Thoughts of the Lady in the Tower

2004-04-26 - 5:28 p.m.

House Bits

Feels good to have $7.6k in the bank. Almost ready for the down payment. Ineed $13k, and I've already paid $2.6k, so I need to save another $2.8k (or,two more paychecks). There's 4 more paychecks between now and closing, soeasy-peasy.

Richard got enough from his taxes to buy the washer and dryer ($1.5k), and my remaining paychecks should more than cover the bed (yeah, I have expensive tastes; the bed is $2.4k, but I NEED decent sleep). That gets my two main concerns out of the way.

The rest of the furniture we either have (couch), are being given (entertainment stand and kitchen table set), or can allow to grow 'organically' as we find the perfect pieces (my reading chair, bedroom suite, a work table for Richard, office furniture for me).

There's some improvements we want to make, too. Richard wants to replace a toilet with an old style toilet that actually flushes. I want to put it in the basement rough-in, but he wants it in the master bath. He wants it easily accessible; I want to keep the smell away from the living areas.

We both want to put a tile backsplash in the kitchen. It's so much easier to clean than paint. I'd like to do it in the showers up to the ceiling, too. I like high pressure showers, which means that water typically splashes up above the waterproofed area onto the drywall. Bad.

The basement will have the framed walls drywalled, but the concrete walls won't be, nor the ceiling, and the bathroom (rough in) won't be walled off. We'll need extensive lighting in there, since that will be the 'messy crafts' and storage area. Plus, if we can't get DSL (or don't like the service), I'll need to put a server down there for cable broadband. I am NOT going back to dialup, ever.

We planned to put a chest freezer for stocking up on sales items. My parents pointed out that you still have to pay electricity, so it's not a COMPLETE savings. I need to do a bit of research to calculate if it's economical or not. Mainly, finding out how much it costs to run one, and pricing of goods in the area.

Damn, sometimes I'm too much of an engineer for my own good.