Checked off the list.

Well, after a long day yesterday, we got the closet drywall complete. Having the walls and ceiling totally change the perception of the space. We no longer get natural light from the bathroom windows, and for the first time I can grasp just how tall the room is. Nine + foot ceilings don't seem that tall in our 16' wide bedroom, but they just soar in a 6X9 closet.

Lowe's called this morning and said they'd be delivering the dryer this afternoon, so I'll snap a couple of quick pictures when it gets installed. We decided to go ahead and install the washer and dryer without doing any of the finishing work on the drywall. We'll finish the drywall in the other rooms, then do the closet last.

Tom will be playing table tennis this evening, so I"ll be working solo tonight. I'll probably work on getting the door and door frame stripped and ready for installation. I bought a heat gun, and I'm hoping that it will make the task a little easier and less toxic than using chemical paint stripper.

The price of laundry.

After 3 trips to 2 different Lowe's stores, we finally bought our washer and dryer. I was hoping to report a steal of the century, but it didn't quite work out exactly the way I had plotted planned. My scheme involved Lowe's "110% Price Match Guarantee" plus a 10% off coupon. The final price for the set would have been about $1100 (original price: about $1600) for a Samsung, front-loading washer and dryer set. I won't go into details since it didn't work.

We still got a fairly good deal, though, I think. The washer came to $574.56, and the dryer was $653.20, so about $1230. Right now, the delivery is free, so that saved us another $118 (we had to buy each at a different store, and standard delivery is $59). The 5-year all-inclusive extended warranty set us back $160. Any single repair would likely be several hundred dollars, so we were willing to get that extra insurance. Deliveries are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. I hope they know to be extra careful, 'cuz any dings on these babies will cost 'em extra.

Photo of the Samsung DV218 courtesy of BestBuy.