with the final bit of touchup work done by the painters this morning, and the handing off to them of the last half of their payment, the major interior renovation work is finished. well, the major renovation work that i intend to do any time in the immediate future. there is still one bathroom that needs to be completely torn out and redone thanks to a falling foundation and subsequent water damage, but thats a project unto itself, and wont get addressed until after ive a) paid down the loan that was taken to do the other stuff, and b) saved up enough to do it. so, probably first part of next year.

theres still a TON of "little things" inside the house that need doing, but nothing that requires a crew completely draping my house in plastic and wreaking havoc for days on end. the remaining stuff, i can do myself, or have done by a single guy (plumber, electrician, whatever) in a single visit. in no particular order:

+ window treatments. new blinds are desperately needed all through the house. i hate mini-blinds, theyve got to go.

+ replace the mixing valve and possibly the whole faucet in the master bath.

+ lots of minor electrical work. there are a few switches that dont work, a ceiling fan that has given up the ghost, two spotlights in the living room that need to be replaced with more useful (ie, actually LIGHT the living room) lights, need a new outlet closer to the fireplace to make it more convenient (and safe!) to plug in the tv and stuff, etc.

+ get new outlet and switch covers that more closely match the new paint job, or get white ones and paint them.

+ repaint all the quarter-rounds that were put in as a part of the new flooring. the quarter-rounds are white, and my trim is ivory. which, when NOT contrasted with a stark white piece of trim right up against it, LOOKS stark white. but it isnt. its obvious, and looks kind of crappy. so ill be pulling these off, repainting them, and putting them back on, probably a room a weekend.

+ get rugs and runners for the high-traffic areas of the house, so i dont go batshit crazy seeing all the dusty footprints on the floor immediately after i mop it. its frustrating to spend the time to make the floor look fantastic only to see it look dirty again 30 minutes later.

there is also a fair bit of major items that need to be done on the exterior of the house. a new fence is probably the first thing, but ive got some wood rot on some of the eaves, and a lot of areas that need repainting. theres some decorative masonry that got wrecked by an out of control volunteer tree. then theres the foundation on the only corner of the house that hasnt been jacked up and reinforced yet. fun fun.

probably another $15k left that i need to put into it. $35k sounds like a ton to have spent on the house, but when you consider that ive had the house for 12 years and wasnt able to do hardly ANY of the needed maintenance on it over that period, it comes out to about $3k a year, which is probably about right... especially considering the fact that i knew the house had issues that were going to need to be addressed when i bought it, and then never was able to take care of because i lost my job almost immediately after.

ahh the joys of home ownership :)

i am so looking forward to spending a week or two being able to just ENJOY what ive gotten done, which i havent really been able to do thus far.