Friday, May 26, 2017

DESIGN FOR TINY LIVING - UPDATE

Wow!  The first two hour session turned into a four hour session, with two employees so actually EIGHT hours invested.

My closet was purged without any tears or regrets.  Catherine urged me to get all velour hangers as they encourage you to take the whole hanger with garment on OUT of the closet making it easier to put the empty hangers all on one side.  That tip alone has streamlined my life (and my Japanese laundry man (Jesse, the UNson-in-law) loves it as well).

She also sorted all the clothes by type and by color (blouses, vests, sweaters, etc).  I roll leggings and put them on end in a cute basket.  Now that I've lived with these modifications for a couple of weeks, I'm going to change the shoe storage and use the bottom section of my closet for clothes and just put shoes on the floor of the closet.  More practical for me.
Her handyman also came along so I got him to put a keypad lock on our front door so that Braeden can get in after school if we are running late (hasn't happened, but you never know!)  He changed out our ugly kick plate (little boys take that seriously??) and hung a few things.

I wanted to get a new phantom screen door with a latch rather than magnets and a new through the wall a/c unit as mine is 30 years old.  What I didn't understand is that I was being charged $65 per HOUR for that research (online and phone calls).  UH, what?  After a bit of discussion she changed the office work rate to half price (still too spendy for me!) and returned both items as I did not approve them FIRST.  HOA rules prevent any color but black on the screen door (they bought bronze) and I want a brand I have heard of for a/c.  In addition, she adds 20% to the cost of materials ... to cover travel ... but both were ordered online and delivered to them!  My grey must be showing but I refuse to pay that!

So I have some hours yet to use.  It will be a few weeks before we get to finish as we got notice from HOA that Jesse's plants in the front yard and on our patio must be gone ASAP.  Several residents have complained.

Kids are heading to the Coast for a mini vacay for Memorial Day so we will transport them to the farm upon their return.

So much to do and I need a nap!  Some days the Chaos wins!  But I love my little Gramma Pad and yearn for just a bit more to be complete

11 comments:

  1. What, no before and after pictures!? Lady, this will not do. Love how happy you are with how it all worked out.

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  2. I do have before photos. Have midway photos. Can't wait to have final photos! Will share for sure!

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  3. Yes! to photos! It feels great to get things organized. I'm so happy that you love your "Grandma Pad."

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  4. ... another thing...
    I want one of those keypad locks. We almost got locked out one time. We were sitting on the patio, and somehow the back door was locked. We got in through the side/garage door. Some times I'm out there in my pajamas. Getting locked out would not be great.

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    1. Keypad is the BEST! Ours is a Kwikset from Home Depot ... $65 or a bit more. I haven't tried changing the code ... but you can put in up to 6 codes ... so one for the maid, one for the butler, one for the handyman. Then you never forget to set out a key.

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  5. I would not do well with an HOA.

    PHOTOS! We demand photos!!!! I also need to know how big this Gramma Pad is--12x10, 14x16. Upstairs? Downstairs? I need to know these things to visualize. Maybe you could draw a floor plan of the entire condo, so I could see?

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    1. I think I published the floor plan earlier. 10x13. One window. Not sure I will get to it today, but I will put up the before and midway and the condo floor plan!

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  6. We are back from our cruise and are so sorry we couldn't meet.
    Looking forward to the before and after photos.
    We drove through your little downtown - it looked lovely.

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    1. I'm so sad we didn't meet up also! I live just east of the main intersections of "downtown" ... State and A. VERY walkable location ... as soon as I get my new knee!

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  7. Sounds like you're getting everything under control.

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    1. It is such a SLOW process. Have to depend on UNson-in-law to build shelves and desk for me ... and he has been swamped with the garden. Once everything is planted, he works for me!!!

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