Friday, May 10, 2013

Major Milestones after Two Decades

After
The month of May marks the anniversary of when we moved out to the country twenty-three years ago. Yes, I remember it as if it were yesterday. All I have to do to remind myself is look at the items still on our "To Do" list.

Here is some of the best advice I have about building your own house: Never, ever move into a house that's still under construction.


That being said, I add with pride that our guest bedroom has finally received carpet. After all this time of Swiffering plywood sub floors, we have carpet! Whoo hoo! The beauty, smell and the newness of it brings back all the joy of home ownership and the delight of a project that has at long last found its completion.




Before: Tony liked the way it was.
For the past week I've been moving everything out of the guest bedroom slash office into the living room. It is incredible how much stuff can accumulate in just 23 short years.

I worked a corporate job out of that room when I telecommuted, ran a business out of there when I sold on eBay and shared both sadness and joy as old dogs slowed to a stop and new puppies were raised at my feet in that room.





At long last,we will start a new journey as we move into the downstairs bedroom to be with 12 year old Cookie Doe who can no longer make it upstairs to the master suite.


The carpet padding

As they rolled out the padding
Ready to install the carpet
I'm delighted that I saved several hundred dollars by comparing cost on the carpet installation. They don't make it easy to compare, since some sell carpet by the foot and some by the yard. Some charge for padding and others include it in the cost. Some add for tack strips and padding separately. Go figure. Literally.




Lowe's charged $35.00 to come out and measure, but you get that back (only) if you buy the carpet from them. Their estimate took nearly a week between waiting for the guy to come out and measure, then three days for Lowe's guy to calculate the estimate. Their "carpet specialist" was off duty for one of those days. Hey, everyone needs a day off.

The winning vendor, Wylie Carpet and Tile, used my own hand drawn measurements, gave me a prompt estimate in writing in 5 minutes and was $633.00 less than Lowe's, which had been $300.00 less than Home Depot.

Doing the comparison resulted in a 33 percent savings which turned out to be well worth doing the math.

Rolling out the carpet

Cookie tested, Cookie approved.

6 comments:

  1. I see that former buyer training kicked in and isn't it nice to save some money now and then. Nice choice of color and it looks Great! Poor Cookie. But nice of the family to make him feel at home downstairs. That is so you.

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  2. Hey there Mike. Yep. I haven't forgotten the basics on cost analysis from Purchasing. It was interesting that after I placed the order with a local vendor, the Lowe's guy called and let me know they had financing if that factored in. Nope. We saved up and paid cash. As we have on the house so far. Yep. Poor Cookie is starting to falter and is falling down frequently. Tony loves her and protects her so sweetly, after all, she raised him from a pup. That is the great thing about having non-stop dogs. They train each other. We love her and can't have her feeling afraid by herself downstairs.
    Thanks for stopping in so quickly and I'm keeping you in my prayers.
    Peg

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  3. Hi Peg! I know what you mean about the never ending to do list. Eleven years ago we bought a small house in the country, knowing it needed a lot of work. We had NO idea until we moved in just how much work it did need. We ended up adding a room to the front, making it the living room. My old living room became my new dining room. Now I can actually fit all my kids and grandkids in the house at the same time!
    We actually checked on carpet from Lowes too and ended up going with a company that one of my old friends works for. She managed to save us several hundred dollars and I will use her again for the new wood floor we will someday install in the dining room. Hopefully, we will have the house finished before we die! LOL
    I just say a widget here for several of us hubbers, great idea! Let me know how you did that and I will add your widget to my hubs. I hope you have a safe and happy Memorial Week-End! :)

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    1. Hi Sheila,
      Sounds like you've been living the same dream as I have! LOL. A finished house someday. This weekend is the actual anniversary of when we moved in. Wow - how time flies.

      We added a room to the back of the house that now serves as our TV - media room and we spend most of our time back there. Just that small change has made the house seem like a brand new place. We love it. Now, to finish the upstairs bedroom. I just need to find a place to put everything while we work on it.

      Sheila, it is really easy to input the widget. Here is a hub that explains the process quite well including adding it into your blog. If you want to add a widget for your favorite hubbers, then just substitute their on line name where your would be in the formula. Here is a link to that hub. http://probyte2u.hubpages.com/hub/Add-hubpages-widget-in-your-website-to-get-more-traffic
      If you have any difficulty, just let me know.

      BTW - If you receive an email from someone impersonating me that says something about an "amazing link" PLEASE do not open the link. It is a scam. I don't know how to stop them from using my name in emails. Still working on that.

      Thanks for dropping in and for the great comment. Hope you have a safe and fun Memorial day weekend, too.
      Peg

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  4. I Peg, I stopped by on the off chance there would be peach cobbler. lol I hope you are having a nice Memorial Day, maybe a BBQ. Hoping all is well.

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    1. Hi Mike, So nice to see you on the holiday. We made the obligatory trip to Home Depot to get some electrical wire for J's resurrected wiring project in his garage. Then dropped off grocs at M's and whew, home again jiggety jog. I had planned to grill out some steaks but the wind whipped up here and makes it too risky out here with the volunteer fire department. I hope you have a great day and please check back. I'm going to work on putting some road runner stuff up next. Toodle ooh and take care.

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