It happened again!

This time, I was much more calm, cool and collected. Steve was in the basement, and I yelled downstairs, "Steve! There is water coming from upstairs." He immediately shut off the water and came upstairs.

Again, it was over the bathroom door. Again, the toilet had overflowed. Moments later, a knock on the door. Our tenant was desperate to use the loo, you see. If you think about it, the whole situation is pretty funny really. Water comes pouring down over our bathroom door. Moments later tenant comes in with legs crossed begging to use our bathroom. Funny.

Fortunately, there was no real damage as the water came through the door trim again, which is just so weird.

Of course, the first question Steve asked was, "Has the toilet been acting up?" Our tenant, in a meek voice said, "Well, yes a little, but I didn't notice it until this morning."

A yes, the life of a landlord is filled with trials and tribulations. Those who throw away a plunger because it has feces on it and those who don't heed warning signs. It's best to just laugh sometimes.

p.s. We do like these tenants pretty well. They are just a bit young and inexperienced.

Some Small Improvements

This weekend, we finally got to do some things on the first floor, one of which was replacing the sad Charlie Brown light in our bedroom.

We had another fixture, but it shorted out a while back and we never bothered to rewire it. I'll probably sell it on eBay at some point. What you see at left is what we've had there for about a year.



We decided on the Grant Court a ceiling mounted fixture from Rejuvenation. I actually like my bedroom now. I truly believe that holes in walls are bad for one's psyche. The only reason I believe this is because when we eliminate them, I inexplicably feel better.



I also installed the rustic shelves I ordered from Wisteria this summer.



Our bedroom is not very big. Someday, when we refinish the basement, we may create a master suite downstairs. To tell the truth, that's a ways off. We have to save some money for that project.



I used the shelves to display my collection of finials.

I also installed some hooks in my closet, installed a new door stop in our bedroom, and did some more clearing in the yard. I've been doing it in stages this year.

It's nice to finally have time to work on "little"-er projects in the first floor now that we have people living upstairs.

Footnote: Yesterday I came home and told Steve the entry smelled like paint. I realized that it was probably the marine varnish I had applied Saturday (to the threshold). Steve just told me that last night he had a nightmare that the tenants painted the entire apartment white but not the trim. Ah, the joy and serenity of being a paranoid landlord.

So Long 2nd Floor...

The day has finally arrived. Our tenants worked things out and we decided to let them move in with a month to month lease. In case you don't know, this kind of lease requires only 30 days notice to vacate on either side. We feel safer this way. The one roommate is going to help the other financially until they find a permanent job. We are hoping for the best, but even their permanent lease only goes till August 31st so we are not locked in for long. It would behoove them to behave if they want to stay here- we've clearly communicating the tolerances in the building- now it's up to them.
They moved in Thursday. I left them a box of Frango mints and a Christmas card- trying to start off on a positive note. So far they haven't ackowledged the gift, but like I told Steve, I am all about my side of the street. I did good by giving a gift. What they do- that is their karma not mine!

I thought I'd take this time to say a long awaited "so long" to the second floor. It's been unoccupied for 7 months and I hope J & W can make it a home. We did our part to make it homey-just take a look.


Cast iron Hunter ceiling fan- made to last a lifetime.


Unlacquered polished brass sconces from Rejuvenation. The unlacquered brass will age to a fine patina (we hope).


Wood blinds were pretty costly, so we opted for sheers from Target hemmed to fit the dining and living room windows.


The bedrooms have black out roller shades with fringe.



To make things last, you have to build them right. We added door stops wherever needed to protect the walls and woodwork.




Before, there were cheap hardware store plates and knobs covered in layers of paint. What on earth happened to the originals I wonder? At least they kept the original doors though.

We replaced all the hardware with real vintage hardware.



We stripped and waxed the original hex tile floor. It's not perfect, but it looks fine I think.




I can't not mention Steve's custom medicine cabinet.



And Steve buffed all the grout haze off as well as sealing the tile.



Not much to look at, but for what it's worth we sanded, filled and repainted the three radiator covers. We also coated them with poly to make the finish last (hopefully) longer.



Cast iron brackets and solid oak shelving in the pantry.






Granite counter top, tiled backsplash, vented to the outside microwave, and new energy efficient appliances.



I'm happy we had most of the original hinges and they are 100 years old and still going strong. Where we needed to, we got replacements from Jan's Antiques.



I photocopied all the instructions for the appliances.



It's always a little project getting the keys ready. Steve engraves them all too. Have I told you he's a perfectionist lately?



Billie says "bye" too. Wish us luck!

The life of a landlord is filled with trials and tribulations...

The mums are dead and our tenants have fallen through. One of them lost their job and is backing out. This is probably for the best and I don't really blame her. If I was living at home and lost my job and I had the choice between the hellish stress of finding a job and moving at the same time or staying put, I'd opt for the first choice.

Still, it's a bit of a bitter pill right now. We do have a deposit from them, which we can't give back, but we will probably let them out of the lease once we verify that she has in fact lost her job and is not just "wimping out". If she is lying, we will require her to pay for advertising. We still wouldn't hold her to the lease because we don't need liars in our building.

I feel fairly bummed about this and so I am going to do whatever I feel like doing this weekend. I will probably use some of my x-mas bonus to go shopping for clothes. I will wear pajamas till noon. I will walk my dogs. And I will allow myself to feel a little sorry for myself because I have earned that right.

It's funny, but writing about problems on the blog always makes them more poignant to me. It somehow makes them have a bit more meaning. Does anyone else feel this way? It's like my life becomes a story that might be interesting to read about and that makes it not seem so random and pointless.

I really need to buy my lap top so I can start writing that novel I have always wanted to write. I have a number of subjects already in mind for different books. I've started before, but I just can't bring myself to sit at a desk all night after sitting at one all day. I am going to be a couch-writer not a desk writer. It's winter and it's time.

And regarding the photo of the torch, in case my meaning isn't clear, I mean to communicate that the fire hasn't gone out here at the 2-flat. A little bump in the road like this won't take the wheels of our wagon. We've built it to last.

Closure

I have been somewhat remiss on blogging lately. It's probably due to the change in seasons and having such an all-involving project as the 2nd floor winding down to completion. Believe it or not, we still have a few things to do up there.

Steve installed the stairway railing this weekend and it was a real bear of a project. We used a drill attachment with a buffing pad to buff the grout haze off the bathroom tile. One of those things our contractor should have done, but we didn't notice it until he was gone. It was kind of a "rats!" moment when we realized that and as you can see we procrastinated it for a while.

I worked on cleaning up the basement more and various small and sundry tasks. All that remains to be done upstairs is to clean and wax the bathroom floor and replace the broken mirror in the medicine cabinet. Oh, and we still need to break down the drying rack in the garage.

It's amazing how many little things we had on our punch list. Everything from polyurethaning window sills and shelving to caulking the holes around the radiator pipes to installing a paper towel holder to installing a dimmer switch and on and on. Steve kept adding to it. He's really a perfectionist and he sometimes suffers for it. I know he's really glad to be done with this project. I was over it 3 weeks ago!

Anyway, I have some great news to report and that is that we have found our tenants and they signed the lease on Tuesday! They will be moving in mid-December. They really seem to appreciate the apartment and we are hoping it will work out well. I have a good feeling and I suspect that karma-wise we are due for a better experience than the last one.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Update on 2nd floor etc...

Last weekend, Steve & I worked on installing the stairwell railing. He used manual Jorgenson miter saw to cut the angles. And he installed the hardware. He stained it today and will poly the railing tomorrow.

I cleaned the front entry floor(see left) with an abrasive disc attachment on a drill and Comet. I got up the stains and paint residue, but I didn't want it too clean. After all, it's 100 years old and it shouldn't look brand new.

The only trick to this project was that I had to paper off all the walls and doors because the stuff splatters everywhere.

We also showed the apartment to a couple of youngsters and they absolutely loved it. It's a guy and girl and they've been friends since high school and now are out of college and 23 years old and moving to the city from the burbs.

I had my "quiet building" talk with them and told them some about some of our previous tenants bad behavior. Their eyes got very wide and they were sympathetic. They said they are computer nerds and the only noise they might make would be video games and they would turn them down if asked. I liked them.

We were trying to avoid younger people because they can be more loud we think, but they seem okay and we are willing to give them a try.

They haven't signed a lease yet, but probably will soon. I will be so relieved to have this task accomplished and am hoping for the best.