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Uncle Jam
Aug 20, 2005

Perfect

His Divine Shadow posted:

Are you against wallpaper in general or just the specific pattern we chose?

Just against wallpaper in general. Getting it off is a pain in the rear end. The worst was some 60 year old stuff which was like grass fiber woven tightly and the painted over a few times. Also working with the steamer on 105 degree days at 80% is horrible. The hot water running down your outstreched arms down your shirt burning your arm pits gently caress.

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Ron Don Volante
Dec 29, 2012

Uncle Jam posted:

I was totally on board with this until that wallpaper. I have scraped enough wallpaper to last a thousand lifetimes, never will I put that up.

Just finished catching up on this thread, and I was going to post the same thing. It's the floral wallpaper that's the worst of the bunch.


The rest of the house is beautiful though!

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
If you guys don't like wallpaper it's not gonna get better. We're having it on all walls in the main hall (an almost white pattern, I think you've seen parts of it already and not realized its not painted) with one wall different that's not yet put up.

My fiancé picked the floral wallpaper and it's kinda grown on me, with the kitchen complete it's gonna have a warm homey/old fashioned feel rather than ultra modern and sterile, though it will have mixes of that thrown in. I think once everything is together it'll be nice looking, I also think it looks better IRL than on photo.

His Divine Shadow fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Jul 3, 2014

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Meh, if it hasn't been painted over and you know what you're doing wallpaper comes right off.

All you need is a spray bottle of hot water with a tablespoon of dish soap and a teaspoon of fabric softener. Spray until it's dripping, wait 3-4 minutes and peel. If it's shiny-coated this will only get the edges up and you'll peel the whole top off. That's fine. Repeat the process. The rest will fall off. You hardly even need a scraper. Finish by washing the walls with hot water and TSP or other appropriate "before paint" wall prep and you're done.

People make such a big deal out of this and use all manner of goofy things like steamers and proprietary chemical concoctions.

Also, drywall is cheap and easy to hang. Sometimes that's the best solution.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
Gonna go against the grain here. I like wallpaper, and I wouldn't mind a bit if HDS would post a scan or two of the patterns up close when he has time.

I've put up wallpaper, and I've taken down wallpaper. Paper that's been painted over is a bit of a pain, but that's not the paper's fault, it's the paint's fault. If I have a peeve, it's painting over paper instead of removing it properly.

I've got one room all with 1950's furniture and colors that it's taken me 15 years to accumulate, and the minute I find some of that vintage atomic-age boomerang wallpaper that I can actually afford, it is totally going on the walls.

Malcolm
May 11, 2008
Yeah but putting wallpaper up means you have to remove it, which is the wallpaper's fault. If there was just paint on the wall you could just put more paint over it, job done. It's fine if it's tastefully done and put up for aesthetic reasons, but personally I don't think a bunch of flower pattern on a wall is high art. I suppose I am a minimalist in my tastes but I'd always prefer a white painted wall with some nice art and plants to decorate, versus a wallpaper pattern. I'm sure much of this opinion is culturally informed and there may be some stunning wallpaper patterns out there that blow my mind. It's fascinating how different countries have different cultural norms. :downs:

Hiilai
Jun 13, 2009

Malcolm posted:

It's fascinating how different countries have different cultural norms. :downs:

Well, cultural norms and cultural norms. I'm a Finn and I absolutely loathe wallpaper. Not because of how hard or easy it is to hang or remove, but because a painted wall looks always way more aesthetically pleasing. I'd much rather paint some sort of pattern, if I really wanted something else than a plain wall.

But hey, different tastes. As long as the one actually owning the house is happy, then that's all that matters.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Put up cabinets in the laundry room today:


Had to remove the window trimmings here as it didn't fit when we put in the cabinets and top, will redo later


Other side of the laundry room:


This cabinet was a pain in the rear end due to all the stuff going through it:


Here's another wallpaper shot, this paper is hard to capture because it changes depending on your angle of view. The other walls in the halls and living room are also wallpapered and also change depending on angle, but the pattern is so subtle it looks mostly white on photos:


And a close up of the kitchen wallpaper


Also put up window trimmings, I did straight cuts rather than mitered corners, looks more modern I think, made them extend slightly above and below (4mm exactly, kept check with a caliper). Also way easier than mitered corners.

Spookydonut
Sep 13, 2010

"Hello alien thoughtbeasts! We murder children!"
~our children?~
"Not recently, no!"
~we cool bro~

His Divine Shadow posted:


Also put up window trimmings, I did straight cuts rather than mitered corners, looks more modern I think, made them extend slightly above and below (4mm exactly, kept check with a caliper). Also way easier than mitered corners.


Sorry to jump on the wallpaper bandwagon but that wallpaper looks terrible with the windows in that wall, it'd look better with plain white between the windows.

jyrka
Jan 21, 2005


Potato Count: 2 small potatoes
Why do Finns like everything white in interior design?

Valiantman
Jun 25, 2011

Ways to circumvent the Compact #6: Find a dreaming god and affect his dreams so that they become reality. Hey, it's not like it's you who's affecting the world. Blame the other guy for irresponsibly falling asleep.

jyrka posted:

Why do Finns like everything white in interior design?

Makes everything seem more spacious and bright, I'd guess. That's my reasoning anyway.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Makes everything look like a hospital.

kissekatt
Apr 20, 2005

I have tasted the fruit.

jyrka posted:

Why do Finns like everything white in interior design?
The heritage from centuries of colonisation by Sweden.

Jusupov
May 24, 2007
only text
Nah it's because white paint is the cheapest.

Sormus
Jul 24, 2007

PREVENT SPACE-AIDS
sanitize your lovebot
between users :roboluv:
Going against grain here, but I like the wallpaper choices so far, they make it actually feel like a home instead of an institution.

Sormus fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Jul 16, 2014

kinmik
Jul 17, 2011

Dog, what are you doing? Get away from there.
You don't even have thumbs.

His Divine Shadow posted:

Here's another wallpaper shot, this paper is hard to capture because it changes depending on your angle of view. The other walls in the halls and living room are also wallpapered and also change depending on angle, but the pattern is so subtle it looks mostly white on photos:

I actually really like this pattern and I'd likely put it up in my own house. I'm definitely not a fan of the other one; I think it's in correlation to my own distinct preference between stripes and polka dots. Polka dots are ugly as sin.

Powerlurker
Oct 21, 2010

kinmik posted:

I actually really like this pattern and I'd likely put it up in my own house. I'm definitely not a fan of the other one; I think it's in correlation to my own distinct preference between stripes and polka dots. Polka dots are ugly as sin.

I agree, but I do think the other wallpaper looks much better up close.

silicone thrills
Jan 9, 2008

I paint things
Some of the wallpaper is good but the kitchen reminds me of stuff that you peel out from 5 other layers of flowery wallpaper in a great grandmothers house.

I'm a big fan of cool subtle paint colors, myself. I've got light greens and blues and grays through my house.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
Thanks for posting the close-ups, HDS! I quite like that kitchen paper. It was a nice surprise to see the subtle postcard theme that's under the flowers. It's warm and more individualistic than plain paint, and I like it.

What goes around comes around in home design. Wallpaper may not be frequently used right now in the US (where I am), but in my search for some, I've noticed that it seems to be trending up in Europe and Oz, and there are some really lovely patterns and tonal papers with textures.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Thanks, credit goes to my fiance though, it's totally her style but I agree, it gives the place a warm look.

Just a single pic update today, but since last time I've laid down all the laminate floors. I am so happy I got a metric speed square from the US (can't get those here), it's such a big help to cut all the laminate boards, especially at angles. In fact it's better at a lot of things than the usual L-squares we find here, today we also put up the door frames and two doors and it came in handy there to keep things square when we screwed them together.

Next step is to put up listing (or molding, or whatever it's called) at the floor level and also around the door frames (same style as around the windows). Tomorrow the electricians will also begin the final electrics setup. Kitchen equipment is delayed until next week perhaps, which is bad. We really want to get as much done this week so we can move in as soon as possible, and now it looks like the subcontractors are dragging their feet when needed.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Stuff has happened. Most of the electrical work is done, still some lights and such left though. Benches are installed, sinks are installed (not yet hooked up), got the fridge, freezer, dishwasher, oven and stove top. Toilets and other bathroom appliances as well but not yet hooked up.

Trying to pester the people to come do it next week because we wanna move in next weekend.

Today we've been putting up the tiles on the kitchen walls over the counters:







Behold, induction stove top ala Jeremy Clarkson, 400 volts, 3-phase, powerrrr!

It'll boil a pot of water in no time flat.

The bathroom door, I am really pleased with this door, I never would have known about it if we hadn't gone around checking other newly built houses.


Also been having some insane weather in Finland the last 4 weeks, plenty of times it's topped 30C which doesn't happen often here, almost every day has been 25-29 degrees though. So some of the nicest summer weather since almost as long as I've been alive (warmest summer in 30 years according to the news) and I get to spend my entire vacation working and sweating and stressing to get the house ready in time.

Also had the earth moving guy there and he's digging and shuffling around that few hundred cubic meters of soil I bought into a shape that pleases me. Also dug a really deep hole to get at a pipe and we struck a water vein and I had to go buy a sump pump to keep the hole drained, so much underground waterflow in this area.

whalesteak
May 6, 2013

Love the raised dishwasher. Is the bathroom door glass?

angryrobots
Mar 31, 2005

Is that the water meter, inside a laundry room cabinet? Will they have to enter the building to read it?

Is 3 phase power standard on all services there?

Jusupov
May 24, 2007
only text

angryrobots posted:

Is that the water meter, inside a laundry room cabinet? Will they have to enter the building to read it?

You read and report the water meter reading yourself. I don't know if they ever check them.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

angryrobots posted:

Is that the water meter, inside a laundry room cabinet? Will they have to enter the building to read it?

Is 3 phase power standard on all services there?

The municipality's website has a little form I can use to submit the meters readouts so it's up to me. 3-phase is standard in most homes in scandinavia and parts of europe. Often used for stoves and other permanent hookups that need lots of power to work their best.

Galewolf
Jan 9, 2007

The human gallbladder is indeed a puzzle!
This thread is amazing and really warms my heart :3:


His Divine Shadow, from the pictures I can say that your excavation/foundation people did a great job with concrete. I can see a really solid concrete work, really good craftmanship on concrete insulation (the black bitumen layer on the bottom of the concrete), nicely done backfill with quality material and very professional looking blasting operation.

I worked in multi billion usd construction projects and barely see this kind of quality work. You wouldn't believe how hard is it actually. Now I want to be a contractor in Finland :v:

Kemper Boyd
Aug 6, 2007

no kings, no gods, no masters but a comfy chair and no socks
On the other hand, a friend showed me pictures of how his friend's apartment looked after a kitchen renovation. The stove was installed off-center from the oven, half the tilework had silicone foam instead of mortar (you could sort of tell from the seams because the foam was brown as opposed to white) and the stovetop ventilation unit was screwed to the wall but wasn't hooked up to any ventilation ducts.

My dad builds houses and he keeps going on and on about how bad the quality of work is today. If you find a contractor who does the job themselves, it's probably going to be fine, but sub-contractors and sub-sub-contractors do the shittiest quality of work.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

Galewolf posted:

This thread is amazing and really warms my heart :3:


His Divine Shadow, from the pictures I can say that your excavation/foundation people did a great job with concrete. I can see a really solid concrete work, really good craftmanship on concrete insulation (the black bitumen layer on the bottom of the concrete), nicely done backfill with quality material and very professional looking blasting operation.

I worked in multi billion usd construction projects and barely see this kind of quality work. You wouldn't believe how hard is it actually. Now I want to be a contractor in Finland :v:

Thanks, we're pretty happy with the house, not as much the so called customer service people who arrange things though.



whalesteak posted:

Love the raised dishwasher. Is the bathroom door glass?

Forgot to answer this but yeah it's a frosted glass door, I thought it looked awesome when I saw it in another demonstration house and decided I wanted that. Also brightens everything up when it lets light pass through.

Herstory Begins Now
Aug 5, 2003
SOME REALLY TEDIOUS DUMB SHIT THAT SUCKS ASS TO READ ->>

Kemper Boyd posted:

On the other hand, a friend showed me pictures of how his friend's apartment looked after a kitchen renovation. The stove was installed off-center from the oven, half the tilework had silicone foam instead of mortar (you could sort of tell from the seams because the foam was brown as opposed to white) and the stovetop ventilation unit was screwed to the wall but wasn't hooked up to any ventilation ducts.

My dad builds houses and he keeps going on and on about how bad the quality of work is today. If you find a contractor who does the job themselves, it's probably going to be fine, but sub-contractors and sub-sub-contractors do the shittiest quality of work.

Demoing craftsman style homes is a pain in the rear end, you have to pry everything apart. A lot of modern construction you can take out a room in a few hours with a sledge hammer and a sawzall.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

The-Mole posted:

Demoing craftsman style homes is a pain in the rear end, you have to pry everything apart. A lot of modern construction you can take out a room in a few hours with a sledge hammer and a sawzall.

I think you mean "demoing homes that were built to something more than minimum code by the lowest bidder", because this applies to plenty of homes even to this day.

Not every builder thinks a dozen/dozen and a half ring shank nails is good enough for a sheet of drywall or 6 screws plenty to hold up a wall full of top cabinets.

Well built structures take time and effort to demo.

hammeritme
Oct 28, 2002

I like the cut of your jib
It's weird because I love the tiles, appliances, and overall modern finishes you put in your house - but I absolutely loathe the wallpaper. Just seems so out of place to me.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
OK, we moved in last sunday, it's been pretty hectic but here are some photos of what it looked like just after we moved in. A bit of a mess in the pictures. Lots of boxes and stuff still unpacked and other things not yet completed, but we're working on it and at least now we're living where we're working so things are way easier.












Still missing the sink/wash basin and cabinet in the bathroom, but the shower and toilet works at least.


Still haven't gotten the proper microwave and some drawers and hinges for doors are missing too.

Kaal
May 22, 2002

through thousands of posts in D&D over a decade, I now believe I know what I'm talking about. if I post forcefully and confidently, I can convince others that is true. no one sees through my facade.
Wow it's a home! Congratulations!

VodeAndreas
Apr 30, 2009

That looks great, congratulations on having a liveable home out of all this.

It's been really interesting reading through the thread and seeing the process you've gone through, especially the heating system which I found fascinating.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Thanks, you can still expect some updates though. We're far from finished with this. Lots of stuff left inside to do and we got the garage and workshop I am planning to build in it, terrace and garden works, etc etc.

Oracle
Oct 9, 2004

How do you keep the water in the shower area? Are you missing a curtain or glass door or? Or is the whole room some kind of multipurpose sauna/bath?

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Yeah there's a glass divider that we haven't bothered putting up yet because they haven't yet installed the sink and mirror.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Stuff is actually still happening. Since we moved in lots of things have gotten done, most of it not photo worthy though, some of the highlights are:

Fixing the aluminum floor trim around the stove:


Finally got a bathroom cabinet, though still no sink (it's arrived, but no plumber to install it)


Oh I made a shoe rack:


We got a TV (and then a proper TV table after this pic)


I found another room in the garage! Seriously I didn't know about this hatch.




Good place to store boards and other woodworking materials I think. I am gonna build some shelves so I can store them up there. And hey I can look down into the workshop:

kinmik
Jul 17, 2011

Dog, what are you doing? Get away from there.
You don't even have thumbs.

His Divine Shadow posted:

I found another room in the garage! Seriously I didn't know about this hatch.

:stare: I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's how you get goblins.

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Oracle
Oct 9, 2004

Just set out a saucer of milk for them every night, they'll fix your shoes for you or something. I saw it on HGTV.

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