We closed on our house a month ago today. It seems like forever ago. We have been living here for about 3 weeks and it still feels like there is so much to do. We bought the house as a short sale and that means it comes as-is. We got a pretty good deal on the place and are so excited we can actually afford it but man has there been a lot of work to do. As my dad says, a lot of elbow grease. It's overwhelming at times. The first owners I've heard took great care of the place. It was immaculate but the second owners lived here less than 2 years and everything went to pot. I don't think they really cleaned in that two years. I don't see how you can spend so much money for something and not try to take or it. I wish I would have taken before pictures but I didn't. So I won't be able to show too much of the transformation. The first thing we focused on was painting. The family room was a sponge painted eggplant purple. It kind of started growing on you but did not match the couches I bought. I am pretty plain and like neutrals and planned on painting the whole house the same brown color but the more and more I looked at pictures I decided why? I finally have a house of my own I can do anything with. Neil and I ended up picking a yellow/mustard/gold color. I wasn't sure at first but I love it. There was a bedroom that was deep deep eggplant purple, even the ceiling. We did paint that a neutral linen color. The other room we've painted is the master bedroom. I wanted to have a very relaxing, restful room since I have had such a hard time sleeping for the last 3 months. We choose a light powder blue and I'm still working on an accent wall trying to make it look a little 3 dimensional in a little darker blue. I wonder why I'm even bothering because there is not that much of a difference to really notice. All of these rooms needed two coats of primer plus 2 coats of paint as well as ceilings needing two coats of primer and two coats of ceiling paint. It took a 1 1/2 weeks to get all that done. I painted the living room the same color it was so that was easy. My dad bought a roller gun. It continuously pumps paint into the roller so you don't have to keep dipping. This was a lifesaver when it came to the ceilings and family room. If you have a lot of space to paint with the same color I would highly recommend it. They are a pain to clean however.
The next project we tackled was laying laminate floor on the main level in the living room, dining room and kitchen. The entry way was previously tile with carpet in the living room, and dining room and linoleum in the kitchen. Oh you should have seen the carpet in the dining room--disgusting. It gave my dad the creeps to have Mikey crawling on it. We planned on it taking 2 days and it ended up taking 6 and it is still not caulked and the baseboards are still not up. We thought we'd hire someone to do it but when we found out it would cost $1000+ to have it installed we thought we'd try it ourselves and if we couldn't do it we'd then hire someone. We learned a lot as we went and got to be pretty good pros by the end. I had not had a very good track record during this time. I kept falling and hurting myself, ruining everything I touched. The big fiasco was my dad always has 44 ouncers of soda around. He laid it down on the floor and I not seeing it sat down and spilled it all over the unsealed laminate. It ruined about 3 boards so not too bad. Time was starting to run out and it was taking too long since Neil had to go to work all day so I decided I have to start helping and get over my fear of the table saw. I'm a little accident prone and was scared I'd cut my hand off but Neil showed me how to use it and my dad and I did the dining area ourselves. Grandpa Bahr would have bben so proud seeing me work that saw. Just call me the next Tom Villa (?)Working with my dad is an experience. He has a short temper and gets mad and swears--opposite of me. One day he was just yelling at me and swearing and I call Neil, honey you got to come home my dad is so stressed and I'm not helping any. I talked to my mom about it and she's like that's just the way your dad is, he blows a little steam and is over it. Don't take offense. So I talked to him and he said the same thing. I've always been this way and probably always will. I don't mean anything by it. He did seem to better after that and more control of himself. I just was nervous my kids might start saying things. Anyway the laminate looks wonderful. I love it. With every change we make I fall more and more in love with my house.
The last project is my dad and Neil are building me a pantry. In the kitchen there was a desk area with some drawers and a countertop on top of the drawers. The area is 48" wide and I felt a waste of space. I was pretty skeptical at first and didn't think they could do beings as neither have every framed or mudded anything before but I am being pleasantly surprised. I can't wait for it to be done. It is going to be a huge pantry and it will look like it was always part of the house.
The next project we tackled was laying laminate floor on the main level in the living room, dining room and kitchen. The entry way was previously tile with carpet in the living room, and dining room and linoleum in the kitchen. Oh you should have seen the carpet in the dining room--disgusting. It gave my dad the creeps to have Mikey crawling on it. We planned on it taking 2 days and it ended up taking 6 and it is still not caulked and the baseboards are still not up. We thought we'd hire someone to do it but when we found out it would cost $1000+ to have it installed we thought we'd try it ourselves and if we couldn't do it we'd then hire someone. We learned a lot as we went and got to be pretty good pros by the end. I had not had a very good track record during this time. I kept falling and hurting myself, ruining everything I touched. The big fiasco was my dad always has 44 ouncers of soda around. He laid it down on the floor and I not seeing it sat down and spilled it all over the unsealed laminate. It ruined about 3 boards so not too bad. Time was starting to run out and it was taking too long since Neil had to go to work all day so I decided I have to start helping and get over my fear of the table saw. I'm a little accident prone and was scared I'd cut my hand off but Neil showed me how to use it and my dad and I did the dining area ourselves. Grandpa Bahr would have bben so proud seeing me work that saw. Just call me the next Tom Villa (?)Working with my dad is an experience. He has a short temper and gets mad and swears--opposite of me. One day he was just yelling at me and swearing and I call Neil, honey you got to come home my dad is so stressed and I'm not helping any. I talked to my mom about it and she's like that's just the way your dad is, he blows a little steam and is over it. Don't take offense. So I talked to him and he said the same thing. I've always been this way and probably always will. I don't mean anything by it. He did seem to better after that and more control of himself. I just was nervous my kids might start saying things. Anyway the laminate looks wonderful. I love it. With every change we make I fall more and more in love with my house.
The last project is my dad and Neil are building me a pantry. In the kitchen there was a desk area with some drawers and a countertop on top of the drawers. The area is 48" wide and I felt a waste of space. I was pretty skeptical at first and didn't think they could do beings as neither have every framed or mudded anything before but I am being pleasantly surprised. I can't wait for it to be done. It is going to be a huge pantry and it will look like it was always part of the house.
There is still a lot of painting and cleaning to be done.
2 comments:
You have to take pictures....even if it's still in the "work in progress" stage.
Nice work glasses Neil! I love the pic of Mikey in the fridge! I can't believe he's walking already. Everyone seems grows faster when I'm gone! I'm glad you're in love with the house, you guys deserve a nice house after the toil of caring for Grandma D and Grandpa.
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