Getting to the Finish Line at #134

 Added a closet upstairs in the loft by bumping out over the living room downstairs just a bit.  As long as they don't store a bunch of steel toed work boots and bricks, it should hold up fine.

 Also created a window upstairs in the loft for a little more natural light.

 This is a view of the kitchen from the entry way.  The blue board is the shared kitchen and bathroom walls .  The unfinished floor in the foreground used to be where the sliding glass door ended, making for a very small dining room. 

Here's a view from the kitchen to the main entrance.  We bumped out the door to the edge of the balcony, so now there is only one door and one key to get into the condo.  This balcony overlooks the parking lot, so we didn't give up any fabulous outdoor space.  The balcony off the living room has a view of the golf course, which is prettier & quieter.

#134 Renovation

 

The electrical box was a little scary... all of the metal was rusted through, and the wiring was outdated for the amount of appliances a normal human uses

 The shower needs to be replaced, but at least with the toilet & sheetrock gone, I can walk into the bathroom and breathe at the same time

 The windows seem to have the same orange crud as the shower... but we scored some golf balls!

 Carpet removed along with most of the garbage.  We decided to leave the carpet pad until we are ready to lay tile.

 Thankfully, under the tile & carpet was level cement, so no damage to the floor underneath all the ick

 The kitchen will probably go down to the studs like the bathroom... right now the cabinets are gone, along with sheetrock to find where the water shut off exists

But hey, the outside looks good! :)

My Dog, The Bird Killer

Who would have thought that behind that innocent face lurked a killer? 

When I'm home, I leave the back patio door open for Cookie to go in and out of the living room, so at least once or twice a week we have birds fly in through the opening.  I really don't know why they do this... the windows on the opposite wall are frosted, so it's not like they can create a flight plan through our house.  Usually the pigeons try to escape by banging their wings against skylights, or flying into the other window by the front door.  It scares me to death to have them flinging themselves all over the house. 

Cookie usually barks at them, and they are usually smart enough to stay in the air.  Then came Monday morning.  Cookie was lying by the door, and a pigeon flew into the house over her head.  It landed on the couch instead of going on the usual bird route into the laundry room.  My sweet, precious pup eviscerated the pigeon by pinning it against the pillows.  Blood & feathers everywhere.  I was SCREAMING at her to stop, but blood-lust was raging.  After what seemed forever, she ran outside with her trophy.  In my usual calm, independent manner, I called my husband at work in tears.  He may not be the most demonstrative man, but he knows I can't handle dead animals.  Thankfully, he works close enough now to drive home & clean up the carnage.  I hid in our bedroom & cried. 

I couldn't look at Cookie for the rest of the day without thinking that her cute little smile was actually a Joker-type smirk.  Ugh

#134 - First Cleanup

 It looks like the kitchen will have to go down to the studs... the walls are a mess, and it might be easier to just rip off the drywall & put up new.

 The bathroom also will be stripped down completely.  Even if it was "cleanable", I wouldn't want to ever use a bathroom that was ever as gross and smelly as this one.

 Down to the large furniture to haul off to the dump.  Should be interesting trying to keep rat poop off clothes while moving these down a stairwell.

 The bedroom loft now has no carpeting.  I think if we bleach the walls, they should clean up well.  I don't like carpeting in Hawaii anyway, so removing it would have happened even in a clean area.

We are having a big trauma over the stairs.  I want them moved to the rear wall in the back living space, so that the kitchen area can grow to a more usable size.  We'll see who wins that battle.