we're almost there

We're less than one week from closing on our house. I must say it's pretty unreal. It'll be good to walk into our house and slow down and feel like we own it. I've been so focused on the work that needs doing (and it needs some!) that the thought of living there has become just a tiny bit disconnected from reality. It's as if our house is a space conjured out of pinterest boards and a few scraps of paper covered in circled initials and legal descriptions. Perhaps it'd be good to thrown down our mattress and camp out there for a week just to get a feel for the place before we start tearing down walls and ripping out counter tops. Still, I rather hope we don't have to put off doing the kitchen for too long as I'm not sanguine about any of the appliances. However given a number of unexpected expenses (ie replacing the roof) I may just end up getting better acquainted with my propane camp stove :)

Here's our roughed out remodeling plan:

Replace the roof, gutters, repaint the exterior, and repaint/replace the exterior doors. Allen and I plan to do the repainting ourselves. Fortunately the exterior is at least partially brick. Either way it's a pretty big project =)

Fix the bedroom layout (ie remove part of a very unnecessary closet wall), replace the carpet and wall hvac unit, add a new window (maybe), and paint.

After that we'll look at our finances and decide what it will take to put in a new kitchen and vault the ceilings in the main living area. We'll either find some bargains or put it off a few months until we get another quarterly bonus or two tucked away. Depending on how that works out we'll be refinishing/patching floors, painting, and generally finishing things up. We also need to replace virtually every window in the place, but that can wait until next year.


That's all the stuff that we need to do. Here's my wishlist of smaller projects to work on while we're not doing major remodeling:

Replace the bathroom vanity top and remove/cover that terrible painted over wallpaper in the master bathroom.

Start an herb garden

Get some more trees and a few other bits of landscaping started in the yard.

Get my friend set up in her art studio (she's taking over one of the spare bedrooms).

Recover the dining room chairs and make new cushion covers for the living room chairs (this is what happens when you buy used furniture).

Install in a banquet/built in bookcase in the kitchen eating area.

Put in a deck off the living room (yeah, this may not happen for a while) and replace/repair the deck/landing outside the master.


It's funny but writing that down makes me think that this is a manageable project after all. There's some big ticket items on there, like the kitchen and ceilings, but there's also a whole lot that I can do myself and a whole lot that Allen and I can work together on some weekends. It's going to take time to get it all done right, but I think this is a house (and a location) that will reward our efforts. If all else fails I've at least confirmed that there are trees of adequate spacing for me to hang my hammock and forget out the mess inside :)