Our renovation started today in earnest.
The team from H&M Flooring Design was on site at 8 AM, and we didn't waste any time getting started.
We're sanding the floors down, and finishing them in a dark espresso color.
Our floors are a "natural oak" color - while there's nothing particularly wrong with that, they definitely are showing wear.
It's been 15 years of use - time to freshen them up.
We moved 18 miles west to the suburbs in the summer of 2012, so our condo will have been a rental for exactly 5 years.
It's not easy to get to the city for an 8 AM start - I have to be out the door by 6:15, and even then it's a bit tricky. (No Peloton class for me this AM, sadly.)
I've spent more time at the Bucktown condo in the last 3 weeks than I have in the last 3 years.
We've got a lot of projects on tap, and they have to run consecutively right after each other, if we have any hope of getting the condo on the market in July.
Here is the kitchen as it looked this morning:
Don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with this kitchen!
But when you're a seller competing against tons of new condo inventory, you have to look your best.
So these cabinets will soon be white, and these floors will soon be "espresso".
One quirk about our kitchen - the center island is NOT anchored to the floor. It has an electrical conduit running to an outlet on the side of the island.... but it's not fixed in place.
Which means... I was able to disconnect the electric box and move the island out of the way completely.
With the island moved, H&M Flooring will be able to finish the ENTIRE kitchen, instead of leaving the area under the island unfinished.
Given that we're staining the floors dark, an unfinished square under the island would have been a huge problem if the new buyers wanted to put in a different kitchen island.
They'd have to sand and stain a tiny piece of the floor - which would be almost impossible to match.
(And now that I mention it, this would be an IDEAL time for US to shop around for a new kitchen island, too.)
The kitchen is connected to a hallway, which runs back to the master bedroom.
We're sanding the floors down, and finishing them in a dark espresso color.
Our floors are a "natural oak" color - while there's nothing particularly wrong with that, they definitely are showing wear.
It's been 15 years of use - time to freshen them up.
 |
| The Bucktown Condo! (Needs some freshening up outside, too.) |
It's not easy to get to the city for an 8 AM start - I have to be out the door by 6:15, and even then it's a bit tricky. (No Peloton class for me this AM, sadly.)
I've spent more time at the Bucktown condo in the last 3 weeks than I have in the last 3 years.
We've got a lot of projects on tap, and they have to run consecutively right after each other, if we have any hope of getting the condo on the market in July.
Here is the kitchen as it looked this morning:
Don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with this kitchen!
But when you're a seller competing against tons of new condo inventory, you have to look your best.
So these cabinets will soon be white, and these floors will soon be "espresso".
One quirk about our kitchen - the center island is NOT anchored to the floor. It has an electrical conduit running to an outlet on the side of the island.... but it's not fixed in place.
Which means... I was able to disconnect the electric box and move the island out of the way completely.
With the island moved, H&M Flooring will be able to finish the ENTIRE kitchen, instead of leaving the area under the island unfinished.
Given that we're staining the floors dark, an unfinished square under the island would have been a huge problem if the new buyers wanted to put in a different kitchen island.
They'd have to sand and stain a tiny piece of the floor - which would be almost impossible to match.
(And now that I mention it, this would be an IDEAL time for US to shop around for a new kitchen island, too.)
The kitchen is connected to a hallway, which runs back to the master bedroom.
It's Tuesday today, and these floors will be finished by Thursday, and walkable by Friday.
Friday morning, we meet with a contractor about installing new baseboards throughout the entire condo.
UPDATE (6/16/17)
It's Friday morning, and the floors look AWESOME.
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| H&M Flooring does good work - and our realtor was right, the baseboards need to be replaced. |
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| We added this walk-in closet about 10 years ago, and I still love it. |
Friday, I'll bring our new Ryobi 2,000 PSI pressure washer to the house... and we'll blast 5 years worth of grime off the exterior.
Painting has been pushed back - probably to the week of June 26.
I probably ought to have the Ecobee 4 installed at our house, and the Nest installed at the condo, before that happens.
(But.... Nest may support HomeKit? Maybe we stick with the Nest!)
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