So, what has been accomplished in our first 3 weeks you may wonder? I mean at this time last house we had painted every room, every ceiling, every baseboard, we had moved and unpacked, we had ordered furniture ...... we even (to the best of my memory) already had a housewarming party! Well, we have done basically none of that - aside from moving in boxes and organizing them in the centre of the rooms ....... nothing!
Here is what we have done and/or the excuses as to why we haven't done things!
1) The Shower; We tore out the downstairs bathroom shower... and partially put in the new one. Why? because the old one was SO gross that the old owners wore shower sandals in their own shower - it was so bad we couldn't move in before it went out ..... so with much work from Ty and his Dad Gord, we got the shower out and brought in a new one. The new one is in place, all plumbing hooked up and ready to work - we just need to get a little drywall and caulking work done and then it will be ready for business!
2) Moving; So, the last time we moved we were coming from a small apartment into a 4 bedroom house - this time we were coming from a 4 bedroom house to another monster house - we had WAY more stuff! So it was scattered between storage, the farm and the cottage - in MANY boxes! So the cottage stuff was moved on the Thursday after we got the house, the movers returned our large stuff from storage on the Friday and we rented a cargo van to get the stuff from the farm the Saturday ..... this was an insane amount of lifting and climbing up and down stairs - but it is amazing how much a Kia can fit when packed right!
3) Unpacking; Has not happened basically .... and why? Well, this house has knob and tube wiring - and insurance does not like that, so it has to be removed, but getting an electrician in has been a job, so they come in August 24th - almost a month after we got the place ...... and until they are done with making a few holes in the walls and ceilings, there is no point in unpacking ..... which is why the boxes were all organized in the middle of the rooms as well. The one exception to this is the kitchen, we have unpacked it! ..... and you can ignore the boxes and bookshelves at the "eat-in" area of the kitchen.
4) Electrician; This was a job on it's own - Ty contacted 3 companies, set up times for them to come in, collected quotes, bartered with the company we wanted, than I had to barter with the company we wanted and now they are coming in a week from today to start the work.... apparently it may take a full week!
5) Kitchen; So before we unpacked the kitchen we had to paint the inside of the cabinets! There was some stuff in there that I would never let my plates or glasses touch - it was bad, so I vacuumed it, cleaned it, used fresh start and paint - and now I feel I can let me plates and glasses touch it! That was a work!
6) Front Closet; I have never met a front closet where I looked at it and said "I wouldn't hang my jackets in there" ... until now! I had to clean it top to bottom (took 5 buckets of water - and this isn't a walk in front closet), I fresh started it and Jan painted it ....... there was mould on the baseboards that came off, it was bad..... but now it is done and my jackets have a happy, clean home!
7) Wallpaper; Welcome to my new h-e-double hockey stick! Quite honestly, when I was removing the wallpaper in the front entrance way I thought people that complained about removing wallpaper were whiners.... it wasn't the most fun I have ever had BUT it wasn't awful! Until I got to the dining room! The dining room had paintable, textured wallpaper - from 1978 I came to find out! It took days .... under my fingernails bled because the paper was SO brittle that you couldn't even use a steamer to get it off ..... it would not penetrate it! I had bandages on 3 fingers on my right hand and it was awful! So right now I have those two rooms done - out of the entire house - and yes, EVERY room has some sort of wallpaper or wallpaper border - some have both actually!
8) Outside; Ty has started cutting down some "trees" and Odus has been running through the flower patches and taking them down, but the lawn still hasn't been mowed and we still haven't tried to tackle the 7 foot weed in the back back yard!
9) On a whim we bought new kitchen cabinets! So they sit in storage (aka the farm) for another few months until we decide to buy counter tops! They were on sale, solid wood, we saved more than we spent and they are gorgeous! So we scooped them up and moved them!
I am sure we've done a few more things, but those are the main things - and imagine, it has taken 3 weeks! WOW! This house is such a HUGE project is gets overwhelming when you look at it as a whole, but if you look at it room by room and project by project, it is SUPER exciting, it will be BEAUTIFUL!!!
xo,
S
Monday, August 17, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Update
So much has happened since the last time I wrote, so to start off my new series of blog entries I thought I would bring everyone up to speed after a few months of hiatus!
1) We sold our house and moved out May 25th! It ended up being a private sale to a co-worker and all worked out wonderfully. They love their new place and we were happy to sell so we could move to our next project. I will say that the final day there I did cry, as I walked through each empty room and reminded myself what it looked like when we got it and thought of all of the funny and amazing things that happened in that house - I had a little cry! It was our first place together and we will never have another first home - that house taught me a lot about myself and it was really like saying good bye to an old friend - but I am glad that there is a family there that will love it as much as we did. That house gave me more cuts, bruises, dirty nail, funny moments and laughs than I ever imagined, it was all wonderful and worth it!
2) I should have mentioned - when we sold our place, we hadn't bought a new one! Yes, that is right; we were homeless for June & July - so we lived at the cottage (so not REALLY homeless), our stuff was stored between the farm, the cottage and a storage facility and we learned that we aren't really attached to our stuff. If it wasn't for the fact that this was the most awful summer on record - living at the cottage would have been wonderful!
3) As Ty was out in BC catching giant fish with his dad - I headed out to an auction with my Dad and Uncle Scott. Turns out, I raised my hand the most (3 times) and bought a house - a soon-to-be beautiful house that is! It is the most surreal thing you can ever do - buy a house at an auction. You go and literally within 15 seconds (after the bidding started), I had raised my hand to the final selling price! .... it took a few more minutes (which felt like a lifetime) - for them to stop the bidding and declare me the successful bidder and then I sat down at the dining room table with the sellers and signed the documents! Afterwards Uncle Scott and I went out to have a few drinks to calm my nerves and fill my stomach - it was a pretty cool moment and I was pretty proud of myself for doing it on my own (well - Uncle Scott and Dad stood behind me as my body guards! But I actually raised my hand and bid myself! Which is fairly intimidating!)
4) Our favorite weekend of the year came around a few days later - July 1st long weekend - and as always we had a fantastic group of friends at the cottage - this year we were lucky enough to have some people out for 5 days with us! This year was even more special as we went shopping and got the bridesmaid dresses AND I was thrown an amazing surprise bridal shower with the ones I love the most there with me! I was shocked when I woke up to find a letter under our door and a veil and sash hanging outside! It is amazing how easily my friends and family can lie to me! (There was also a VERY surprise engagement party in June! It was amazing to walk into a room so filled with excitement and pure love - and the 1a.m. dance party will always be a treasured moment for sure!!)
5) After everyone went home from the long weekend, we took a 2.5 hour drive up to pick up our new puppy - our new great dane puppy! Odus Webster Atkinson came home, he was 3 months old and weighted over 40 pounds - but was the biggest lap dog you would ever see! He continues to be a very well behaved puppy and is learning a lot of new lessons and tricks. At 4 months he currently weights 53.4 pounds and grows bigger every day! He and Lulu Delovely (the 6 pound cat!) are still working out their relationship, but I am sure that one day they will be the best of friends!
6) We got our new house - an 1881 brick Victorian stunner - on July 27th ....... there was some work that needed to be done before we moved in, so we just moved in a week ago (Aug. 9th!) ..... we continue to wrestle with the replacement of moldy showers, removal of awful 1970's painted wallpaper and figuring out how to get a hospital bed out of the attic (will expand on these in the near future) ..... but we are in love with the potential this house has. She will undergo a major face lift over the next few years to bring her back to her glory and then ...... we will be moving on again .......
Stay tuned, there have already been some priceless moments in this place that I will catch everyone up on shortly! Just wanted to take this entry to bring everyone up to date on our whereabouts!
Cheers,
S
1) We sold our house and moved out May 25th! It ended up being a private sale to a co-worker and all worked out wonderfully. They love their new place and we were happy to sell so we could move to our next project. I will say that the final day there I did cry, as I walked through each empty room and reminded myself what it looked like when we got it and thought of all of the funny and amazing things that happened in that house - I had a little cry! It was our first place together and we will never have another first home - that house taught me a lot about myself and it was really like saying good bye to an old friend - but I am glad that there is a family there that will love it as much as we did. That house gave me more cuts, bruises, dirty nail, funny moments and laughs than I ever imagined, it was all wonderful and worth it!
2) I should have mentioned - when we sold our place, we hadn't bought a new one! Yes, that is right; we were homeless for June & July - so we lived at the cottage (so not REALLY homeless), our stuff was stored between the farm, the cottage and a storage facility and we learned that we aren't really attached to our stuff. If it wasn't for the fact that this was the most awful summer on record - living at the cottage would have been wonderful!
3) As Ty was out in BC catching giant fish with his dad - I headed out to an auction with my Dad and Uncle Scott. Turns out, I raised my hand the most (3 times) and bought a house - a soon-to-be beautiful house that is! It is the most surreal thing you can ever do - buy a house at an auction. You go and literally within 15 seconds (after the bidding started), I had raised my hand to the final selling price! .... it took a few more minutes (which felt like a lifetime) - for them to stop the bidding and declare me the successful bidder and then I sat down at the dining room table with the sellers and signed the documents! Afterwards Uncle Scott and I went out to have a few drinks to calm my nerves and fill my stomach - it was a pretty cool moment and I was pretty proud of myself for doing it on my own (well - Uncle Scott and Dad stood behind me as my body guards! But I actually raised my hand and bid myself! Which is fairly intimidating!)
4) Our favorite weekend of the year came around a few days later - July 1st long weekend - and as always we had a fantastic group of friends at the cottage - this year we were lucky enough to have some people out for 5 days with us! This year was even more special as we went shopping and got the bridesmaid dresses AND I was thrown an amazing surprise bridal shower with the ones I love the most there with me! I was shocked when I woke up to find a letter under our door and a veil and sash hanging outside! It is amazing how easily my friends and family can lie to me! (There was also a VERY surprise engagement party in June! It was amazing to walk into a room so filled with excitement and pure love - and the 1a.m. dance party will always be a treasured moment for sure!!)
5) After everyone went home from the long weekend, we took a 2.5 hour drive up to pick up our new puppy - our new great dane puppy! Odus Webster Atkinson came home, he was 3 months old and weighted over 40 pounds - but was the biggest lap dog you would ever see! He continues to be a very well behaved puppy and is learning a lot of new lessons and tricks. At 4 months he currently weights 53.4 pounds and grows bigger every day! He and Lulu Delovely (the 6 pound cat!) are still working out their relationship, but I am sure that one day they will be the best of friends!
6) We got our new house - an 1881 brick Victorian stunner - on July 27th ....... there was some work that needed to be done before we moved in, so we just moved in a week ago (Aug. 9th!) ..... we continue to wrestle with the replacement of moldy showers, removal of awful 1970's painted wallpaper and figuring out how to get a hospital bed out of the attic (will expand on these in the near future) ..... but we are in love with the potential this house has. She will undergo a major face lift over the next few years to bring her back to her glory and then ...... we will be moving on again .......
Stay tuned, there have already been some priceless moments in this place that I will catch everyone up on shortly! Just wanted to take this entry to bring everyone up to date on our whereabouts!
Cheers,
S
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