Post-Move-In Update

So we’re in! We spent the two weekends between closing and moving day cleaning every possible surface we could clean (walls, cupboards, appliances, floors, built-ins), yanking out the dank carpet in the basement, and then painting the smoking room/my new office, as it was by far the most offensive room (Zinsser BIN primer + top coats). Here’s what the built in shelving and the venetian blinds looked like as I cleaned them:

The quote to paint the entire house by a professional was entirely reasonable given the amount of work, but we couldn’t justify the cost when we knew it would all be redone again in a year or two. A friend  offered to help with painting, so we hired her to finish painting the smoking room.

Matt also fixed the following:

• Cracked pipe in the water main. I had called a plumber once we concluded that it was likely our main. They were scheduled to come on a Friday afternoon, but got tied up on other jobs and couldn’t make it out. Matt took a look on Sunday, easily dug up the soggy dirt, located the crack, googled a few pipe fixing videos, and voila: $30 and one slip joint later, good as new. Hooray for overbooked plumbers and handy husbands.
• Plugged toilet. My dad and Matt took turns running the snake through both ends (external plumbing piping made this part easy!) with no luck. Matt removed the toilet and finally forced out a large chunk of glass that appeared to be the bottom of an oval shaped bottle that had wedged itself in the middle of the p-trap.
• Broken light switch in the kitchen. Replacing the switch did the trick, simple enough.

The house has a much less offensive but still present old smoker house smell in some areas. The basement still smells like wet dog. We still have some cleaning we didn’t get to before moving; a dripping bath faucet, and a rotted out window to resolve.

I was so exhausted after moving that I had no motivation to clean or unpack. I just felt angry about the mess. Moving sucks. I’m now at the tail end of two weeks vacation and am making progress on both the boxes and my recovery. Hallelujah.