Our New Home - Part III

Part III

Well, the nastiest parts are over - the bedrooms aren't much better but they do require less work.


This is Mikayla's bedroom: 

 The ceiling needed dusting. Just a little bit.

This is the boy's room:

This is the fourth bedroom that we plan to use as a school room:

It's pretty clear that whomever lived here before we bought the house had anger issues. There are holes in the drywall everywhere. Mikayla's room had some choice words written on the wall and even though I don't use that type of language, I had to agree that the sentiment "You smell like s***" probably wasn't far off. One of the Master Bedroom walls was used to practice counting and to write notes to someone who apparently was pretty ugly. 

This concludes our tour! You probably need to take a bath now. Even looking at the pictures makes me feel dirty. Now the fun part begins as you get to follow along and see how we turn this into something livable! We're half-way through our fourth weekend of work and I give you a hint and say one thing: Eric has some mad skills.

Our New Home - Part II

Part II

Where did I leave off? Ah yes, The Laundry room. I am so looking forward to having a laundry room! My freezer will be upstairs! Next I'll tackle the kitchen, but first:

I've gotten quite a few comments, questions, texts and emails, so I'll explain a little bit about what we're doing before I finish the tour.

Eric and I love taking run-down houses and fixing them up. We've averaged one every two years since we married. Sometimes we rent them, sometimes we sell them. 

Oftentimes, when houses come on the market they're open to "Owner-Occupants" first...then to investors. Basically, someone buys the house with the promise that they plan to actually LIVE in the house, not just use it to make money. (I'm guessing there is an incentive for banks to do this on foreclosed homes but I keep forgetting to ask our agent.) Owner-Occupants get the best deals but, of course, they also have to move. 

We've toyed with the idea of buying as Owner-Occupants for quite a while but for one reason or another, it has never worked out. Enter this house. It happened rather quickly so we're still adjusting to the idea of leaving the home we built while engaged and have loved living in for eleven years. Whomever buys this house will be surrounded by numerous love notes written on the studs, floor joists, carved into the foundation, the back side of sheetrock, etc., etc., etc. 

Our bebes have not been very excited to leave what Seth calls "our perfect dream home." But as the new house has improved greatly since the 29th, he's begun to see the light and I think he will come around by the time we move.

One of the drawbacks of this new house is that it's uhm....dirty. REALLY dirty. There is mud everywhere. We've heard from several sources that a grandmother and about six grandkids lived here for a while. I can tell there were lots of kids. I keep finding boogers smeared on the walls. I've been through gallons of bleach already. But more on that later...back to the tour.

The Kitchen

Looks are deceiving - this kitchen is pretty gross. :) Hot pans had been set directly on the formica so even though the color was lovely (ha!), it's not sticking around.

You can't really tell in this shot, but the cabinet doors are gooey with grease, dirt, and unknown substances.

 Anyone want to fry some chicken? I don't think there's quite enough grease.

And who could overlook the pantry! Can't wait to store food for my innocent children in this space. :-/

And...the kitchen came with needles. Lots and lots of needles. After our initial freak-out (I immediately start imagining my children finding illegal drugs in the walls), we realized they're for insulin. Crisis averted.

Our New Home - Part I

Welcome to our New Home! Part I

Okay. I admit. It's not the cutest house on the block. But when a four bedroom home in our price range came onto the market, Eric and I jumped. I emailed our agent, agreed to meet the next afternoon and within fifteen minutes, we started the offer proceedings. A few days later (and a few emails, phone calls, offers and counters), we had a contract. On July 29th, 2013, it became ours.

But this house wasn't (and still isn't) nice. If you've known us for any length of time, you know that this is our favorite type of house: cheap and dilapidated with good bones. 

First, I'll give you a tour, then I'll try to document our progress.

Master Bedroom:

From the Living room: Master to the left, laundry room on the right.

   

You can tell where the bed used to be!

   
And yes, that was carpet. We thought it was sub-floor at first. The smell  was...interesting.

It does have a nice ceiling  - the extra height makes the room feel larger.

Master Bathroom:

   

It has a huge soaker-tub...

 
and a separate shower.

The Laundry Room:

It's actually a very nice space!

To be continued...