We’re planning on using some upcoming vacation time to do some home improvement projects… yes, it’s The Floor Project From Hell: Next Generation, and theoretically The Floor Project From Hell: Back To Bed. Part of that project will be adding 2 ceiling fans in the two “guest” bedrooms (with the help of a real electrician) and so today we went around looking at fans. There’s a place in the neighborhood that actually specializes in fans, so we went there first.
Interesting experience: it’s a small stripmall store front, absolutely stuff full of stacks and stacks of boxed ceiling fans. There is the usual overhead festival of fans, too. Finally, there were a number of people in the shop looking around, and 2 or maybe 3 salespeople. We were assured that they offered just as good discount prices as “the big box” stores, with better selection of higher-end fans. Well, okay, but our needs are pretty basic; one biggish fan, probably white, for the bigger guest bedroom, which has a vaguely summer-cottage look. And one smaller fan, for the very small third bedroom that was the featured player in said Floor Project for lo these 4 or more years. In the end, once we had the right tools (nailer for baseboards, a decent “fold and lock” floor product) it ended fairly quickly. So we’re hoping the sequels won’t be quite as horrible, and today’s visit to the fan store was part of the prep for the big push.
The saleswoman at the store was very helpful, gave us gobs of catalogs and brochures, and talked about which models are the big sellers/most popular with do-it-yourselfers (or with people looking to have someone else install them like us). She also mentioned that many of the large DIY retailers were going more for “house brands” and away from the name brands such as those she carried. We nodded and smiled and tried to look knowledgeable, and then went over to one of the big box stores to compare prices.
Interestingly, she was right about the big box place not carrying all the high-end models, and the no-name house brands, and so on. But we also found a couple of lower-end models that might suit just fine, still made by the one maker we like, Hunter (one of our other existing fans is a Casablanca, and we like that too).
We left the big box place without purchasing, though, because the guy “helping” us flipped through a pricing catalog when we asked if a different color was available, and he said off-handedly that the catalog prices were 3 years out of date. Then he said that anything on the shop floor was whatever price was marked, but special orders would be whatever the current “catalog rate” was. Not too helpful, and he took umbrage when David opined that it seemed like “bait-and-switch” to him. So we eggzitted, leaving the guy to mutter something that rhymed with “switch” in our wake.
Oh, boy! We’re already starting off with a bang! This’ll be epic!
So far, what we hope to accomplish during our staycation:
- Empty larger guest bedroom, move items into smaller guest bedroom
- Rip up carpet, remove baseboards
- Possibly touch up ceiling paint, walls are still fine
- Prep subfloor, put down underlayment
- Lay fold-and-lock floor (same color as in small bedroom)
- Stain and replace baseboards and shoe molding
- Move furniture back into room
- If time remains, dismantle/move master bedroom furniture in small room
- Repeat items 1-7, possibly with professional painting before laying floor
We’ll see if we get to the second room. The furniture in the guest room is a LOT lighter than that in the master bedroom, so there’s a likelihood we’ll be borrowing a handtruck to move the heavier pieces temporarily into the other rooms. But if we get the guest bedroom totally done, I’ll be satisfied.
