Plans in Progress

First day of making Actual Plans about my house.

Project Kitchen

The asbestos plate next to my kitchen can be removed or drilled through at my own risk and cost. The only demand from the VVE (home owner's association) is that I repaint it in the right colour. Pink is not an option. They will send the colour number in an e-mail.

Designed two kitchen options. One has a dishwasher, which costs me a lot of storage space (45 cm dishwasher combined with 120 cm rotary corner cupboard). The other option doesn't have a dishwasher and gives me a lot of storage space (60 cm cupboard and a 90x90 rotary corner cupboard). That's not a hard choice to make.
It means I have to remove the extra water point and drain, move the drains into the wall, but that's already the plan for Project Bathroom. I believe Ikea needs to have all drains in the walls, all connection points at the right place before they can even begin building.

I want my counter top at 100 - 105 cm height. This will give me a 30 cm strip of non-counter (70 cm counters with a 30 cm counter leg) which I would like to see transformed into an extra drawer. I doubt very much this is an ikea option...

Tall top cupboards to the ceiling. With a counter top at 105 cm, and top cupboards of 92 cm, that leaves ample space between the two. No cleaning on the tops of the top cupboards!

Project Bathroom

All water can be disconnected from the apartment, saving me the hassle of bothering my neighbours when we are working on the apartment.

Part of me really wants to strip the walls of all tiles -- they are dirty and old. New tiles are definitely a must. Still have to discuss with someone how to go about this. My mother suggested our old neighbour. Downside is that he has to drive really far. Upside is that he can do everything from breaking to building to pipes.

I would like to move all the water pipes into the wall. Also part of Project Kitchen. It can be really tricky to make a shower cell when your pipes are running at knee-height along the wall.

I want at least two cupboard-spaces: one for towels (under the sink) and one for make-up and spare shampoo. I buy in bulk when there's a special offer. On Old-Year's Day they had a buy 1 get 1 free on my brand, and I saved 16 euro on shampoo and conditioner. So I need the cupboard space. This can be tricky in a 180x180 bathroom if you also want a washing machine.

Project Livingroom

Remove old wallpaper.

Whiten ceiling.

Wallpaper the long side.

Paint/wallpaper all short sides.

Project Bedroom

Remove old wallpaper.

Base-coat alcove

Kit alcove

Paint/wallpaper bedroom

Misc. -- Gotta love the Misc category!

Sweep downstairs storage

Clean toilet thoroughly

Possibly install water-saving toilet basin -- all that tea!

Change the locks

Possibly paint doors, as living room door is in two shades of grey and it needs to be at least fifty shades of grey

Appliances and furniture -- Things to buy (secondhand or new) or welcome hand-me-downs

Washing machine

Dryer (no exit to the outside)

Double bed (220 x 140 or 160)

Ironing board

Vacuum cleaner

Possibly a new couch (size to be determined, very low priority)

Possibly a dinner table + chairs (size to be determined)

Appliances and furniture -- Things to get rid of (give away or Marktplaats)

Refridgerator with 35cm freezer on top.

Hoogslaper - Ikea Tromsö with matrass (less than 1 year old)

Kitchen: a good offer

Today I got to tick off quite a few things off my list. I'll keep it bullet-style, since nobody probably cares about my rambling thoughts behind all this, and I suppose there should probably be some kind of record of my progress.

Called the VVE with my questions. Talked to a nice person in charge and she got back to me at the end of the afternoon, which I consider to be extremely speedy!
The asbestos plate on my balcony can be removed at my own risk and cost and should be replaced by a certain type of board (trespa-plaat). It should also be painted in Sigma 5800 and 5807 to match the rest of the apartment building. I have no clue how I can remove the asbestos clause from the documentation, perhaps the notary (assistant) knows if we can just leave it out when I'm putting it up for sale in a few decades or if there should be another taxation before we can do exactly that.

Getting rid of the old kitchen and other trash is a little more tricky. I can get a city pass that allows me to drop off trash in underground containers and will get me access to the municipality dump for larger trash, but only once I live in Eindhoven. An exception can be made, for a price, of course, for people moving to the city.
However, we will probably store the larger trash until I've moved and take smaller bags along to Boxtel to dump in the containers at Lindenlust.

This afternoon I went to the Action to buy some supplies (cleaning supplies, covering plastic) and then I went on to visit Ikea. It was all quiet on the Kitchen department, so I could sit down with one of the saleswomen who made me an offer. The price looks good, although it's a big chunk out of my savings. If I pay another big chunk of money, they will be installing it for me as well, and then there's the preparation work that might be done by a friendly plumber and electrician too. It all costs a lot of money, but it does make for less headaches, so I'm pretty much sold on the idea. I'm free to find someone to install it for a lower price, though.
I will receive a phone call to make an appointment for measuring the space (to see if my new kitchen will fit) and I can ask about it then.

I called our old neighbour from Ouderkerk but he was very hesitant to come do my bathroom things. He's very good as a carpenter but doesn't do pipes. Mostly, he hated the idea of travelling so far to do a bit of work and then waiting for another person to do his job so he can continue.
This means I'll probably have to find someone local to do the odd jobs:
- Dismembering tiles from my bathroom
- Cutting into the wall to move the pipes back there
- Smoothening the walls
This should probably be done by two different experts, and I'm a little scared of what it will cost me. My dad has already said he can tile the bathroom and install a new shower. I should probably take a good look at the bathroom with him again.

I've bought a new tumbler (cylinder) for my front door, with triple stars for home safety. I'll pack it with my coffee maker and take it along to work tomorrow. If my dad comes by to pick up a set of keys, he can take it along and install them. If he doesn't I'll drop it off and he can install it at a later time.
There are not yet any lightbulbs in the house, nor do I have anything but very rudimentary screwdrivers. He said he'd bring everything. I hope he remembers to bring putty knives...

Opening the door to my new apartment wasn't all that scary. It actually felt pretty good, and I can really imagine what it will be like to come home after a day's work. There's still a lot to be done before that time comes, but it's a great feeling!

This week's call for help
Depending on whether or not I can find a plumber that is willing to get some tiles down from my bathroom or whether we'll decide on a different approach, I am looking for people willing to help me get tiles from the bathroom and kitchen walls.
Possibly for next Sunday the 12th of January.