The guys from Amherst refinishing are almost done with refinishing our wood floors. They are going to recoat the foyer one more time on Wednesday, but other than that - it is done. If you have them do your floors after reading this, tell them paul from estrip.org is where you found out about them. The floors generally look amazing. Way better than I ever thought they could. The living room, dining room, office and stairs look sensational. When we bought the house two years ago, all this wood was carpeted with nasty indoor/outdoor carpeting that the cats peed on (e:paul,32610)

stairs
Stairs Before


Stairs Sanded


Stairs Shined




Dining Room
Dining Room Before


Dining Room After




Living Room
Living room before



Living room sanded


Living room after




Office
Before


This is the best repair job that they made. There was this awful section of parque floor added and the floors were so scratched up.



Office After


Check out the whole thing.


Foyer
The foyer does not look as great as the rest of the rooms but it is because the floor was previously so damaged. From afar it looks great.





Below is a pic of where the old bathroom used to be, in the before stage. Can you believe these floors could ever be fixed? The first stage of removing the modern bathroom added under the stairs was me ripping out the moldly linoleum. It was so bad it was bubbling. (e:paul,32720) The second stage was (e:paul,43489) when pat did the deconstruction of the structure.

This left this to deal with.

Foyer Bathroom Damage Before


Foyer Bathroom Area After
The bathroom is the most complicated repair. unfortunately, they told us the way our sub floor is made, it was impossible to lay down the floor stippled, as they did in the office, so the fix is more obvious but honestly - anything looks better than the giant shit hole in the floor from above, lol.



But upclose the foyer floor has a lot of damage from years of neglect. I think someday I will just have it totally replaced as I really don't like the way it looks compared with the rest of the house.

The mold spots got darker way darker and greener. Here they are before.


These spots are from this moldy marajuana grow room that the previous owner had in the basement directly under this room. It was full of sinks, dirt, fertilizer, dead plants and a dead pet turtle that wandered in and created a maggot extravaganza.

We had the entire room demolished and removed (thanks Pat) shortly after buying the house. It still had pot plants all molded to the floor, and smelled so terrible of mold when you opened the door to it, that you could taste it afterwards for hours. I remember one time (e:theecarey) and I drank a bunch of gin to try and kill the taste, the first time we discovered the room.

Too bad it happened that way because as Keith from Amherst Refinishing pointed out, the floor is amazing in that the boards are solid oak and span the entire room in most cases as a single plank. He said it would be impossible to get that nowadays.

Here is the good side of the foyer afterwards from two angles.



And here are the damaged areas after they were fixed. The black stains are form cat pee, water damage, mold.


Around this vent was really moldy and rusty when we bought the house.


I think the previous owners would put their shoes on it in the winter. That caused the furnace pipes to rust which ate a giant hole in them. We had those replaced, which stopped the problem (thanks again Pat) (e:paul,32742)

The one thing I was not sure about were these faint lines. I don't remember them in the before pics but maybe the moldy marks spread or stained when the machines went over them. They are hard to see in this pics but they span across the foyer.


Conclusion
All in all I am very satisfied with the work of Amherst Refinishing and would recommend them to anyone. Our house had some particular challenging spots and overall it looks 1000% better.

Did you ever see the movie, The Mist? That is what it is like right now in my house. The smell, polyurethane, is downstairs in the living room, dining room and drawing room and it is slowly creeping past our plastic boundaries toward us. I was standing in the shower with the window open to try and get some air. Eventually, it will consume me.

I can't believe I am going through this again (e:paul,31499) The smell is giving me Post Traumatic Stress Flashbacks to those days (e:paul,31500)

I tried calling rent4bufflo today to rent an apartment for one month for (e:terry), (e:matthew) and I, as it is cheaper than the Hotel Lenox on North and includes more. I wanted to support a local business before I looked into the corporate solutions near the airport. I found this craig's list ad for rent4buffalo.com

Accept under the desperate conditions of having the floors redone in toxic oil drama and needing a place right away, I would never suggest renting from rent4buffalo.com , somewhere so out of the way.

So I called and the old guy who answered asked if I was familiar with Buffalo and I told the guy we lived in Buffalo and were having our floors redone and wanted a place to stay while that was going on. He then asked how many people and I said three for one month. Their ad said it could house 2-3 with contracts as short as one month.

He then said we don't do 1 month rentals and that "we would be unhappy and he would he unhappy." How does he know that he would be unhappy. He is right though I would be unhappy in their ghetto ass apartment building. Look at the tinfoil laundry room.



You know what - fuck you liar. Your ad says you do one month rentals and that you can fit 2-3 adult so why say you can't. Are you just not willing to do it because it includes utilities are we are three people? Then don't advertise that you can handle that and waste my time.

I hope that your apartment business fails. Seriously, who in their right mind would ever rent from someplace so far out in the nasty of post-industrial wasteland if it was for a longer period of time than a month. If you were going to go with a longer rental you would be far better off with a real apartment anywhere else in the living part of the city.

Whether you are being transferred, or on temporary assignment,we offer you a "HOME-like" environment. Fully-furnished 2-bedroom home/office in downtown Buffalo close to waterfront, major highways and all transportation.

Your choice of short or long term lease to suit your situation. One year lease at $900./month including ALL utilites.

Shorter lease (1-3 Month) is negotiable.

Fully furnished and decorated, including the bed linens, soap and towels. Full kitchen w/ utensils. In-unit washer & dryer, folding table, ironing board. Computer desk w/ high-speed internet. Cable TV/HBO DVD/CD. Central station alarm system. Safe Parking

NO SMOKING ALLOWED. No pets. Security deposit required. Our hope is that you'll feel welcome and excitement in downtown Buffalo.
See our photos and more contact information;

I am at home today while the floors are being redone by Amherst Refinishing. It is amazing what a difference it makes. The guys from the crew are really friendly. I took before shots of each room.

The previous owner had so many cats that pissed everywhere. I didn't think they would be able to get all the cat pee stains from the last owner out but the sanders completely fix everything.In fact they had the liter boxes in the dining room - who doe sthat. Multiple ones.

I think that is one of the reasons the house was such a bargain - because the previous owners didn't really clean it up much when we saw it. With a little bit of work I think they could have got a lot more of money out of it.

I wondered if the stains would come out. This is a shot of the living room before with stains


Here we are half and half. Look how dirty they had gotten.


Here it is afterwards. Notice the total lack of stain on the floor.

We stooped at the new Elmwood market at the corner of Elmwood and North after a trip to the park with Gaylin. She was working on a project for school about using parks as learning environments for children.

They don't have beer yet ;( but they do have a broad selection of food stuffs. Very similar to Wilson's Farms but with a little more variety. E.g. more non dairy choices including tofutti brand products. There is also a Deli.



The ceiling is lined with historic pictures of Buffalo. (e:matthew) get a sub.

Who the hell eats Pork cracklins. They make me so sick to even think about. Imagine the nasty factory full of bolts of skin awaiting the deep fry process.



mmmbarf, barbeque

While on a little tour of Park Side we went to the Golf course section of Delaware park so that Gaylin could take some pictures for her project. I think it is the first time I ever made it out to this rock. As a side note, that park is filthy, disgusting filled to the brim with dog shit. I never saw so much in my life. This makes me sound like an idiot but never having had a dog I always thought the plastic bags full of shit everywhere were so weird.

I didn't realize they were from dogs till way late in life and thought that humans, who couldn't make it to bathroom were shitting in grocery bags and leaving them outside.



The ground was so soft at the park, you could see mud everywhere instead of frozen dirt.


We also saw the progress on the Darwin Martin house. It is coming along great. I love the style of the house. At the same time with the Fence around it, it kind of looks like a prison camp gun tower.




And for a totally unrelated ending. We were at the research library at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society the other day and I saw this section of Buffalo phonebooks. Look at the style explosion that is the row which represents the 1960s.


You can see how advertising is changed forever with the addition of color print. What you can't see is the rise of the electronic phonebook.

We went to Saigon Bangkok at 512 Niagara Falls blvd and I have to say it was amazingly delicious and fresh with a pleasant atmosphere and really excellent wait staff. Did I mention hot wait staff?

We had some summer and spring rolls to start.




I also had some crab soup which was super delicious


Then, I had the Saigon Bangkok shrimp fried rice.


(e:matthew) had beef Pho


(e:terry) had the chicken vermicelli.


I would go back anytime. It was one of the best dining experiences I had in a long time. I think the prices were very reasonable too, we paid $48 for 3 people including those appetizers, mmy crab soup and green tea for two.

In response to (e:mike,43826)'s post about the Linwood Home Tour - We have been working so hard on the house to get it ready for the tour. We just painted the dining room yesterday. All of the work we do on the house is with our own money. We in no way benefit directly from the tour.



We were going to paint the living room today but decided to wait until after we see how dirty stuff gets with the floors being sanded.

I wonder how they will get these stains out?


And these trouble areas


The estimator thought it could all be fixed. I can't wait to see.

(e:matthew) suggested making our house a free tour spot.

(e:mike), I totally understand how you felt about the Linwood Home Tour last tour, especially the apartment building (free advertsiement) part of the tour, but you also have to think about having seen the inside of the other houses. Its not often that you get to see what the inside of these houses look like. Perhaps, it is old hat to you because you see our house all the time, but for some people its a totally fresh experience.

None of the money is going back to the people that are opening their homes to 1000 people. It is going to buying new trees, fixing up the street, etc.

You have to think of it like a comic book convention. People will pay $20 to get into a comic book convention if they like comic books. I mean how much of that money goes to charity. Same with the Linwood Tour and people that have a thing for historical architecture - it is really exciting. At least in this case the money is being used to beautify the public space of our neighborhood that anyone can use.

I also think it is stupid that houses can not do it more than one year in a row. I would rather see a couple repeats but have a bunch more houses to look at.

Here we are int he foyer - pre floor redone. (e:matthew) took this picture. You can see the area where we removed that remudled modern bathroom from under the stairs.


UPDATE: While shopping for supplies we stopped at that consignment furniture shop on Sheridan near Colvin and got this solid oak dining set for $299. It is huge and seats eight. The woman selling it was getting a divorce and just wanted to get rid of it. It will be so nice to have somewhere to sit for dinner parties.



The roses from (e:matthew)'s birthday keep getting even prettier.


(e:matthew) really wanted this light at Lowes but it is all plastic and I am done with plastic crap. I feel we have way to much plastic in our lives and I have been working for hard to reduce that. I would rather wait till we can afford a glass one or try and make one myself.


(e:terry) pointed out that if oil runs out, someday plastic will be rarer and people would say an original solid plastic early 21st century tiffany style lamp, lol.

Noah Pred at Bel Cibo
So last night (e:mike), (e:terry) and I headed over to Bel Cibo to hear Noah Pred whose music I realy like. For those of you that do not know Bel Cibo is a new Italian restaurant on elmwood in the place that used to be Sofra and before that the Elmwood Soda Bar. (e:mike) says they have pretty good food. Unfortunately, I was totally not into the venue or the crowd - I don't think I would ever go back. I am not saying people should not check it out for themselves but I found it a bit lame and over priced as a music venue. It was five dollars to get into the crowded venue and it cost $16 for two Rum and Cokes and one Jack and Coke.

The people were anything but fun to look at accept for the waitresses and the door guy which are the hired staff. Everyone seemed to fancy for me. I don't get that whole thing - fancy but fugly - why not just go casual then. We stood in a corner and finished our drinks and then left. I would probably never go back unless it was Kimya playing.

Tabu
Then we went to Tabu the new gay nightclub in the Sidway. It was really nicely designed and had great potential but not many people showed up. I think part of it is that the place is so huge. If the same amount of people were in any other bar it would be crowded.

The DJ, from NYC, was so frustrated that she came up to us to ask what we wanted to hear, she said it was so hard to read the crowd and she needed some feedback. She asked if we though it was more of a lounge or a club environment. Then I suggest she play something with "more bass" which she mistook for Rob Bass and seemed excited about. It was not what I was looking for but I didn't want to ruin her excitement. I think there was much potential to dance in that place and the second story bar overlooking the other one is pretty sweet. I think it is the first dance like club in Buffalo that could make it if the right music and crowd was matched up.

I took some pictures but you know how awesome that iphone pics are in the dark. I decided to post it just to show how crappy they are.

I was so busy with a million and a half projects at work this week. I am just quitting for today right now. I planned on leaving early today to make up for the 106 million hours I work at home on stuff but then something else came up. Luckily, it was a really fun project. Let me just re-iterate my love for Actionscript 3 and for Flex 3. I completed two projects today that would have otherwise taken a lot longer.