Rediscovering More Shoddy Work

It feels like it’s 2013 all over again! You’d think I was done with the astoundingly bad repairs that I found all over the Crooked House, but here’s one more. Along with a whole lot of boob lights, the house came with a builder’s special grade chandelier.

Stairs

It stuck around into the demolition, so needless to say it was a little dirty.

And then it stuck around in my parents’ attic. A family friend was selling her house and they wanted to offer her something to leave if she took her chandelier with her. That didn’t happen so it was one more piece of clutter in the attic.

But… what’s going on with the chain? It can’t stretch out; it actually was this bunched up. (And sorry for how blurry this picture is.)

The chain is doubled up and the wires are kinked and twisted together. I sorta knew about this but ignored it because I wasn’t keeping the chandelier anyway. Well, I figured out what it is. Bending chandelier chain is kind of a pain, so they just did it to one link. And then they doubled the chain up and braided the wire through both layers of it. And then left the one link open. It made no sense at all. But I fixed it and cleaned the light.

So I kinda get that someone was working on my house and they were really high and decided that they could bend out fewer chain links this way. But why was the wire so kinked up? I must be underestimating just how high they were. And I shouldn’t after all the coins stuck in the floor finish, drywall screwed on over woodwork, and mismatched studs inside walls that were barely fastened together. The old plan was to charge $20 and get rid of this fixture fast, but after all this work I raised the price.

Also, my grandmother’s old mattress went super fast, which means we’ve now sold all the biggest white elephants and my parents’ basement is starting to look like a room again! Well, maybe not till after the yard sale in a month. But I’m still happy to hang out down here because it’s cold.

In other news, I got in trouble today. A friend of my mom’s said she wanted 2 5-inch serving dishes. My mom said she’d give her a pair. I said, “Yes, take them now.”

I brought them up, and she pulled out a $20, and asked what we were trying to get for them. I made a face and said $2 each. My mom yelled at me for telling her. She tried to force my mom to take 5. A battle ensued and I don’t remember who lost and was forced to go away with the 5 dollars.

And while we’re at it trying to figure out what to do with heaps of old things, I think this picture of my great-great grandparents should go right here. (Incidentally they were also my neighbors in South Philly, only a couple hundred feet away!) My mom thinks it looks weird because the wall isn’t on center with the stairs. Tell her I’m right, Internet people!

Anyways, this yard sale is a month away. This prepping job is getting to be almost another remodel. And also, buy our stuff.