The Wall Street Journal is one of my favorite papers and this goes beyond their outstanding business news. If you dig a little deeper you'll find some of the greatest coverage of art, science, fashion and home related stories that you would read anywhere and with newspapers and original reporting becoming more scarce the WSJ is a must-read.
I always peruse the Real Estate/Home Garden sections and they've recently launched a series called Brownstone Diary which will follow the gut renovation of a Harlem Brownstone by a couple who have two kids and both work full-time. She (Julia Angwin) is the senior technology editor for the Journal and it seems the couple has very limited experience in the process of remodeling a home.
We will be following along what should prove to be an interesting journey.
The place needs a complete overhaul: new electrical, new plumbing, new roof, new windows, new floors and all new appliances and cabinetry.
In our last post, I shared a few lessons from our rental property search phase, including how to avoid neighboring pit bulls.
As escrows begin to close (three this week!) I spent much of the last week feverishly purchasing material. Here's my method for balancing urgently needing product with desperately needed good pricing.
Today I will focus specifically on developing my material list.
Step 1: Build the List
The first step in purchasing is knowing what to purchase. I walk each job in detail and compile a room-by-room material list. It's painstaking but necessary. Sure, it causes a few minor strokes when uncovering items initially missed in the initial pre-offer walk through, but all in all it's not too bad. Upon completing the walk each of the properties has a 3-4 page list of materials.
Step 2: Excel-ize the List
Back at the ranch (ok, not the ranch, but it sounds better than "back at the office") I transcribe my list from hand-written to Excel. Lots of cut-n-paste here folks. In fact, I have become a bit of a hot-key expert. I'm sure to enter quantities next to each item as I input; this becomes invaluable when searching the isles of Home Depot. I initially input my material list by room code, item description, quantity and approximate location in our local Home Depot. I know, sounds like overkill, but it makes shopping much easier.
The sauna experience derives from Finland, but an in-home sauna gives you the experience of a wet or dry heat session in the comfort and privacy of your own home, anywhere in the world.
Before you purchase an in-home sauna, determine its purpose and make sure you want a sauna, and not a steam room. Saunas are used to relax and rejuvenate, while steam rooms are generally more medicinal in their purpose, as they are thought to help detoxify the body as well as treat respiratory ailments. Another difference is that an in-home electrically heated sauna uses drier heat and hotter air with a humidity of 10-30%, whereas a steam room operates at a constant humidity level of 100% at much lower temperatures.
