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kirkland wa

Reno Recap

by Claire on August 6, 2011

IMG_5927Reno, as in renovation.

So, mom’s condo is done. I’ve completely updated it for her so it can now be rented out and hopefully mom can receive a modest addition to her income from it. We went through and completely replaced the carpet, painted everywhere with a pretty soft neutral beige on the walls and creamy white on the trim. We replaced all the brass fixtures (faucets, door handles, cabinet knobs) with brushed nickel. And the part I’m most proud of: we remodeled the second bathroom.

I can’t believe I didn’t capture a complete before picture of this bathroom. Ewww. It was ugly. Well, not completely. Mom had picked a pretty new Corian countertop and had that installed recently, but the worst offender was the brass-look sliding shower doors with mirror. I guess my dad worked really hard to install those back circa 1989. Sorry, dad.

Some of the bathroom before pictures. You can see how outdated it was. The center part of the water fixtures for the bath was broken inside the wall so the tile was going to have to come off anyway. The shower doors were outdated, so for the price of replacing that, plus labor, we stripped everything out and retiled.

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In addition, we elevated the shower head to accommodate the height of the average male. Mom is about 5 foot zero so the shower head height (and the shower door bar) was not an issue for her but certainly would be for any renter.

We removed the plate glass mirror that was all oxidized around the edges and icky and replaced it with a nice clean wood framed mirror.

Now look at this gorgeous bathroom.

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And adding handles to the bathroom cabinet made a HUGE difference.

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Here are a few more pictures of the condo, in case you have any friends or relatives in the local Kirkland, WA area who are interested in renting the place out.

One of the stunning views from the living area.

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Kitchen – also updated with new fixtures, new dishwasher, and new microwave.

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Second bedroom boasts a Murphy bed (queen size) and plenty of storage.

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The view outside the front door. Straight into the heart of downtown Kirkland. Inside the condo, however, it’s still peacefully quiet.

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Oversized master bath jetted tub. And yes, we left the brass here – too expensive to replace or update.

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Another view through the oversized living area. This condo is 1212 SF, double the average size of a unit in this building. That is because mom took two units and combined them. Man, this place is really nice. Don’t you want to live here? I do.

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In case you’re curious, here’s the MLS listing:
http://www.matrix.nwmls.com/DE.asp?ID=3035579118

Tagged as: caldwell banker bain, condominimum, income property, kirkland wa, MLS, remodeling, rental property

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My 2nd 5k Run – Race for Fetal Hope

by Claire on September 27, 2009

I know Kirkland fairly well – my mom has lived there for the past 16 years – so I figured that I knew this route really well. I do, however, I underestimated how much of a gradual uphill that whole first mile is. Then from mile 1 to 2, it’s downhill, then the last mile is flat with a quick slight downhill sprint into the finish line.

This run definitely felt harder than my first one. I think possibly because yesterday I walked nearly 7 miles with my friend, and have been feeling a bit run down after all the worry and stress surrounding my mother’s surgery and aftercare. I made sure to get plenty of sleep last night so I’d be as rested as possible, hoping to improve my time from July, where I completed the 5k in 38 minutes.

0927090851a I succeeded. My time for this event was 36 minutes, about an 11 minute mile pace. I started by taking off fairly hard, but it was uphill and only managed about the first 1/2 mile before I had to walk t0 catch my breath. But throughout the whole race, I only walked a few paces each time, and quickly picked back up running, and sprinting as hard as I could the last bit across the finish line.

I really wanted to do this one for a variety of reasons. First, it was in Kirkland. Back in May, I saw runners finishing a race there and finally understood what these things were all about. (Read my post about that here.) This race was my chance to experience this for myself.

Also, a friend of my daughter’s is expecting twins, plus we recently had some fetal testing done for my other daughter’s baby. I felt running in this race was my tribute to both of them. Incidentally, the doctor who performed the placenta tissue test on my daughter was there at the race as a featured speaker and also a runner.

Next year, I want my grandkids to join me and do the Kids Fun Run. It was so darling – they essentially just run around the block, but a cute guy about 6 or 7 won the fun run. I can just see my grandkids doing this. I got really choked up watching that.

Now,I’m looking for one to do in November. Funny, they had a brochure in the SWAG gifts bag. Guess I’ll check that one out next.

Tagged as: 5k, fetal hope organization, Fitness, kirkland wa, race for fetal hope, Running

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