With the holidays upon us, we're calling it on all house-related improvements for 2012. We took possession of the house in late July. Here's what we've done in the intervening four months:
1. Replaced Mom's water heater and swapped in copper pipes for the PVC pipes that were there.
2. Installed a garbage disposal and new, pull-down faucet in our kitchen.
3. Put in a new GFCI wall socket in the kitchen for our fridge.
4. Sanded down, primed and painted our kitchen cabinets, then lined them.
5. Scheduled the installation of a new front door.
6. Refloored all but the bathroom in our house; installed hardwoods in Mom's house.
7. Installed new baseboards in our house.
8. Bricked up our incredibly hoopty chimney.
9. Demolished the 1950s-era brick facing and "built-ins" around the fireplace (discovering the original fireplace in the process), and knocked down two hoopty-looking bulkheads built into bedroom and the hall.
10. Painted Mom's closets, bedroom and bathroom.
11. Repaired the windows so they opened for the first time in 50 years.
12. Replaced the original galvanized pipes leading to the kitchen sink.
13. Pulled down/uprooted enough greenery to fill a 96-gallon compost bin twelve times.
It will not surprise anyone to learn that 2013 will have a shorter t0-do list.