House Projects

So, as many of you know, even though we now have the keys, we won't be moving into our new house right away. There are several projects that need to be completed before we can fully settle in.

PROJECT #1: Heating & Electrical
This project starts Monday. Our house, while in great condition, is an older place. One of the most obvious signs? It still has space heaters on the second floor. Take a look at these monstrosities...

The first floor has radiant heat,which is fine, but we figured that since we're taking out the space heaters we should go ahead and update the heating system throughout the building. So, we need to install heating and air. In order to do that, however, we need to update the electrical in the building. Many of the outlets are still two-pronged (a no-no in the city of Chicago) and the current system runs at about 60 amps when, as a 2-flat, we should be at 200 amps.

Once that's done, we'll get a land line, fax and internet set up for my home office and I'll start commuting to the house while they work on...

PROJECT #2: The Bathrooms
If the bathrooms were just outdated, I think we'd manage, but it's more than that. The previous owners had wood framed windows next to the bathtub and, in order to avoid warping the wood, never had showers installed. Yes: They only took baths! Crazy, and a little sad.

On top of that, as you can see below, the lighting leaves much to be desired, the sink looks ancient and the flooring is a sick kind of linoleum that must be addressed.

Once at least one of the bathrooms is ready to go, we'll do a partial move-in while they finish the final project...

PROJECT #3: The Upstairs Kitchen
Behold, our unit's kitchen as it currently stands:



It has several good features—a huge pantry and generally great space overall—but I don't think I need to explain why this is in desperate need of updating. With as much time as we spend cooking and entertaining, this just won't do. The crazy appliances and total lack of cabinets and counter tops need to be fixed. Tom, our contractor, sent a great mock-up of our would-be kitchen with cabinets and counter tops all around! They're also going to pull up the weird tile floor and restore the hardwood underneath—yeah!

Our contractor is estimating that all this work will be done by beginning to mid-March. Keep that in mind because it will be the end of March when we will again be accepting visitors to our fair city and, even more importantly, hosting a housewarming party to knock your socks off.