August 5, 2008
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Mike’s Extreme Makeover 2008
For my latest PhotoPost, I thought I’d “show you around” the house as I prepare for my new roommate. I pulled up a couple of “before” photos from my April 2005 blog entry “10 Years at Home with Mike and Cancerboy.” Then I interspersed photos I took from last week up to last night as I move furniture around, cleaning as I go. Most of the “progress” will also be featured in a “Mike’s Video Blog” as well. I was going to upload a Video Blog on the 26th of June, before I even knew whether or not I was staying in the house, but as usual, I’ve expanded the scope of the video, to include the “makeover”, which I’m now calling “Mike’s Extreme Makeover”. Following is the progress so far. I haven’t had any help with any of this either. I’m moving everything around myself with the help of a small four wheeled dolly.
BEFORE: From the April 8th, 2005 blog entry: “Welcome Home: This is Where I Hang Out” . The living room was a lot larger, or at least it seemed to be larger, before the 2nd bathroom was attached to the master bedroom in 2007. Here is a view of the north end of the living room. Joel’s sofa was to the right of the coffee table, and my Lazyboy chair is out of frame on the left of the photo.
Here is the room shown this past Saturday. In 2007, when the bathroom was added, the front door had to be moved, and instead of moving it to the far corner of the room, it was moved to the center of the wall, making it difficult to place a sofa against the east wall (to the right). We moved the loveseat to the center of the room, so this area is a lot “tighter” than in the photo above. My vinyl record collection is in the bookcase in the center of the west wall. I’ve been intending to move it out of the way of the most visible area of the room for a long time.
Here is a view of the east wall. I had moved Joel’s almond colored entertainment center, which I attempted to sell on Craigslist, out of the master bedroom and against this wall temporarily. When the center failed to sell, I decided to use it to store Joel’s record collection. The door to the master bedroom, which will be occupied my Mike, my new roommate, is to the left of the entertainment center. This is where the original front door to the house was located. Now the bathroom is in it’s place, and the front door, which can’t be seen in this photo, is to the right.
Here is a photo I took this past Sunday, after moving the furniture around so that most of the wall units are on the south wall, and the loveseat is now against the wall where my record rack used to be. My Lazyboy chair hasn’t moved. I shot this before hanging the mirror, which I’ve had for about 35 years. I and a buddy made the frame out of 1x12s, used a jigsaw to cut the pattern, and then stained it. The mirror is pretty heavy, and was “lost” in it’s previous place hanging to the left of my DVD storage area on the south wall.
I took this photo this morning as I was about to leave for work. Instead of a bunch of mismatched bookcases, the loveseat now sits against the west wall underneath my mirror. I plan on putting a sofa in this area. The loveseat will go on the wall to the left of the front door where I’d placed Joel’s entertainment center, which is now on the south wall. (You can just make it out in the shadows to the left of the picture.) The lamp is a “southwestern” piece I’ve had since I lived with Pat. It’s the only southwestern themed piece I kept. (Our coffee table was held up by a bear cub like this one. I found on the internet. )
BEFORE: From the April 8th, 2005 blog entry: “Welcome Home: This is Where I Hang Out” Here is the south wall of the living room back in 2005. You can see the loveseat against the back wall, flanked by a white chair/ottoman and a black chair. Joel’s sofa is on the left. This was back before the door was moved and the 2nd bathroom added. When I took this photo, I had cleaned up everything except Joel’s coffee table. My mirror used to be on the south wall as pictured here, but I hung it too high, so you couldn’t even see yourself in the mirror.
Here is the same area this past Saturday morning. At first I was going to steam clean the carpet before setting the bookcase and entertainment center full of record albums back against the wall, but I wanted to find a new home for the cats before I steam cleaned, which I plan to do this upcoming weekend. I didn’t want to stop my momentum, however, so I cleaned the carpet “manually” along this wall so that I could position the furniture here.
This photo shows the front door in it’s present place in the middle of the east wall of the living room. The entertainment center is still on the wall to it’s left. I had just moved the bookcase and filled it with records, when I realized that the entertainment center wouldn’t fit on the right of the bookcase, because of a wall outlet. Last night I took all the records back out of the bookcase, moved it down the wall to the right, and put the entertainment center where the bookcase is shown in this photo.
Here is the area Monday evening after the I put Joel’s record albums in the entertainment center. Although the major work on the house was done in early 2007, as Joel was getting sicker, he didn’t want any more construction going on, so I didn’t push for the owner of the building to “finish” some of the unfinished business, like putting up a curtain rod above the window on the right of the door. This is one of the “improvements” that will be done in the next couple of months. Joel hung an old blanket over the window as a temporary curtain.
This is another view of the same area in the above photo. I will probably move the green bookcase where I store my DVDs to another area, so that there aren’t so many media storage units on the back wall. It might get moved to where I temporarily put the entertainment center, but I don’t have hardly any seating here now, so will most likely move the loveseat to the area to the left when I get a new sofa.
Another view of the south wall from the side of the bigscreen TV. I advertised the TV for sale along with the entertainment center and a ceiling fan. No takers on the TV, but I have someone interested in the fan and we’re going to talk after lunch.
Over the weekend I also got quite a lot accomplished cleaning up the ‘back yard’ which is mostly covered in concrete. This is not the “before” or “after” photo but was taken right after I weed whacked most of the vegetation before bagging the last load. I had three full 39 gallon lawn and leaf bags filled with vegetation from this area. I really should have taken a “before” photo but frankly, I’m ashamed how this area looked prior to cleanup. The triangular piece of metal on the far wall is rain gutter which was removed from the house’s eaves in 2007 and never reattached. (Only in California would we even think of going three years without rain gutters, but there’s hardly any rain!)
This is the last piece of furniture in Joel’s room. I do want to keep this desk, which used to my computer desk before I bought the L shaped computer desk which is now in the “media room”. I’ll probably move this to the garage storage area temporarily. Spike is troubled that all the furniture in this room has disappeared. She’s finding less and less places to hide.
This small desk unit was in the garage, and originally came from Joel’s mom’s belongings after she passed away a few years ago. I unpacked one of the boxes of stuff I had in the garage, and “decorated” this little desk with some of these items, including a “Pac Man” electronic game, an old bong, Mickey Mouse ears, and a couple of Polaroid “Swinger” cameras from the 60s. The little bicycle model (which has working pedals and brakes) and the Aladdin’s lamp were rescued from Joel’s belongings.
Lastly, here is Spike stretched out on the bare carpet in her old stamping grounds in the master bedroom, which will be taken over by my new roommate Mike in September. I closed the door to this room after I cleared it out, but Spike wails so much because she can’t get in, so I opened the door for her. I really don’t know what I’m going to do with Spike and Malcolm. A couple of phone calls to kitty adoption centers proved futile. Everyone is full up with cats, and nobody is accepting any more. One gal told me to take them to the vet to be “put down”. My reason for calling adoption centers was because I don’t want to murder the poor little creatures, who aren’t hurting anybody. I felt terrible after I was told to take them in to be “put down”. I might just keep them around, and try to “teach” them not to go to the bathroom on the carpet. I absolutely will not just “get rid of them”, since I do have a bit of an emotional attachment to the little gals. I thought I’d get more negative comments when I mentioned last post that I needed to find a home for them. After all, I always feature both Spike and Malcolm on my blog. They’re a part of the family. Mike might just have to adapt to them. He knew I had cats when he answered the ad.
Comments (19)
I hope Mike will adapt and you get to keep the cats.
why don’t you just take care of the little cuties? Are they completely inside cats or do they roam outside occationally? many will go outside if they are both and it’s not hard to litter box train. just throw them in every hour or so for a day or so and they get the point. they’re adorable.
what a lot of work you’ve been doing!!! whew! it’s looking great though! i find it hard to retrain cats if they’ve been allowed to use carpet. you have to replace the carpet and get rid of the odor for it to work…. good luck with it!
I have had cats for almost all of my life. Even though, I would love to say what everyone thinks here. Clean the carpet, they won’t do it again. Doesn’t matter how clean it is the chances are that they will do it again. My suggestions are, buy new kitty pans. Wash them with cleaner when you change the litter ever other day. Yes I did say…. every other day. For one thing, cats by nature are very smart and they don’t like to step in dirty stinkin clay litter. They just invented that type of cat pan that cleans the poop and the clumps of urine, I was on my last cat (had four) and well, he didn’t have many accidents. So the investment wasn’t worth it for me. Replace the pans every so often when they become abused by their nails. Use the best litter you can afford most like the clumping kind. Clean it throughout the day. Suggestion would be is to have the carpet commerically cleaned and don’t be afraod to tell them the problems with the cats. I am sure they have advise on sprays that work to help you. But do remember if they have been doing it before the chances it will happen again. Watch them closely where they normally pee. Cats will normally void where they have been doing it. Be prepared with squirt bottle, pepsi (or coke can if your a coke drinker) filled with pennies and make sure your aim is good. I know sounds terribly uncaring but they can be retrained if you show massive amounts of efforts. I lucked out two of the four cats just did it in the basement and never ventured to pee/poop upstairs. But there are smart, when we slacked off with the pans the bad habit returned. good luck!
I can’t get over all the record albums!
I don’t even think my kids would know what a record looks like. 
The above comment has good advice – it is VERY hard to retrain a cat to use a litter box. They have sprays out there that use enzymes to remove cat odors – you’ll just have to read labels. I would also keep them out of your roomie’s room (didn’t you say he’s allergic?) At least then he will have a “safe area” where he won’t be exposed to them.
Looks like it’s time for a Yard Sale!! Makes some money and get rid of some of that stuff in the garage. You should go talk to your neighbors and see about setting up a community blockparty/garage sale. It brings in more people to buy.
It looks like the rearranging is going pretty well. I think a lot of people are giving up their animals right now because of the foreclosure mess. I just adopted a cat from a no kill shelter and the owner said that they’ve seen a major increase in drop offs because people cannot afford to take care of their pets.
Also, you may want to ask a vet or go to a pet store or something to ask about it but supposedly there’s some kind of spray that smells like a mother cat or something and seems to calm cats down so they will behave and use the litter box. I know it sounds weird but my vet said that it helps animals behave merely from feeling calmer. Who knows? It may be worth a shot.
The kitties will probably settle down once all the upheaval is over. They can sense death and loss, too, and Joel’s final illness undoubtedly took its toll on them as well!
My mom has a kitty who gets very nervous and Grizzy’s twin sister (a vet tech) gave us a great solution–it’s a medicine called Feliway, and you put it into a little infuser that plugs in (it looks like a room freshener.) You cannot smell it, but trust me, it WORKS: Mom was about to have RedKitty put down for improper potty placement and we got this stuff to see if it would do the trick because Elaine swore by it. And it DOES. Red always uses the litter box. And on the rare occasions when they’ve let this stuff run out (each refill lasts about a month) the problem starts up again.
You can also get it in a little spray bottle, and we use that in the carrier when he has to go anywhere, also on his bed…it’s very calming, apparently. It’s available from vets’ offices, and in some pet supply stores. Might even–hold on, let me check–yep–go to vetmeddeals.com and search for Feliway. They say it has a 95% success rate at stopping spraying and wetting problems–it’s a pheromone thing that mimics the friendly thing cats do when they rub their faces against you.
Okay, commercial over now.
TOTALLY worth it. Your kitties looks so sweet, I know you don’t want to give them up. :giggle:
And your hard work looks great. Hope your new roommate is more than compatible.
Mike,
I am WAY SUPER JEALOUS of your clearly bitchin’ record collection.
*fumes*
-R
:wave: I have had many cats over my lifetime. I’ve never had a problem with a cat not using the litter box until my beloved Maine Coon became diabetic. I echo the advice given by others. Clean the carpet and take out stains and odor. The spray sounds like a good idea. If you make the litter box convenient, keep introducing the cats to it, and reward them some way when they do try it, you should be able to retrain them to use the box. Also, cats will become upset by upheavals in the environment, I understand, and don’t tolerate changes well.
If I were told to take a healthy cat to the vet and have it “put down”, I would be very upset, too. It sounds so heartless.
It was extremely hard to have my cat euthanized even though I knew it was the best thing to do when I couldn’t take care of him with diabetes for various reasons.
You have done a lot of work, and so far the changes make the rooms look better. I hope your new roommate appreciates all your hard work.
~~Blessings ‘n cheers
All that work looks like it’s paying off. I’ll bet the room feels a lot more comfortable now! It looks great. What a difference a curtain rod and curtains will make!
Are you planning on doing anything with the “backyard? A couple of big pots with some plants could make a real difference, but maybe it’s not worth it if you would never use it. I think the rain gutter could be a pretty cool “sculpture”!
I was interested to read about the cat product. I’ve never heard of it before. It sounds like amazing stuff; definitely worth a try.
I hope your roommate works out. It’s really hard to find someone who is compatible. Good luck!
Cats that don’t go to the bathroom everywhere can be useful in dealing with rodent problems. However, cats that eat furniture and go to the bathroom everywhere are more trouble than they’re worth…
Thank you for your long comment :coolman:
And thank you for the compliment on Keith, I would tell him, but he made me take the video down from YouTube. He’s in denial about his singing and playing ability. He wanted me to take it off of YouTube, so I did. But he doesn’t know about my Xanga, so I figured it would alright to leave it up there. I wanted to share it with some people who don’t know him. :spinning:
My excuse for not posting regularly is that I just get caught up in other stuff..(like being somewhere without internet for a week..lol..) Or I’ll be drawing a blank when it comes to what to post about.
:rolleyes:
I’ll be on another vacation next week, so I think maybe this week I’ll make extra posts I can future post.
Until next time! :wave:
It looks homey and I like the ‘feel’ of the place. My condo is more cluttered than that and I’m staying on my own. Looks like Spike is very comfortable.
I’m so envious of your record collection. Any Beatles or Bob Dylan among them?
I have all my vinyls too,we play them a lot. Do you play yours?
You have done a lot of work,I have been diong a lot of remodeling too,trying to de-crapify the house,..it is not working.
Wow, that’s a whole lot of redecorating you did there, and I must say that you did a great job with everything
I really expect nothing in return (well maybe a few pix of the cats 
) Huggles, hope that everything turns out for the best
As for Spike, I think she misses Joel, thus her protests against you shutting his door. Cats do remember their owners.
I hope that your roommate accepts the cats’ dominance for a while. Putting an animal down after nurturing it for so long is just harsh. Especially that both girls seem so strong and healthy.. *sigh*
And Mike, don’t thank me, hun. I love reading your blog
You can get some spray to put on the runs that will stop them from smelling thier own smell and they will stop going potty on the rungs. Sweet looking kitties and hopefully Mike will adjust to them. Nice house. I think he is getting a good deal.