wanted to do a bamboo floor originally, but expense and the realization that I won’t live in this apartment forever convinced me go laminate route.

Wielding a crowbar last night as I tore out the hallway carpet was a fantastic feeling. As was throwing out that old, smelly carpet. I patched the concrete wholes and swept it a million times. So much dirt under that carpet. Tonight I’ll begin to lay the floor down in the hallway. I’m beginning with my flooring changeover in the hallway and hall closet, because the closet gives me a chance to make a mess/mess up w/o the repercussions of doing it on a more seen floor. Wish me luck. I’ll be posting photos as work progresses.

Tags: home improvement