condo

[bertine]

so, yesterday after i got off work eric and i worked on a lot of the finishing touches in my living room and cleaned up. i still have to hang the second layer of curtains as soon as i hem them and there is a little painting of woodwork and installing of some baseboard to do but we are pretty much done with this phase of it. we are trying a new layout for the kitchen, which i am liking so far but it might get a little annoying after awhile.

pretty much we are done until may/june when i have the work on my office budgeted. the fun thing about the office is that i am pretty sure i have a solution for the dryer issue (it isn't exactly what i want, but hey, if i don't have to carry my clothes down three flights of stairs, i'll be so happy).

anyways, this morning i woke up, went to my living room, drank some tea, read some magizines and watch some tv (we got cable on thursday, i haven't been able to watch regular tv since 1999) with a cat napping on my lap. you know what? it was wonderful.

Comments

[bertine.livejournal.com]

yup, i got this one chai tea stuff from whole foods. not the best stuff out there but exactly what i have been craving lately.

:)

[woodoo24.livejournal.com]

Man I hope I am half as motived as you when I start remodeling this store and apartment I just bought. If you do get the stripper let me know and I might just rent/buy it from you when you're done with it.

[bertine.livejournal.com]

I am so jealous of that. Where in Iowa is it? What are you going to do with it when you are done?

I would totally let you use it. Too bad you don't live closer, my family has pretty much every tool you would ever need to remodel something.

[woodoo24.livejournal.com]

Toledo...it's about 4 hours from MSP area...straight down HWY 63. I'm actually thinking of moving into the apartment myself. I've got a house right now but its tooo big for what I really need. Three bedroom, 2 bath, 1560 SQFT plus 1560SQFT basement and attached garage. Sits empty 250 days a year cuz I'm on the road. Plus I'm tired of paying somebody to take care of the yard when I'm not home and don't like doing it myself when I am there.

The apartment is actually a very big one bedroom. It's 1035 SQFT. When I remodel it my plan would be to do a open floorplan. The front of the building faces the county courthouse and town square. There are 3 windows acrossed the front right now. I want to take out the middle window and put in French Doors and not really a balcony, but a railing on a small ledge so that I can just look out on the town square. Something I saw in Paris. They have farmers markets, some little concerts, races, shows...things like that in the town square. I'll put another set of french doors at the back of the apartment and put a deck out there. There is actually a garage in the basement of the building too so I will have somewhere for my car in the winter. The apartment is my first objective. I want to get it remodeled and move in by the end of the year so I can sell my house.

The store...well thats a little tougher. It's really my "retirement" plan which I haven't entirely worked out yet. I would like to open a small internet cafe with sandwiches, smoothies, coffee and tea. I'd also put in a print shop printing digital fotos. I'd do Ebay listing for people and generally help them with anything internet related. The main floor is about 2200 SQFT feet. There is a basement under the whole thing so in reality this place is actually bigger than my house. :)

I bought the building ridiculously cheap. I was able to pay cash for it. Like many small towns our downtown is somewhat dying. I'm hoping its only a temporary slowdown though. I'd like to get off the road within the next 5 years. Either way though it's paid for. I'll just need something to do so that I'm not bored silly once I stop traveling.