Adventures at The Bunny Manse

We are still unpacking, organizing, and getting things in order. This weekend saw Harris put the polishing touches on the kitchen (still no countertops, need to make a material decision there this week) while I created an art and painting area for Madeline.  Our temporary pantry set up next to the microwave and fridge. I'm really really glad I insisted on the compact counter-depth model, otherwise this area would have been overpowered by the fridge. We added a couple of shelving things to the pantry and it functions as a food storage area now.     The area by the stove. We decided this weekend that we're going to tile the fireplace. It will take care of the weird surface and provide an accent of an accent. We're thinking painted glass tiles right now, but haven't started shopping yet. We only need about 40 square feet so we have a lot more options available to us.   Madeline's art area. This used to be a window that's totally gone and boar...

We have a mix of beveled leaded/zinc glass, true size vinyl replacement, and original windows at The Bunny Manse. In the original windows a lot of the panes have been painted over or replaced with plexiglass. I ordered glass a month or so ago and finally got around to repairing one window.  This job was to reglaze two sashes and then rehang both windows with weights so that the window functioned. I messed up in the following ways 1. The tempered glass I ordered was 1/16th of an inch too large. 2. I assumed the sashes were true/square The view from the window I was working on.   So I took the leading bead out, removed the sashes and started to clean everything up. This required me to clean through the weight well, get the pulleys operating again, and figure out where the missing pieces were.   Most old windows have this little compartment you can find the weights through. Ours already had the trim off, so I had more space to work. The right side...

The kitchen a week after moving in... Harris has been putting the IKEA cabinets together at night and whenever he has free time.   Our new fridge is awesome and fits the space nicely! I even used the fancy ikea microwave with it's non-standard control system. Ikea cabinets GE, Kenmore, Bosch, IKEA appliances Countertops TBD Obvious things we need to do 1. Get counters. 2. Close those holes in the chimney. 3. Replace the glass in the windows- the panes are currently paitned. 4. Add trim to the top of the windows 5. Figure out what we're doing with that door into the laundry room. Me thinks... a spice rack? 6. Put handles on the cabinet doors and drawers Not so obvious stuff left to do 1. Find a way to insulate 2. Install the range hood 3. Add a place to eat for the duration that is not the couch.

Jazz on the Freedom is not Free blanket by the warm morning.  He spends most of his day here. Jazz was born in the current living room, one day dining room, about 13-14 years ago. When his companion died, Wallace, who lived upstairs from '93-'13, agreed to take care of him for his friend. Wallace is allergic to cats.  Don who lived upstairs off and on over the years loves Jazz (J-Beau), he still comes by and gives him scratches and feeds him special gushy foods. However, if we mentioned that we knew he loved Jazz, he'd probably stop. When we were looking at the house all of the men insisted that Jazz was not their cat. They didn't like cats, he just sort of hung around the place, nothing they could do about it. Except make him special beds around the house right next to heaters, scratch his ears, and make sure he was going to be taken care of by telling us exactly the temperature of food he liked to eat and the merits of different varieties of cat food. Also,...

The repair guy from PSNC yesterday was able to fix both Warm Morning heaters yesterday for about $500. This fee also included his checking all of our other appliances for gas leaks.  We have no gas leaks!!  And now that the warm morning heaters are fixed the rooms are warm! Huzzah!! It's a learning experience. The upstairs is much warmer right now than the downstairs. This is good information for when we have the HVAC installed later in 2014. We also need to stay in the habit of closing doors to rooms when we leave them and being aware of drafts etc. Maybe we'll get some little area rugs or something.  Our larger goal is to feel moved in by December. This will mean our boxes are unpacked - we're not constantly searching for things or tripping over things, and that we feel ok living here. There's some trim work, some sash work, and set up to do, but if we do a little each night we'll be finished with it all soon enough. we've been eating out a lot. When our...

We've bought a new fridge, a new range, and spent several hundred to have the natural gas heaters serviced. Apparently they were leaking gas.  GOOD TIMES. basically, we've spent more and had more stress in the past five days than 5 months preceeding...but at least our roof isn't leaking.

Plans change: 1. Bought stove because we can't get counters templated without. 2. Bought fridge because the other one started leaking. 3. Let Jazz inside because damnit it's cold out there and he's such a skinny little mouser.   He spends most of his time curled up on the Freedom isn't Free blanket. We're in, but we're still fixing things, moving things, and some things are unpacked and others are not. There is a serious lack of insulation in the house that we knew about, but now have to figure out how to deal with for the next couple of months. oh, and it might snow tonight. Up until this point everything with The Bunny Manse has been much easier than we expected. From Friday until today if it could go wrong it has gone wrong.  

Closet bar in closet ready for clothes.  Remaining closet is not ready for clothes. Needs to be cleaned and a new floor put down...then we have lovely walk-in closet.  

so very much to get done this week. The legs did not arrive with our cabinets. This is incredibly frustrating. I spent an hour on hold on Halloween to get them, but instead, I got an email asking for my credit card number two days later. I still don't have my damn cabinet legs. IKEA I AM SCOWLING AT YOU. This delays : sink installation, cabinet finishing, countertop templating, moving, using the kitchen, etc, etc, etc.  Very much not happy about this. We have appliances that need to be installed so we can use them, but of course, see above. We have to clean. A lot. We need to put the wood window trim back up in the rooms we're going to be living in. We really need to do this like, now... Hook up the rest of the heaters because, oh em gee it's cold in there without them. It's all very achieveable stuff that we knew we needed to finish. But now we're all sick so it's like, the end of the damn world to cut a board. Next week will be nice. We'll be m...

Probably as close as we're going to get of a picture of the apartment we're living in. Madeline getting ready for school in her snow white costume.   Yes she asked for her hair to be dyed. Then she asked for a wig. She also asked for real work shoes (heels) that wouldn't rub blisters on her toes.   She was satisfied with 'Mommy loves you and you look great in your dress.' This was verified of course by running in to show a showering Daddy who said she looked beautiful.