In Succession

I live in an apartment complex that was built in 1964 and went condo in 1971. I bought this 2 bedroom / two bath unit because 1) it was in the same neighborhood I was living in for the past 8 years which allowed me to keep my son in the same school he was attending and, 2) it was dirt cheap as I got it in an auction from HUD in 1999 for $90,567. I live on the corner and have the biggest legal patio of all my neighbors. When I walked into the place for the first time I could see the good bones and tried really hard to overlook pepto-bismol pink walls, no carpet and lots of details that were needed to make this functional for a family to live there. I liked the fact that I didn't have to be responsible for the outside paint, the roof or the gardening. These things were all paid for out of my association dues as well as water and trash - that's the bonus you get with living in a condo. The one thing that was initially weird for me to get used to is that there was no gas. Heating, hot water and cooking were all electric. Now I'm used to it and I even prefer to cook with electric over gas especially when I bake. The edible results are so much more predictable and successful in an electric powered oven.

So, prior to me moving into my humble abode, I quickly had to paint, carpet and make sure that at least one of the two bathrooms worked. Brian helped me paint, and I ran around to every discount carpet outlet I could find on tile row in Anaheim until I settled on New York Carpets which did a fine job with better quality carpet than I hoped for, but lost my gate clicker during the installation process.

I had been previously sharing a bedroom with my son so I didn't even have a bed of my own. I slept on an air mattress for about 6 weeks until I could afford to buy a bed of my own. I lucked out in my timing joining Bankers Trust and had received a bonus for them meeting their sales goal one year and with that money, I went out and bought a couch, love seat from the attic/clearance floor of McMahon's Furniture on time and a dining room table and chairs from Ikea (which I still have to this day). I later went back to that same McMahon's and bought an oak square coffee table.

So over time, I have been working on little things around the place. I installed my shower door, but it took me a few years because there was this weird angle to tackle and I wasn't sure how I was going to do that. I finally decided to add a strip of painted molding and that made the opening perpendicular again. I changed out all of the light fixtures except for the combo fan and light in the dining room. I had to get new glass for that. I had to buy a crazy number of handles and pulls because they were gone. Eventually, I installed a garbage disposal and a dishwasher, too.
My last item to change was the faucets in both bathrooms and the kitchen, too. And I don't know how many times I've changed that shower head to something that I finally like. I never knew there were so many choices of shower heads in my life.

Now, I'm at a point where the little things are working and the big things that need to be updated are obvious to me. I need a new kitchen. I need a kitchen with maxed out cabinets for storage and a place for a tankless hot water heater, a dishwasher and a European style single unit washer/dryer. That means I need a plumber and an electrician, but not before I plan the kitchen. And not before I change out all the windows and sliding glass doors because I can't get the cabinets into the positions I want then without a tiny bit more wall space. And the sliding glass doors are not standard and I hate that. You can't buy non-standard sizes of screen doors and that is such a pain.

So here is my to-do list in order:
Kitchen & bedroom:
1) two new sliding glass doors in the back. These need to be moved toward the east. That will give me more wall space in the diving room for cabinetry.
Livingroom & front bedroom:
2) new windows in the front. Something dual pane and tinted to help take the heat and noise down a couple of notches.
Kitchen:
3)plan for the kitchen
4) demo the kitchen , buy the cabinets, hardware, new sink, and the tankless hot water heater. Install a new tile floor.
5) call the electrician
5) call the plumber to add pipes for the washer and the new tankless hot water heater
6) Install the cabinets and the tankless hot water heater
7) buy a new kitchen table and chairs and maybe a chopping block. Paint.
Main Bathroom:
8) plan for the new main bathroom. Locate and buy the new tub, sink and toilet.
9) demo the bathroom. repair the plaster walls.
9a) call the carpenter for the custom cabinet installation, rough out the tub area and tile.
10) call the electrician to rewire the exhaust fan to the light and install the motor for the tub. Up the amps for the circuit in the breaker box.
11) call the plumber to relocate the pipes for the new tub. replace all shut-off valves. Paint.
12) install the new toilet
Master bathroom:
13) plan for master bathroom
14) cut out the angular wall, greenboard and retile. demo the rest.
15) install new glass wall and door. new floor. new pedestal sink to make it more spacious. install new toilet.
16) install heat lamp new fan, create a cabinet over the toilet.

I still have to landscape the patio, too! But after all that work, the place will be nice, ready for sale and livable for maybe another 20 years.