#21 - Alleyway Outlet Shopping
Who wants to know the latest in Operation Renovation?!
Here it is in rapid-fire succession:
1. There's no drywall yet. It's still pink and stinky with insulation, but it's 100% ready for drywall. The pee smell is still there, but it's not as strong or we just don't notice it anymore. Have you ever walked into a house that stinks and you wonder how the people can stand to live there? Like, you're trying to politely not gag and they're eating chocolate pudding with zero trouble? Well, they probably got used to it. They don't know their house smells and that's how they can eat chocolate pudding happily. I don't even notice the pee smell, but I betcha visitors do. Poor things. Sorry!
2. Our gas line is moved! And all of the electrical features work! And Matt has been out there tinkering with things like a maniac. It's kinda funny actually. He's 100% capable of doing all of this by himself, he's knowledgeable about a lot of stuff, and when he's not he's really good a figuring things out... so he's probably a real joy to work for. ;-) The electrician has a good sense of humor and doesn't even bat an eye when he returns after having worked the day before and Matt "couldn't help himself" and changed/fixed/improved/altered something. It makes me laugh. The workers usually park in the back yard, so one day the electrician arrived and only my van was in the driveway indicating that Matt was not home. Not 20 seconds after the electrician got around the back of the house, Matt pulled in the driveway and came in through the front door. By that time, the electrician went into the addition and knocked on the Hobbit door expecting to talk to me, but Matt is the one that answered and the electrician jumped! He said, "Oh, man...I wasn't expecting you! I was expecting the easy going one!" When Matt is out there working on things or talking to him about things, he'll often say, "Okay! Go take a break! Take two breaks!" We get a kick out of him.
3. Remember the weekend when everything fell apart? Well, there was one thing that wasn't on the list. And it was our van! Our van wanted to get a little TLC action too and decided now was a good time to become high-maintenance. Really, van? It took a little trip to the shop and got a 4-figure makeover. And guess what?! It's not totally fixed so we have to take it back. AGH. I'm not complaining. We don't even need a go-fund-me or anything...this is just life in the fast lane and you gotta roll with the punches. In the big scheme it is not a big deal. But the timing could've been a little better. We haven't even fixed the vanity problem from the washing machine leak yet! All in good time.
4. That day we found the cupboard doors for upstairs was full of all kinds of searching for the perfect item. Remember when I bought our bathroom lights from Pottery Barn? That, obviously, put me on their email list. That's B-A-D. This one email came through with the prettiest bathroom vanity I ever did see. It was the one for the upstairs bathroom. The one I didn't know I needed until I saw it. The color, the texture, everything. But it was around $1500!! Ain't no way! No. Way. So, I took a little trip to the Pottery Barn Outlet thinking, "Today is the day. I'm going to find that vanity. Oh man. How awesome would it be to find a smokin' hot deal!" I got to the outlet, and walked around for a little while. I didn't see a single vanity for the first 10 minutes I was there. But I kept at it. I just knew it would be there. And lo and behold, the lights came down from heaven AGAIN and there was my vanity. I walked past that spot 10 other times before and somehow missed it each time.
I walked closer. I checked it out, opened the drawers, looked at the pretty caning on the doors and marveled that MY VANITY was at the Pottery Barn Outlet on the day I went to find it! I couldn't find the price tag at first. My heart started racing a little bit (lame) as I looked around for it. Finally, I found the tag...couldn't wait to see what the amazing outlet price would be. Turned the tag over and was shocked to see that the vanity was $118!!! I thought to myself, "$118, OH MY GOSH! What do I do? I can't carry it. But I don't want someone else to get it. I am NOT walking away from this. Do I throw my body onto it, chain myself to it? Drag it to the register?" I even looked around to make sure no other customers were coming to fight me for it. But then, oh. I looked again. Something wasn't right. Oh Nooooo! JOKE IS ON ME! It was actually $1,118! I missed that very important 1. My eyes were expecting a 3 digit number, so I missed that pesky 4th digit. I don't live my life in 4 digit numbers (Van! GET THE MESSAGE!) I jumped back away from the stupid ugly vanity faster than a buck walking into a stinky hunter's scent trail. Who wants that caning anyway? Probably gets really, really, really dusty. And I stink at dusting.
So, I didn't get a vanity that day.
However, I have been browsing Craigslist frequently for bathroom vanities. We just don't want to walk into the store and pay full price for something that is so common as a second-hand item. I did a search on Wednesday and I happened to find a vanity for $135! This was a real, actual 3-digit number, praise the Lord for that. However, it was Wednesday and we had zero time to go anywhere to pick up anything. Plus, the town listed is about 35 minutes away from us AND the seller does not hold items. It's first come, first served. I texted the man and told him I'd check in with him on Thursday to see if the $135 beauty was still available.
The thing is, this building business is one half planning ahead, one half flying by the seat of our pants and being opportunists. Sure, I would have loved that pretty (dust magnet) Pottery Barn vanity. In my dream world, I could design everything to the very last detail and then go buy it all. I've said before that i love home decor! I could read design magazines and design blogs all day long and never get tired of them! But, I also love practicality. I cannot justify spending $1118 on a vanity, when I can find one that's just as good - albeit a different style - for a fraction of the cost! Again, in the big scheme, it matters very little if we have lovely wooden vanity with (dust collecting) caning on the doors or a pretty white vanity that was 90% less. They are both good!
So, we arranged with the man to pick up the vanity. And we ended up at one of the places where people are constantly getting killed on 20/20 and 48 hours.. It was dark, rainy night and here we are, an unsuspecting family of 5 driving down the road in a warehousey part town, with creepy yellow-hued flood lights on all the buildings, where there are no other humans for miles around just so we can meet a stranger in a dark parking lot of a storage unit and a get a smoking hot deal on a bathroom vanity. This is where I question our life choices. Matt went in to look at it, I stayed in the car with the kids until he came back unharmed and still alive and told me it was ok to take a look. Turns out, the guy was super down-to-earth, and he's got a great resale business going on. (And I have seen too many tv shows.)
So here's our vanity for our upstairs bathroom! It has some flaws that can easily be fixed.
$135 for our vanity comes in well below what we budgeted! $135 for a nice vanity is basically free. We just need to purchase a top for it.
5. We also found our patio door on craigslist for $200 vs. $2000! I'm telling you. If you're willing to possibly get killed or kidnapped if it doesn't work out, Craigslist is really great option. (Always take a friend, and try not to meet in dark parking lots unless it's November and it gets dark at 2:30 in the afternoon and you have no choice!)
5. I still need to tell the bank story. Oh the bank! I'm still annoyed.
6. Go see the movie Wonder. It's 2 of the best hours you'll ever spend in your lifetime. August Pullman is my favorite literary character now. ( can I say that if i haven't actually read the book? I'm gonna read the book.)
7. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Here it is in rapid-fire succession:
1. There's no drywall yet. It's still pink and stinky with insulation, but it's 100% ready for drywall. The pee smell is still there, but it's not as strong or we just don't notice it anymore. Have you ever walked into a house that stinks and you wonder how the people can stand to live there? Like, you're trying to politely not gag and they're eating chocolate pudding with zero trouble? Well, they probably got used to it. They don't know their house smells and that's how they can eat chocolate pudding happily. I don't even notice the pee smell, but I betcha visitors do. Poor things. Sorry!
2. Our gas line is moved! And all of the electrical features work! And Matt has been out there tinkering with things like a maniac. It's kinda funny actually. He's 100% capable of doing all of this by himself, he's knowledgeable about a lot of stuff, and when he's not he's really good a figuring things out... so he's probably a real joy to work for. ;-) The electrician has a good sense of humor and doesn't even bat an eye when he returns after having worked the day before and Matt "couldn't help himself" and changed/fixed/improved/altered something. It makes me laugh. The workers usually park in the back yard, so one day the electrician arrived and only my van was in the driveway indicating that Matt was not home. Not 20 seconds after the electrician got around the back of the house, Matt pulled in the driveway and came in through the front door. By that time, the electrician went into the addition and knocked on the Hobbit door expecting to talk to me, but Matt is the one that answered and the electrician jumped! He said, "Oh, man...I wasn't expecting you! I was expecting the easy going one!" When Matt is out there working on things or talking to him about things, he'll often say, "Okay! Go take a break! Take two breaks!" We get a kick out of him.
3. Remember the weekend when everything fell apart? Well, there was one thing that wasn't on the list. And it was our van! Our van wanted to get a little TLC action too and decided now was a good time to become high-maintenance. Really, van? It took a little trip to the shop and got a 4-figure makeover. And guess what?! It's not totally fixed so we have to take it back. AGH. I'm not complaining. We don't even need a go-fund-me or anything...this is just life in the fast lane and you gotta roll with the punches. In the big scheme it is not a big deal. But the timing could've been a little better. We haven't even fixed the vanity problem from the washing machine leak yet! All in good time.
4. That day we found the cupboard doors for upstairs was full of all kinds of searching for the perfect item. Remember when I bought our bathroom lights from Pottery Barn? That, obviously, put me on their email list. That's B-A-D. This one email came through with the prettiest bathroom vanity I ever did see. It was the one for the upstairs bathroom. The one I didn't know I needed until I saw it. The color, the texture, everything. But it was around $1500!! Ain't no way! No. Way. So, I took a little trip to the Pottery Barn Outlet thinking, "Today is the day. I'm going to find that vanity. Oh man. How awesome would it be to find a smokin' hot deal!" I got to the outlet, and walked around for a little while. I didn't see a single vanity for the first 10 minutes I was there. But I kept at it. I just knew it would be there. And lo and behold, the lights came down from heaven AGAIN and there was my vanity. I walked past that spot 10 other times before and somehow missed it each time.
I walked closer. I checked it out, opened the drawers, looked at the pretty caning on the doors and marveled that MY VANITY was at the Pottery Barn Outlet on the day I went to find it! I couldn't find the price tag at first. My heart started racing a little bit (lame) as I looked around for it. Finally, I found the tag...couldn't wait to see what the amazing outlet price would be. Turned the tag over and was shocked to see that the vanity was $118!!! I thought to myself, "$118, OH MY GOSH! What do I do? I can't carry it. But I don't want someone else to get it. I am NOT walking away from this. Do I throw my body onto it, chain myself to it? Drag it to the register?" I even looked around to make sure no other customers were coming to fight me for it. But then, oh. I looked again. Something wasn't right. Oh Nooooo! JOKE IS ON ME! It was actually $1,118! I missed that very important 1. My eyes were expecting a 3 digit number, so I missed that pesky 4th digit. I don't live my life in 4 digit numbers (Van! GET THE MESSAGE!) I jumped back away from the stupid ugly vanity faster than a buck walking into a stinky hunter's scent trail. Who wants that caning anyway? Probably gets really, really, really dusty. And I stink at dusting.
So, I didn't get a vanity that day.
 |
| NOT the one. But SOOO pretty. |
The thing is, this building business is one half planning ahead, one half flying by the seat of our pants and being opportunists. Sure, I would have loved that pretty (dust magnet) Pottery Barn vanity. In my dream world, I could design everything to the very last detail and then go buy it all. I've said before that i love home decor! I could read design magazines and design blogs all day long and never get tired of them! But, I also love practicality. I cannot justify spending $1118 on a vanity, when I can find one that's just as good - albeit a different style - for a fraction of the cost! Again, in the big scheme, it matters very little if we have lovely wooden vanity with (dust collecting) caning on the doors or a pretty white vanity that was 90% less. They are both good!
 |
| Our favorite home decor store |
So here's our vanity for our upstairs bathroom! It has some flaws that can easily be fixed.
 |
| The one (it's a phone picture of my laptop screen so I could text it to matt, in case you were wondering why it's weird!) |
 |
| slight flaw, completely fixable. |
5. We also found our patio door on craigslist for $200 vs. $2000! I'm telling you. If you're willing to possibly get killed or kidnapped if it doesn't work out, Craigslist is really great option. (Always take a friend, and try not to meet in dark parking lots unless it's November and it gets dark at 2:30 in the afternoon and you have no choice!)
5. I still need to tell the bank story. Oh the bank! I'm still annoyed.
6. Go see the movie Wonder. It's 2 of the best hours you'll ever spend in your lifetime. August Pullman is my favorite literary character now. ( can I say that if i haven't actually read the book? I'm gonna read the book.)
7. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
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