NEK2NYC's Profile

How are bed bugs and pests not #1? I was a frequent thrift/ vintage store shopper for years! And then had the unfortunate experience of bedbugs via houseguest. We caught it fast (within a month) and were told that we were lucky. 2 extermination visits, living out of a plastic bag for over two months, treating our belongings every time we came home or left the house... It was mentally exhausting. Here are some useful tips out of the experience:
Treat all new or new to you clothing before putting it away.
Rubbing alcohol kills bugs and eggs .
Boiling water kills bugs and eggs.
45-60 minutes on high in the dryer will kill bugs and eggs.
Prolonged temperatures below freezing kills bus and eggs.
The Packtite heating box kills bugs and eggs. It is also safe for books and papers.
Hotshot strip bombs in contractor bags for at least two weeks will kill anything.
Most renters insurance will cover the costs incurred by an infestation.

Keep outdoor clothing separate from indoor clothing, i.e. don't sit or lay down on your bed in clothes you wore out in the world. Be aware of any place you sit that many other people sit (doctor office, school, bus, train, restaurant).
I still thrift. But I put what I buy in the freezer as soon as I get home, or wash it, or spray it down. It sounds paranoid, but I never want to wash every piece of fabric I own In a massive $100 trip to the laundromat ever again. We never even saw them, they were too small. The only way we knew was little bites by priming and a bedbug sniffing dog )$275 for the visit) confirmed.

I still think my housemate and I could write a book. It was expensive, stressful and socially isolating. Not worth free anything. Have a plan before you bring it into your home.

This post could have been my motto for the past three months.

I moved in with my boyfriend into our first "just us and no wacky roommate situation" apartment ever for either of us. We had the choice between two apartments: one completely finished but a little on the small size and another that had a generous living room, eat in kitchen, three closets and was $200 less a month and rent stabilized. The catch? Good bones but every room needed something done.

Being a DIY kinda gal, and a frugalista, I lobbied pretty hard for the larger place. I promised only a month worth of work and then we would have the perfect apartment. I somehow convinced both of us that refinishing a place was a piece of cake that couldn't possibly cost. More than a couple hundred bucks. Ha. Ha. ha........

The best lesson I learned out of the whole process was the importance of prioritizing work. We got so hung up on refinishing doors to the original wood that we lost valuable "none of our stuff is in the place yet" time. I also was hesitant to engage the landlord and super about some smaller issues that needed to be taken care of due to not wanting them to see the construction zone that was two out of three rooms. I wish I had just bit the bullet and gotten them in there sooner. All the improvements we made have been met with impressed words to the point where I was told I could do anything I want with the kitchen floors.

Curious about the list?

Bathroom: stripped the walls of the ugliest wallpaper ever and three lays of paint off of the original subway tiled walls. Replaced shower head, covered generic brown vanity and medicine cabinet with white contact paper and white duct tape to match the tile. Painted the remaining walls cobalt blue to match small blue stripe in retorted tile. Regrouped tile. Covered floor to ceiling heating pipe (it is an old building with radiator heating) with clothesline. Reglazed tub.
Remaining projects: replace crummy vinyl flooring with something that actually sticks to the floor. Refinish door.
Total Cost (so far): $75.00 and hours of chiseling off that paint.

Bedroom: this room was a disaster. The walls have the original moldings (awesome!) but we're visibly uneven and poorly patched.
We sanded them flat where we could, evened them out with plaster of Paris, remanded, replastered and did our best to hide the remaining imperfections with some creative paint techniques. This room also has the only fully stripped down door which literally took off about 10 pounds and 10 layers of paint. I should have planed it off instead of using the stripping agent. We also bought a piece of marble to sit on top of the radiator to help hold heat, limit the dust that collects in the grooves and add a little flat surface for temporary objects. Replace outlet covering so we have more outlets.
Remaining projects: seal the raw wood on the door. Turn overhead (currently unused) light fixture into a ceiling fan. Hang curtains (I have the rods already)
Total Cost (so far): $161. Keep in mind $50 of that was for the stupid door which took me a solid week to do.

Living Room: the easiest room. The walls were in great shape except for a small crack and the moldings were in perfect condition.
I bought all the paint on sale and skipped the priming step since it was just generic white contract paint on the walls to begin. We put a marble slab over this radiator as well.
Remaining projects: hang the curtains already! Maybe build out a wood box for the marble over the radiator to sit in.
Total cost: $52

Hallway: 28 feet long and 3.5 feet wide for the first 18 feet. Walls were in great shape since it was drywall hung over the old walls and just cut into the moldings to kind of match.
I kept it simple. Painted it with paint on sale and painted the furthest, and smallest wall the same deep blue as the bathroom.
Remaining projects: change out the blah fake stained glass pendant shape with something of my own design. Thinking vintage glass canning jar lids and repurposed vintage chandelier crystals. Hang a huge floor to veiling mirror on the blue wall. Install some sort of landing strip that includes coat hoots, shoe rack, small stool, umbrella stand, place for keys by the front door. Somehow... Hang art gallery style on the long wall leading into our place.
Total cost (so far): $10

The Kitchen: oh my. The kitchen. Vinyl squares in such bad shape they would cut our bare feet. Three walls wallpapered yellow, which covered up a poor dry walling job and some questionable stains. Cabinets in a cherry stain that complimented nothing as well as no handles so we always were trying to open the hinge side. Exposed fuse box, like the switches are exposed. The corner by the stove that was not so much a corner as much as a place where extra plaster went to die, unevenly. Let's not even talk about the wall under the sink, ok? But it was a decent size with plenty of cabinets and a window.
We put on pulls to the cabinets. Pulled off the wallpaper, sanded and spackled the walls, sanded again. Primed. Painted a nice shade of yellow that complimented the table and cabinets. With the permission of the landlord, pulled up three layers of crummy flooring, including sunburst yellow and brown 70s tile, scrapped off the old matting and adhesive and found wood. Long neglected, but still it is wood. We were going to install the peels and stick cheapo tiles but why? Instead, we sanded off the remaining 50 years worth of grime, stained it very dark and sealed it. I am actually waiting for it to dry right now.
Remaining Projects: install lights under the cabinets. Hang stainless steel backsplash, shelf along the back of the stove, mount magnetic knife/ utensil bar. Paint moldings. Caulk the gaps in the flooring and along the underside of the baseboard. Hang picture over fuse box.
Total cost: $100

Thanks for letting me get that all out. We still have the three closets to make useable and the many little projects but it is worth it. The place feels more like our home. Than the finished place ever could have been. I now know every little nook and cranny and love the details that make old buildings special. This is still our work in progress, but the diamonds emerging from the rough.