Whew! It has been a long week, but we did it. J and I are officially homeowners! I never thought the day would actually come.
Tuesday right after settlement we raced over to the new house we’ll call home. We took some cheesy “enter” shots and a few of us holding the first set of keys together. Unfortunately they are all on J’s camera, so once I’m able to snag them from him, I’ll post them.
We got right down to business on Tuesday. I took off all the registers and face plates with my trusty new tool set (thanks, mom, for the well-timed birthday gift!) as well as alllll the doors. Might sound kind of strange, but they were all those old-fashioned hollow wood doors that were wood-colored. We plan to introduce our 1958 rancher to the 21st century by bringing in all four (or is it six?) panel WHITE doors shortly.
We also removed the extremely greasy stove (to be replaced with our new stove, which we ordered yesterday {!}) and pulled out the fridge to try to repair it. Unfortunately it looks like someone messed with it because we could a cord in the back that had been ripped. Oh well. We had planned on buying all new appliances, anyway, but it would have been nice to have an overflow fridge in the basement for all our Zazz*.
J installed our new deadbolt (so don’t try anything funny!), and then we cleaned up. And that was just Day 1.
——
Let me tell you the torture I experience alllllll day sitting at my desk, waiting for the day to end so we can do more. Sucks.
——
Day 2:
J invited some family over to help, and boy, did they! I can’t believe how helpful everyone’s been. It’s really amazing. We all got right to work.
I started by scrubbing our one bathroom from top to bottom, including the floors. It was then that I realized that the windows are disgustingly dirty, which is going to make for an ongoing project for me. So then I moved on to the craft room windows to tackle those as well. I think it’s one of those projects that doesn’t seem too important until you see the final results.
We got the water turned on Wednesday, which was exciting but also caused some leaks, so J, his dad, and his brother-in-law attended to those. His dad also cut some pieces of wood to prep for our crown molding (so exciting!).
J and his brother-in-law, D, in the meantime ripped down all the wood paneling in the master bedroom. It already looks way better. Photos of that to come, too.
——
Day 3:
I continued to clean some windows and then moved on to spackling to prepare for paint.
J’s sister helped with spackling and cleaning as well. J’s dad put up the crown molding in the craft room.
J, D, and J’s dad ripped out part of the wall to widen a hallway, also updating the look of the house to be more current, more open-space living, less 1960s.
They also ripped out half of a wall in the kitchen to open that up as well. We plan to add a breakfast bar there, so that was a good start.
Also, J's super-sweet mom brought pizza and a handmade drink for everyone. J's sister dropped off their family friend, aged 9 and in town from across the country, too so that she could go home with J's other sister for the night. The very first thing she said to me: "Are you and J going to get married?" Can you believe that? Ha! I should have said that she should ask him. I'd like to do the same, myself!
——
Though it must sound like we’ve done a lot, I feel like we still have a lot more to do. Obviously. But I mean, a LOT more.
The agenda for this weekend:
{} buy paint for all the rooms
{} rough up the wood paneling in the craft room and prime it
{} paint the craft room
{} put up the crown molding in the office and finish spackling
{} prime and paint the office
{} repair the drywall in the master bedroom and put up the crown molding
{} fix the leaky toilet
{} clean the remaining windows
{} prime, paint, and laquer the chandelier for my craft room
Okay, so this might be a bit ambitious. Especially considering we have my stepdad’s engagement party to go to tomorrow night and J’s sister’s birthday party on Sunday. Throw some catch-up sleep in there, and we may not be left with that much time to work on the house. But with the help of some family and friends, we’re definitely going to try to get all of this accomplished, and more!
Hopefully I’ll have a “house tour” prepared for you by next week so that I can begin to document the transformation in real time. But just to leave you with a little something, here's the glorious exterior of our new home (and the first thing we saw when we found it on the market at the start of June):
Tuesday right after settlement we raced over to the new house we’ll call home. We took some cheesy “enter” shots and a few of us holding the first set of keys together. Unfortunately they are all on J’s camera, so once I’m able to snag them from him, I’ll post them.
We got right down to business on Tuesday. I took off all the registers and face plates with my trusty new tool set (thanks, mom, for the well-timed birthday gift!) as well as alllll the doors. Might sound kind of strange, but they were all those old-fashioned hollow wood doors that were wood-colored. We plan to introduce our 1958 rancher to the 21st century by bringing in all four (or is it six?) panel WHITE doors shortly.
We also removed the extremely greasy stove (to be replaced with our new stove, which we ordered yesterday {!}) and pulled out the fridge to try to repair it. Unfortunately it looks like someone messed with it because we could a cord in the back that had been ripped. Oh well. We had planned on buying all new appliances, anyway, but it would have been nice to have an overflow fridge in the basement for all our Zazz*.
J installed our new deadbolt (so don’t try anything funny!), and then we cleaned up. And that was just Day 1.
——
Let me tell you the torture I experience alllllll day sitting at my desk, waiting for the day to end so we can do more. Sucks.
——
Day 2:
J invited some family over to help, and boy, did they! I can’t believe how helpful everyone’s been. It’s really amazing. We all got right to work.
I started by scrubbing our one bathroom from top to bottom, including the floors. It was then that I realized that the windows are disgustingly dirty, which is going to make for an ongoing project for me. So then I moved on to the craft room windows to tackle those as well. I think it’s one of those projects that doesn’t seem too important until you see the final results.
We got the water turned on Wednesday, which was exciting but also caused some leaks, so J, his dad, and his brother-in-law attended to those. His dad also cut some pieces of wood to prep for our crown molding (so exciting!).
J and his brother-in-law, D, in the meantime ripped down all the wood paneling in the master bedroom. It already looks way better. Photos of that to come, too.
——
Day 3:
I continued to clean some windows and then moved on to spackling to prepare for paint.
J’s sister helped with spackling and cleaning as well. J’s dad put up the crown molding in the craft room.
J, D, and J’s dad ripped out part of the wall to widen a hallway, also updating the look of the house to be more current, more open-space living, less 1960s.
They also ripped out half of a wall in the kitchen to open that up as well. We plan to add a breakfast bar there, so that was a good start.
Also, J's super-sweet mom brought pizza and a handmade drink for everyone. J's sister dropped off their family friend, aged 9 and in town from across the country, too so that she could go home with J's other sister for the night. The very first thing she said to me: "Are you and J going to get married?" Can you believe that? Ha! I should have said that she should ask him. I'd like to do the same, myself!
——
Though it must sound like we’ve done a lot, I feel like we still have a lot more to do. Obviously. But I mean, a LOT more.
The agenda for this weekend:
{} buy paint for all the rooms
{} rough up the wood paneling in the craft room and prime it
{} paint the craft room
{} put up the crown molding in the office and finish spackling
{} prime and paint the office
{} repair the drywall in the master bedroom and put up the crown molding
{} fix the leaky toilet
{} clean the remaining windows
{} prime, paint, and laquer the chandelier for my craft room
Okay, so this might be a bit ambitious. Especially considering we have my stepdad’s engagement party to go to tomorrow night and J’s sister’s birthday party on Sunday. Throw some catch-up sleep in there, and we may not be left with that much time to work on the house. But with the help of some family and friends, we’re definitely going to try to get all of this accomplished, and more!
Hopefully I’ll have a “house tour” prepared for you by next week so that I can begin to document the transformation in real time. But just to leave you with a little something, here's the glorious exterior of our new home (and the first thing we saw when we found it on the market at the start of June):
Have a great weekend!
*We’re officially obsessed. Zazz is Giant’s version of seltzer water, and it comes in a few flavors. It’s FABULOUS.
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