And when I say "our" I mostly mean "Dan", since I have been unavailable to help with most of these projects.
Living Room Ceiling Fan
One of my favorite additions is this new ceiling fan in the living room. It's a bit more modern than the ceiling fans in our Brookside home, but it's exactly what I've been looking for. I saw it online and loved it, but of course it was out of our price range. Dan saved the day though and found it for me on eBay at a discounted price.
Kitchen Faucet
The kitchen sink faucet that came with the house originally was quite old and constantly leaked. You had to shut off the water just right to keep the leak to a minimum, but even then it would still drip. Dan installed this new faucet which looks much better and most importantly doesn't leak.
Hot Water Heater & Purification System
Dan's favorite update is our new hot water heater and purification system. He found a great deal on a top of the line water heater and purification system. The water heater is an A.O. Smith Vertex Hybrid Water Heater which means it is really efficient and and it will provide lots of continuous hot water. The second portion of the system is a Puraflow water conditioning system which treats our water and reduces chlorine, bad taste and water hardness.
As I said earlier, Dan got a great deal on the entire system. The water heater is worth $2500, but we only paid $375 and the water purifier is worth $4000, but we got it for $175. The secret to our success is Dan's great deal skills and our favorite eBay store, Cargo Largo.
Basement Work Area
This next item isn't a huge improvement, but it is very nice to have the basement organized and now when I need a screwdriver for a 30 second task it doesn't take me 20 minutes to find it. The work bench came with the house, but we moved it to this corner of the basement so that we could hang the cabinets above. If the cabinets look familiar it's because they are from our Brookside house. We took them out when we finished the basement and kept them around hoping to reuse them. Because of the piping in the basement, this corner was the only space wide enough for the cabinets to fit up against the wall. They just barely fit, making the installation of them quite tricky. At one point I was balancing the entire set of cabinets while Dan rushed to get some screws in. Somehow we managed to get it attached without the cabinets falling on anyone. After installing them we moved all of our tools from the Brookside house over to the new house making it one less thing to haul once we decide to make the official big move.
Work Sink
The new work sink was installed in the basement. Dan found this industrial kitchen sink on Craigslist several weeks ago. Recently we got it set up and connected to the plumbing in the basement. This sink is a major improvement compared to the plastic double basin we have in the Brookside house. We will have more space with this sink and it will be more resistant to stains and messes from the stuff we wash in it.
Electrical
The electricians are coming along very quickly. They've rewired the entire first floor and are now working on the second floor. They've also installed some extra lighting in the living room and a jamb switch in the coat closet so that the light is on whenever the door is open.
We still have a few small projects and yard work to do, but major construction will not take place until next spring (if everything works out). We are currently in the process of finding an architect and hope to begin developing the house plans in the next few months.
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