The Great Moving Extravaganza of 2010

MOVE-IN WEEKEND: Aug. 13-15

Moving is always exhausting and draining, no matter when or how you do it.  However, this time felt especially daunting, given the five weeks of frantic house renovations that lead up to move-in weekend.

Luckily, we happen to have some really wonderful friends who drove far (and short) distances to help us.  When Seth, Julie, Nick, and Mark rolled in to town on Friday night, they found Tim, Josh, Will, Kevin, and I tired and weary, but they were eager and energetic - which was exactly what we needed.

Seth and Julie offered some much needed advice in the plumbing department, since they had done a lot of plumbing on their own house recently.  Nick is a git 'er done kind of worker, and started loading up the van almost immediately.  With the extra hands and the extra energy, we were able to get everything moved, the old house cleaned, and the toilets and sinks installed and leak-free by Sunday night!  We really couldn't have done it without our friends.

We did have a slight setback on Saturday when the electricity in half the house went out.  Nate Delong worked diligently to fix the problem, but it ended up being a problem with Duke (go figure).  So we finished moving and plumbing at the new house without air conditioning, which was....hot.  

A special thanks to: Seth & Julie Rowe, Mark Taracuk, Nick Cattin, Ellie Hansotte, Kristen Svenstrup, Whitney Dather, Nick Felton, Nate Delong, Travis Jeffords, Jessica Adams, Tim Street, and probably more that I've forgotten at this point...

I hope we can return the favor someday.

the bathroom sink crisis.

Before I tell you about The Great Moving Extravaganza of 2010, I thought I would tell you a little more about our wonderful IKEA bathroom sink.

As I mentioned briefly in the last post, Tim and I spent a good amount of time at IKEA debating various purchases.  In the bathroom section, we went back and forth between which sink/sink cabinet combinations we preferred.  My top choice was the simplistic and economical MOLGER sink frame for $45.  However, the only two sinks that fit this stand were a little to modern for Tim's taste.  Tim preffered the VITVIKEN sink which measured about 32" wide and 19" deep.  The MOLGER sink frame measured 19" deep, but the narrowest width available was 39".  After much debating, Tim convinced me that he could mount the VITVKEN sink on MOLGER frame and use the excess 6" to create a small shelf for toiletries.  We agreed on this compromise, but because I was still a little skeptical, Tim made me promise that if it turned out well that I would blog about it (hence, this blog post).  So....we placed our order for the mis-matched sink and frame and headed to the furniture pick-up where we picked up all the things we had ordered that day.

Late Thursday night (Move-Out Eve),  Kevin and Nick F. began assembling the MOLGER sink stand.  They were almost finished (and extremely pleased with themselves) when I noticed that some of the pieces looked extremely long.  I measured them and realized that the IKEA furniture pick-up dude had given us the 55" frame instead of the 39" frame.  This was extremely distressing because IKEA was 3 hours away and because we could not turn the water on to the house until all the sinks and faucets were installed. 

On Friday morning, Seth called to let us know what time they would be arriving in Bloomington later that night.  He asked how things were going and I told him about our sink dilemma.  Seth and Julie realized that they since the were driving through Cincinnati anyway to pick-up Nick C., they might be able to pick up a new sink frame for us!  After working out a few details, we had a plan - they would stop at IKEA on the way and purchase the correctly sized MOLGER and then return ours on the way home.  Phew - crisis averted!

So Friday night, Kevin and Nick F. were eager to assemble the correctly sized sink frame since they had done such and incredible job assembling the first one.  They put the whole thing together in record time, while Tim and some others had gone to Lowe's for some last minute supplies.  We excitedly placed the sink stand in its place in the bathroom and then lifted the VITVIKEN sink on top.  This is when we realized the VITVIKEN's dirty little secret!  While the front edge of the sink rested on the front edge of the MOLGER frame just as expected, the back edge of the sink jutted downward in two places so that it would not rest on the MOLGER frame at the same level.  When we placed the sink on the frame, the back of the sink was a about an inch higher than the front due to its irregular shape.  It resulted in a sink that was tilted forward like a pinball machine.

It was after 10:00 P.M. when Tim returned from Lowe's and I expected a frustrated and dejected response to our pinball machine bathroom sink.  But he really surprised me with his "Can-do" attitude and began brainstorming about ways to fix it.  He formulated a hypothesis and with the encouraging grunts of his dude bros, he carried the frame out the to saw, made a few cuts, and the problem was solved!

Kevin gave a few Tim Tayloresque celebratory grunts

The next day the girls took a trip to BB&B and I found the perfect little shelf to fit underneath the sink to store toiletries and some baskets for towels.  Notice that the sink is positioned all the way to the right on the frame and that the extra frame to the left is still missing a shelf (I stuck a little basket there for now, but it probably won't stay).  It's a work in progress, but we were just glad to have a bathroom sink.  Plus I think it looks pretty nice and fits the simple style we were going for.

Once it is completed maybe we'll send it in to IKEA Hacker!  Well, that's all for now more posts coming up very soon...

renovation, week 5

Week 5: Aug 7-13

Week 5 began with a trip to Cincinnati!  A friend from days of old got married and Will & Colleen, and Tim's parents were also there.  We had a wonderful time at the wedding, of course, but also took full advantage of our proximity to IKEA!  Since our kitchen cabinets had gotten damaged during the demolition, we were pricing new kitchen cabinets, countertops, and sinks.  After about 4 hours of winding, twisting paths of home furnishings, Tim and I had come to no decisions and were running low on both patience and time.  After we left IKEA, we decided to use our brother and sister-in-law's kitchen cabinets, since they are getting new ones (and they are FREE!).  

So when we returned to IKEA the next day, we settled on a kitchen countertop, kitchen sink, bathroom sink, bathroom sink stand and a pack of IKEA cinnamon rolls.  After some tetris-esque finagling of the countertop, we had packed our loot into the RAV and headed home.  (The countertop took up all the space in the passenger seat of the RAV, so I rode home with Tim's parents.  Luckily they had decided to come to Bloomington for a few days to help out on the house!)

Back in Bloomington, Josh, Kevin, and Rob had been working hard finishing up the painting.  They had bought the Million Dollar Red paint and pretty much had the kitchen finished by the time we got home on Sunday. 

So, Tim and his parents got started right away on installing the bamboo floors.  Mike came over to offer his expertise and brought Frank along too.  We all worked late into the night until Tim realized our neighbors may not enjoy the sound of the table saw at 11:00 pm.  However, thanks to a lot of help from Tim's parents, and other friends (like Nate and Laura below) the floors were finished just a few days!

Also, our good friend Mandy (of Schacht Farm fame - I blogged about them here) tiled our entire bathroom floor for us!  All I had to do was seal the grout.  I wish I had snapped a pic of her working on the tile, but she came while I was at work and knocked it out in just 2 days.  She is an amazing lady!  See Tim cutting the tile with the wet saw and the finished product below:

Guess how much all that tile cost?  $5 from the Restore - Booyah!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

Tim's little brother, Nick, drove up from Louisville and helped a TON!  One of the many jobs he did was install the shower faucet and Jared put up our new tub surround:

 

Charlie installed our new door jams:

 

Also, Josh put dowel rods up in our closets so we could hang our clothes, and made some sweet mini shelves in his closet out of leftover floor pieces.  I will share some sweet pics after we finish the closets (we are going to add some shelves).

On Thursday, only three days from when we had to be out of our old house, there was still a lot to do, but things were looking hopeful.  Our friends, Seth, Julie, Mark, Nick, Ellie, and Kristen were all coming to town for the weekend to help out, and we were really looking forward to their help, expertise and positive attitudes.  However, we weren't out of the woods just yet.......

STAY TUNED for the Bathroom Sink Saga & Tim's IKEA Hack + the Move-out EXTRAVANZA!