Blisters
We worked long and hard yesterday, then got up today and worked longer and harder (and I have the blisters all over my hands and fingers to prove it!)While working I had Season 2 of Project Runway playing on the DVD, and that gave me a terrific sense of urgency. We had folks coming by at 3:45 for their 2nd look, and we were DETERMINED to get rid of the carpet and get the stairs beautiful by the time they arrived. The carpet on the stairs was the one really SORE point that was troublesome in the house, the only thing I could tell our agent wasn't thrilled about when she did her walkthrough before the open house, and the one thing the other agents had mentioned as they came through the house.
We accomplished it, but it was hard on the knees and harder on the hands! Pulling out the double nail lathe (what IS that stuff called?) was the hardest part, but sanding and painting was hard, too. Just bending over, kneeling, crouching for extended periods was rough - but the results are worth it!Here's a little step by step of what we did the the steps between 6:00 pm on Saturday and 3:00 pm on Sunday.
So we'll be waiting with baited breath to hear how the folks liked the house on visit #2. In the mean time, does anyone have any information on Red Wing, MN?
posted by Annie at
Sunday, September 24, 2006
20 Comments:
wow why would anyone cover that with carpet? so pretty.
Red Wing! It is beautiful. I don't live there, but one of our sons went to college in Winona, so be would travel through and loved it. I get to go to a knitting retreat there every year and it is wonderful. I have a friend who does live there and I can give you her email address. I'll tell her about your question too.
Cathy in MN
Wow! That is a vast improvement. I hope your house sells quickly =)
The stairs looks so beautiful--kinda makes you wish you'd done it before doesn't it? When we fixed up our house to sell it, I was sad that we'd gone through so much so someone else could enjoy it. Well, I hope you get a generous offer after all your hard work. :-)
Wow, those stairs are much improved. Great work.
Ah, Red Wing is one of the scenic small cities on the Mississippi River. I like to go there to antique shop. If you plan to have jobs in the Twin Cities then make sure you look up mapquest milage and time to get to and from. If you want to visit then the second week of October (give or take a week) will have the fall foliage at its peak.
Oh and Wisconsin is just across the river from Red Wing. This may not be on your radar screen at all yet (specially with a daughter trying to read script) but Minnesotal has college reciprocity with Wisconsin so if you live in Minnesota you can send your kids to a Wisconsin college and still pay in-state tuition.
You are making such terrific improvements on your house... it is looking great. Are you sure you want to leave it?
Looks great!
With all those terrific knitting projects your hands produce, please wear gloves next time!
that nasty stuff is called tackstrip. My ex-husband was a carpet installer, and I helped him on some jobs, both pulling up old tackstrip and laying new down. Hideous job! bless your little fingers, here's kissies to make them better!
Red Wing is pretty, but not like the Twin Cities (cosmopolitan, full of culture and things to do, liberal, etc.) at all. It's a rather conservative, laid-back, blue-collar, tourist town. Unlike the Cities, where it's difficult to find a native at times, most of the people in Red Wing are natives.
There's also NO yarn store(!). There used to be one, but partly owing to the fact that they were open for just a few hours a few days a week, it didn't last long. I never got a chance to see it.
It takes about an hour and a half to get from Red Wing to the Cities. If you're looking to commute into town and don't mind a drive, but want to live in a smaller, historical town, Hasting's a place you'll want to look at. Stillwater would be good, too.
I know a ton about the Red Wing/Lake City/Pepin/Wabasha/Alma/Winona area, as my family originates from there. Beautiful area, and I'd move there in a second if there were any jobs to be had.
Red Wing is beautiful, but as many have pointed out quite far from the Twin Cities - which could make a commute difficult. There are a handful of similarly beautiful old towns scattered around the Twin Cities that might peak your interest - Stillwater & Northfield are two that spring immediately to mind.
What a difference! The stairs look beautiful! I have faith that St. Joseph will pull through for you soon!
One of my best friends at college is from Red Wing, and we visited his family frequently. It's beautiful (serious small town vibe, great antique stores, lots of antiquing tourists), and in a beautiful geographic location. On the other hand, it is a solid 90 minute drive without traffic to the Twin Cities. It's also more conservative than the Cities. I don't know if you're looking for small town versus city, but the Cities are expanding so fast that all the small towns mentioned so far in the comments are either already commuting suburbs or will be in a few years.
Personally, I prefer to live in a quieter St Paul neighborhood (Highland Park) and be closer to jobs/attractions. You might also want to look at Roseville, which was the first true suburb of St Paul, and has older housing stock than most of the other ones.
I moved here 5 years ago for school, and I suspect I'll be here for quite a while, I love it!
As many have said before, Red Wing is beautiful but is well over an hour commute to the Twin Cities during light traffic. I also find that the highways to travel (at least the route I take) are two-lane much of the way, and I'm not entirely sure how well maintained they are during the winter. Especially if you and Gerry are both commuting that's a long time on the road every day.
Northfield was mentioned, but while it is closer by about 30 minutes, it still does not have great highway access.
Stairs look fabulous, by the way!
Well, congratulations on the stairway FO! They really do look gorgeous.
Well, first off I ditto Flan re MN. Red Wing is beautiful. I would like to live there, but it would be too long of a drive for me back and forth to work. If you need any other info or help e me at kay.devaney@house.mn
BTW, I luv, luv your work and your stairs!! later, K
Stairs look GREAT!
Redwing is COLD!
Come to TX, I keep tellin' you!
:=)
my DH is a carpet installer too, from NJ and swears he did your job just looking at the pictures, did you buy the carpet from Rug and Design formerly on Bloomfield Ave in Verona? He has been doing it for 36 years so he just may have, and he calls it tackless, bus some say potato some say po tah to feel vetter we must knit with those hands
Redwing is nice but not too much television production going on there - and no yarn store! I always liked Falcon Heights (right by the UofM Saint Paul campus), just north of Saint Paul and south of Roseville. I've heard they have good schools and it's got solid 1950's/60's kind of houses. The Minnesota Waldorf school used to be there as well. (Now its in Maplewood) - anyhoo, great job on your stairs! Gives me hope for my renovations.
Ha! caught you!
(see last paragraph) "So we'll be waiting with baited breath"
it's bated (stopped) (related to the word abated--(as in "the rain continued, unabated")
how to remember?
well on in MN, ice fishing is popular.
one winter's day, no one was catching anything. as the fishermen started home in the late afternoons gloom, they see to young girls catching fish.. and next to them, a pile of fish so high..(how high? REALLY High!)
the stop to look and damned if the girls don't bring up another one!
a small group gathers, not to close, amazed, until in the failing light, one fisherman approched the girls and asked, "what's your secret?"
she mumbled something, and he asked again, "Sorry, i didn't get that--do you mind me asking? What's your secret?"
the girls holds out her hand, spit into it, smiled and said "WARM BAIT!" then she chucks the wiggling worms back in her mouth.
Now that girl had baited breath..
but to stop or hold ones breath is to bate ones breath (as apposed to "abated' (unstopped) -A at the beginning of a word can meaning NOT (as in amoral))
I have dyslexia--and that idiom is one that gave me grief.. until i learned the difference between baited breath,(Yuck!) and bated breath!
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