It's Official

[z28luvr01]

I'm a homeowner.

Just got home from closing. What a exhaustive, draining process.

The specs on the place: 2BR, 2 bath, LR, DR, EIK, and a 2 car garage(!!)

[NOS2006]

Congratulations, bud!

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Congrats to you sir!!

[Intrepidation]

Congrats!

[balthazar]

The hell with the house; we need dimensions (including overhead) of the garage, and pics. Power supply, tool/equipment plans, storage potential, automobilia thoughts, c'mon...

Seriously: Yahoo for you & yours.

[Drew Dowdell]

Congrats!

[Camino LS6]

Man, I'm glad to hear this!

I've been starving for some good news.

Congrats Z, all the best to you in your new home.

+1 on the garage pics/plans.

[regfootball]

congrats on buying low. despite the current real estate fracas, its a good decision to be a homeowner, as long as you are well protected. enjoy your new home!

[ocnblu]

All the best to you, Mr. Z. It's a great feeling knowing you own your own home. Pics, please!

[daves87rs]

Congrats!

[knightfan26917]

Awesome news ... CONGRATULATIONS!

Enjoy it .

Cort | 36swm.IL | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker * my radio show.03/13/10 *

WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"How can anybody be so lucky?" ... John Conlee ... 'Domestic Life'

[trinacriabob]

How did I miss this? This is GREAT.

I'm one of those people who spends a lot of times looking at housing brochures from all over the country, so I know what EIK stands for! Also, it's great to have a two-car garage. Visually, it makes the house look more substantial...plus it's just plain nice to have.

I have owned 2x. A detached home in the north Atlanta suburbs and a townhome in the Seattle suburbs. They were both really good experiences, especially the Atlanta house which was 4-sided brick.

Be sure to post some pictures once you take possession. Congrats!

[daves87rs]

I hope I can get one...

[z28luvr01]

Well, I've been pretty much working morning till night trying to prep the place so I can move in. I have pics of it here. They were taken right after I took the keys this past Friday. The vintage 1970s full-length mirrors around the fireplace are long gone, to eventually be replaced with thin brick or ceramic brick-look tile. With the help of a friend, I have the majority of the ceilings painted (still one coat to go in the living room and foyeur). I'm hoping to finish all the painitng by Friday (I'll have another friend join us on Thursday and Friday). After that, I'm going to pull out all the rugs (especially the lovely pink ones) and replace it with a nice engineered hardwood the first weekend in March. I'm targeting a mid-March move-in.

[Drew Dowdell]

Very nice looking house... but we're gonna have to have a talk about those window treatments.

If I might make a suggestion about the flooring. Costco is having an $8.00 per case discount on bamboo flooring right now. It's the cheapest I've ever seen it. It installs the same as the engineered hardwood and it's very environmentally friendly. It's also not a bamboo laminate over top of particle board. The bamboo at Costco is 100% bamboo all the way through. I think the price works out to be about $1.15 a sq foot with the current sale.

If you don't have a Costco membership, find a friend to buy you a gift card. That's all you need to get in the door.

[daves87rs]

Very cool!

[vonVeezelsnider]

I would echo Oldsmoboi, you don't want fake flooring, laminate is gross. At our house we have this great mill run (natural color variation) oak flooring that we got for real cheap because they had discontinued the shade and replaced it with one that was slightly darker. Look at some of the smaller hardware stores for good deals like that too if the Bamboo isn't to your liking.

[Paolino]

Congrats man! Where abouts? It looks like a beauty!

[regfootball]

as an architect, i desppise faux materials and hate laminated flooring with passion. it looks wrong, feels wrong, sounds wrong.

i understand the motivations though.

if you search enough places and clearing houses you can find real wood flooring for attractive prices and its real. laminated pergo type floors are what fake wood paneling was 3 decades ago. just wrong. but i do understand why folks buy it. easy to install and inexpensive.

[ocnblu]

Very cool joint! Shame about the snow in the backyard. Are you planning on keeping that? Because I'd advise putting down some grass. You'd have to mow it though.

[Drew Dowdell]

as an architect, i desppise faux materials and hate laminated flooring with passion. it looks wrong, feels wrong, sounds wrong.

i understand the motivations though.

if you search enough places and clearing houses you can find real wood flooring for attractive prices and its real. laminated pergo type floors are what fake wood paneling was 3 decades ago. just wrong. but i do understand why folks buy it. easy to install and inexpensive.

What's your opinion on bamboo?

[z28luvr01]

No no no, I'm not doing laminate.

Engineered hardwood uses a thin layer of hardwood atop a plywood-like core. From the top it looks exactly like hardwood. The finish I picked out is high-gloss elm. It's got a very deep shine. I could only choose between engineered hw and laminate because it's being put directly over a slab, so I need to do a floating floor of sorts.

I'm interested to know how bamboo holds up to wear and tear and how much effort you need to nick it vs. hardwood. I'm eventually going to redo the entire kitchen, and I'm open to flooring options that will wear well and not look like crap after I inevitably drop a pot or a can on it.

[SAmadei]

Engineered hardwood uses a thin layer of hardwood atop a plywood-like core. From the top it looks exactly like hardwood. The finish I picked out is high-gloss elm. It's got a very deep shine. I could only choose between engineered hw and laminate because it's being put directly over a slab, so I need to do a floating floor of sorts.

The Engineered Hardwood versus Hardwood was a major issue in my GF's remodel. It was also a slab, so she was talked into the EH... unfortunately, after its done, it dents and scratches every time you as much as look at it, its not sitting on the slab right, so it oilcans as you walk over it. Now the dry winter weather has shrunk the wood and gaps are forming. I'm just not impressed... sure the color and variation is great, but it just does not look right to me.

Its a shame because the hardwood she was going to use was Brazilian Walnut from Lumber Liquidators... and it was so hard and indestructible, the samples were almost like tile. I'm convinced the contractor insisted on the EH because it was easier to install... it was only a 30% savings over the real wood, IIRC.

Of course, the hardwood would have required some kind of underlayment... but I'm sure it was not too hard. I'm also sure the contractor would have screwed up that install, too.

I'm interested to know how bamboo holds up to wear and tear and how much effort you need to nick it vs. hardwood. I'm eventually going to redo the entire kitchen, and I'm open to flooring options that will wear well and not look like crap after I inevitably drop a pot or a can on it.

My experience with Bamboo is mixed... it seems like it dents and scratches pretty bad. I generally like the Bamboo pattern and its renewability, but I have yet to see a Bamboo floor that impresses me. Same with core... like it in theory... haven't been impressed yet.

Of course, impressing me with hardwood floors is a tough job. I've got a vintage 1959 hardwood floor in one house that has been absolutely abused for 30+ years... and it looks better to me, IMHO, that most new floors. Not only that, it still has enough material to be refinished... and I like the refinished, flat, one-piece look a lot better than the pre-varnished wood with beveled edges.

[Z-06]

The problem with bamboo is that due to the "slipperiness" of the material texture, it is difficult to give it a color that really marinates the material and makes it feel rich. It is very light and has great flexibility, but it is prone to dings and scratches as SAm mentioned. It is a compromise you should be willing to live with.

[trinacriabob]

For me, I prefer hardwoods in the living room, dining room, kitchen and breakfast nook. Even then, I prefer that most of those would be covered by area rugs. I want carpeting in any other room, except for the bathrooms and the laundry room. I don't like stepping out of bed onto a cold floor.

I remember how nice it was to have marble floors when we lived in Europe. It was NOT considered a luxury. Every house had marble floors. Then, as a result of living in the U.S., I came to like carpeting and the fact that you can walk in your home barefoot.

Frank, btw, you know you will always give directions as follows: "hey, you know, the house with the windmill!"

Edited February 25, 2010 by trinacriabob

[Drew Dowdell]

Costco has a version of the bamboo that is a floating style floor also.... but it's more expensive, but it has the pad built in