The Plaster Queen

That's what I call myself now. We had several, smallish repairs to make on the walls of our condo and I headed this project.

I learned how to patch drywall and plaster! Here are a couple of handy videos and such for you:

Drywall patching: How to patch a hole in your wall.
Plaster repair: How To Plaster A Hole In The Wall.
An article on the differences between plaster and drywall from How Stuff Works: What is the difference between drywall and plaster?
Another article to help with drywall patches: Hole in the Wall Help.

And here is some of my excellent work! Or decent work.

Drywall patching:

Before

After! But before sanding and painting.

Plaster patching:

This corner was particularly nasty to fix. Luckily the trim will cover most of it.

More plastering:

A mostly finished patch. It needed one more layer.

After that was finished, we primed the walls and repainted:

The lighting makes it tough to see, but the new, light green is on the right and the old, olive-y green is on the left. Looks brown here...

After that was underway, Isaac and I went to Ikea and bought curtains and panels. Our balcony door has not been covered for months! It's nice to have the privacy back.

I know it is difficult to see, but the walls are light green and the hangings are grey and white. The curtains are brown.

Recently, we went and got a brand new bed, too! That was very exciting! Got a nice bed frame, a new mattress (which we desperately needed) and a box spring. Thanks Ikea!

So there are some of the most recent home repairs! Our living room is really coming together. Just a little more painting to do, the trim, and to hem the curtain! Then we get to move on to the dining area and kitchen! So exciting! And thanks to my love, Isaac, who did almost all of the tiling and he put the hangings and curtains up! Though I did hem them. Badly, because Ikea's curtains are not straight and even. Oh well.

Thoughts of a New Homeowner

For those of you who don't know, Isaac and I (with the very generous help of Isaac's parents for the down payment) bought a condo! It is a cute little place with two bedrooms and two full bathrooms. It even came with a washer and dryer, which is a wonderful selling point if you ask me.

As we move into the new place and talk about paint and furniture and, yes, the stereotypical curtains, several things are running through my head.

Our cute welcome mat! Bought at Bed Bath and Beyond.

 First and foremost, we are happy to come home.

"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." ~Maya Angelou


In my first apartment, where I lived when Isaac first moved in, I liked it, but he didn't as much. And it turned out to be a bit small for two people and three hamsters.

The apartment we moved into had two rooms and much more space for the same amount of money. The night we started to move in, I cried. I didn't like it or the area. Isaac was excited to have more space and to make it ours. As I adjusted and unpacked, it started to feel OK. Except for the people above us continually flooding their bathroom. Which happened to be over our bed. And the kids banging on our door and running. And our windows. And occasionally throwing rocks at the windows... The area wasn't great. I didn't feel safe and Isaac began to feel uncomfortable with it all, as well. The result was that by the time Isaac's parents got us in on the condo, we were ready to move.

Now we are still moving, but the new condo already feels good. We are happy to come here, even with all of our boxes everywhere and nothing put away. Being happy, both of us being happy, with our home has made things so wonderful and fresh.

"I love this house. I thought I must stay here the moment I saw it. I can't explain it. It was if the house itself were welcoming me, asking me to rescue it from being so empty." ~From 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'

I sometimes feel a little panicked. It is a lot more responsibility than the apartments, of course. Bills seem bigger (though overall we are paying about the same for everything). We need to replace the hot water heater (most expensive and pressing issue). Walls need to be painted (which seems like an exciting chore, actually). We need moulding in several rooms. Leaks are our problem now and we don't have plugs in our bathroom sinks (I nearly lost an earring already, but Isaac was nice enough to take apart the pipes for me and retrieve it). All of these things are our responsibility now. It seems like a lot (and there is more than what I have listed). We are going to try to fix the important stuff soon. And we have been talking about renting out the other bedroom until we feel a little less panicked about everything.

Anyhow, I cannot wait until everything is moved in and settled. And I love, LOVE not having to haul my laundry to my mom's. Doing it here is so convenient and wonderful. My mom said, "And getting to do your laundry in your own home! That's sure confirmation of adulthood." Haha. It all continues to be exciting and wonderful (and generally less stressful than our last move, though we have had a couple small spats).

"But it was your home." "It was a place I once lived. End of story." "Then must plan on making Paris your true home." "What is it with you and homes?" "Well for one thing it's something every normal person wants." ~From 'Anastasia'

Since all of this is so new to me, I will probably be learning bits and pieces about home repair. I will try to keep a log of that here. Maybe it can come in useful for other first-time home owners.

Next step: finish moving. Then put things away. Then host a house-warming party. Oh yes :)