my big project today

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

so my house has been needing a big refresh for a while. i've been renting the same place for about 10 years. got a new tv, couches, coffee table, carpets and paint about 4 years ago, which was the last time i did a major cleaning and rearranging.

good buddy of mine came over this morning at 8am (i did have a large pot of coffee waiting, and even made some oatmeal w/ raisins for breakfast) to help me. we took almost EVERYTHING out of the upstairs out onto the deck - took the doors off their hinges and moved it all. the cleaning crew came over and gave the house a good once over - not a spit shine, but got all the window ledges (never seen so many dead flies, bees, etc!) and tops (dust), kitchen, bathrooms, etc. steam cleaner guy came over and got after the carpets (VERY important when you have a dog in a carpeted house).

we took all the crap (stuff i need to ebay or donate to charity, stuff i need to take care of, stuff that needs a new place to live, etc) and boxed it up so it can be taken care of. took all the plants and re-potted them in bigger pots, then re-tied them to new stakes and put them in new spots. moved my desk downstairs into an open room to make an office, as i'll be working from home soon. sumbaked the couches and cushions, then vacuumed the hell out of them to get rid of *most* of the damn dog hair.

even took the dog to the groomer to get his dirty ass cleaned too!

i'll have photos of the finished product tomorrow after i truly finish it up. here are the "before" pics:

empty

couches baking in the sun

tables

office

the jungle

like i said, more pics tomorrow when i finish it up.

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

This plus reno will be my new years project... so what colour was the water that came out of the carpet cleaner?? Laughing

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

carpet wasn't so nasty other than the dog hair. i vacuum once a week (2 weeks at worst) and don't track dirt in (though the dog does), so it's not so dirty as it is hairy. had some pee stains from the dog, but i used a whole bottle of folex and the carpet guy has some stain remover as well, so hopefully those are gone for a while.

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Well I rented one of those on a fairly new/clean carpet and the stuff was still nasty Laughing

ryan351w · Addict Joined: 26 Jan 2009 Posts: 532

even took the dog to the groomer to get his dirty ass cleaned too! Laughing

goofyboy · Posted: Dec 22, 2009 4:08 am Post subject:

I'm guessing the roommate is gone?

Lop · Posted: Dec 22, 2009 4:38 am Post subject:

When I first read this I thought you were shaggin a fat chick. We just did this to a house that was built in 67 and that was probably the only time it was ever clean

Dpierce37 · Ladies Man Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 7659 City: Austin

I hope you got all the "stains" out of the couch! HAHA

K-dub · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 14760

damn, that place looks familiar.

E.J. · Ladies Man Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 7597 City: Mogadishu

That is a lot of ambition this close to the Holiday.... I am impressed...

Is that a lake your deck overlooks? Score....don't know if I knew you lived lake(river?) view....

Dpierce37 · Ladies Man Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 7659 City: Austin

E.J., no that's a street, but its a short walk to the lake. If there were no trees, then yes, you could see the lake.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

That looks like a sweet place. That deck/view is awesome.

Looks like a lot of work!

Junkee · Posted: Dec 22, 2009 11:22 am Post subject:

D$ i think EJ is referring to the 2nd picture.

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

Due to the miracle of modern science we were able to take one of Jt's pictures, and put it through our super duper intensifier. Upon doing this the image you see is renedered black and white. Then, using a black light we are able to see all the Semen stains in the room.

The semen stains will appear as bright white spots in the black and white picture.

First the Intensified picture, and then the picture with the black light, revealing any semen stains in the room.

Peculiar.

Dpierce37 · Ladies Man Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 7659 City: Austin

Dpierce37 · Ladies Man Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 7659 City: Austin

haugy, and you are not even joking!!!! That place is festering with dead baby JT's DNA!!

ohsix · Posted: Dec 22, 2009 1:45 pm Post subject:

I can't figure out which way I'm supposed to turn my head to look at the 2nd picture.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

ahhh, you funny guys!

here's how it ended up:

the large plant (bop) was about 10' wide w/ the drooping and the way i'd had it tied. it was a freakin mess. newly potted plants and the bird of paradise got some new stakes w/ better ties:

hairless couches

dining area - used to have a desk piled high w/ papers (mostly bills), a printer in the corner and a bunch of junk just hanging around. new table (chairs to come), repotted and restaked plants:

this is my baby! tried to kill her about 8 years ago by leaving her outside on the deck when a freeze came through, but she battled back and has THRIVED. has like 8 large stems going now, w/ several smaller ones.

corn plant:

one thing i've never done, but my bud told me i needed to, was spray the leaves w/ water and some kind of fertilizer/food (he told me the name, i just forgot it right now). i'll start that asap, because that's probably the only thing i don't do for them now and they are pretty damn healthy.

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

Looks like you've been shopping at Rooms To Go?

Chattwake · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 6:55 am Post subject:

Jesus, you live in a rainforest. Does your apartment have its own ecosystem?

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Nauty, i didn't but yeah - everyone and their brother has that sofa and table set. can't blame them - super comfortable! i bought that set off an old roomie who didn't feel like moving them.

02lightning, best thing about repotting plants? now i have 3 free pots to go buy more new plants!

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

That's a lot of plants. I can't decide if we need to add more plants to our house or not.

I just have no reasoning to do it. Any reason why you have a jungle?

Place looks better by the way.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

lol - a jungle? please - i have 5 potted plants and 3 hanging plants inside. it doesn't seem like that much to me.

i have plants because i think they are cool. they are kind of like pets that take a ton less maintenance. also like furniture - that giant bird of paradise totally MAKES that corner of the room. what other piece of furniture could i have put there that would be 8' tall, 6' wide and still let me see the whole corner?

i don't really have a "reason" per se. i just bought some plants to green up the house 5-10 years ago and they have grown up all giant. i think they add life to a room and give it warmth.

Chattwake · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 7:55 am Post subject:

I have one plant in my house (african violet that was left there by the prior owner). Accordingly, you have 800% more plants in your house than I do. You are tarzan.

Chattwake · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 7:56 am Post subject:

In fact, I think I'm going to mail you a baby panther and an iguana to complete the ambiance.

pet575 · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 8:22 am Post subject:

[img]growoperationinbasementwithtinfoil-linedwallsandUVlampsnotpicturedhereforobviousreasons[/img]

Tbonez · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 8:32 am Post subject:

Thats a lot of plants..almost to the point of being creepy. If I walked into a house that had that many plants I would carefully inspect the lamp shades to make sure they werent made out of human skin...That many plants says I need something to take care of because uncle touched me in naughty spot.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Tbonez, there's a little bit of accuracy there. never got the uncle touching, but i'm single and don't like cats, so maybe i do have plants as something to take care of.

you people who don't have plants in your house...wtf do you use to fill space? do you just have open corners staring at you? i grew up in houses w/ twice as many plants as i have - i honestly don't know any other way.

not the first time i've heard the creepy comment, but i can't for the life of me see why that's weird to anyone. maybe if i had turned the place into a greenhouse and there were plants wall to wall, but for a couple of nice potted plants?

Tbonez · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 8:46 am Post subject:

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Zach M · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 8:48 am Post subject:

It's not so much that you have plants, but the kind of plants that you have. Maybe it's a texas thing, but the whole jungle theme is kinda weird. And hanging plants should be outside hanging off of your porch. I've never seen anyone hang them in a living room the way you did.

Tbonez · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 8:50 am Post subject:

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

jungle theme? i needed a tall, leafy plant to eat space in that corner. what else am i going to get? i buy plants that i can keep alive - large, broadleafed plants that love water and are easy to tell when they need more. for some reason i can't keep succulents or cactus alive for crap - odd.

you've never seen plants hanging in a house? really? try hanging plants outside in texas and see how long they last. 100 degrees tends to kill them in about 2 days. plus, i'm up on a hill w/ consistent medium high winds - it just beats them to death. besides, if i didn't have them hanging there, i'd just be looking at ugly doors all day. the plants kind of frame the tv.

eeven73 · Posted: Dec 23, 2009 9:02 am Post subject:

wall of mirror FTW!!!

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac