A Few Before Pictures...

September has been busy, busy but today am I going to try and slow down and recount where the month has gone.

We have our home on the market and that means keeping the house very tidy. I don't mind it too much. We are clutter bugs {read slobs} and it is so nice to have a clean AND tidy home. Wouldn't it be great if I could keep this up in the new house? A girl can dream, right?

Mom was here last week and we had lots of fun shopping and making plans for the new house.   Let me start out by saying we must replace the roof... and this is our #1 priority.  But when we replace the roof we are going to do a bump out to accommodate a shower in the guest bath.  Here is the guest bath now.  It is a Jack & Jill with no shower.

And Mom's rooms are a priority too.  We ripped up the carpet in her rooms and our sewing room.  Here is a before picture of our sewing room.

Yes... our sewing room was an exercise room.  It will get a lot more use as a sewing room!  And the mirrors will come down.  The 1990's Berber carpet was nasty... complete with pet stains.

 

Mom's room had the same dirty carpet. But the good news is that we found this under the carpet...

the original wood floors from the 1890s!  These should clean up very nicely.

We shopped for kitchen appliances.  Here is a sneak peak of the kitchen from the stairs.  The cabinets were made from trees on the property when the addition was added in the 1990s.

This built in refrigerator has to be replaced.  Even though it was plugged in, it hasn't worked for over a year.  Remember... we bought this home "as is" just before the home went into foreclosure.  The former owners said when this refrigerator broke, they just started using the one in the garage. 

I am hoping to replace this with a stainless counter depth model and have a carpenter add a little moulding or something.  I have been looking at a Viking model that has a water dispenser inside.  Built in refrigerators are about 3 times as expensive as regular refrigerators.

Here is a shot of the wall oven and 2 cutouts that hold a microwave and a convection oven.  I would like to raise the wall oven and add a built in microwave.  I am considering a GE Monogram wall oven and Advantium microwave.  If you  have any experience with these appliances I would love to hear your thoughts.

I'd also like to replace the sink with a stainless under mount.

And I'd like to replace the back splash tile, paint, and refinish the maple floors.  The cabinets need waxing or finishing or something.  I wanted to paint them but all the men I mentiond this idea to freak out.  I am not sure if the husb had bought off on all these upgrades... but I will continue to work on him. {wink}

I have started working more hours at the yarn shop and have considered going back to work full time.  But for now there is a lot to keep me busy at both houses.  Which reminds me, I need to dust and vacuum so I'd better get busy.

The House...

More than a year ago my husband decided it was time to buy some property with land.  He grew up on a farm and I don't think subdivision living was ever his thing.  We looked and looked, wanting to stay very close to the friendly little town we live in.  We also wanted to find a house that would accomodate us and my Mom. We lost out on a beautiful property with a crummy little house.  Then we fought one another over a piece of odd property with 10 acres of woods.  I hated that house (clearly in a flood zone) and finally had to tell the husb if he wanted it, then buy it, but I had no intention of moving into that house.  He is soooo seduced by a piece of land with trees.

In January I found a piece of property with a house on a hill and nearly 10 acres of trees.  The price on the property had just dropped so I took my friend Mary and we went to take a look.  I was happy to see that this was a house that could work with a little love.  Plus it had a bedroom, sitting room and bathroom on the first floor, perfect for my Mom.     

In February we made an offer on the property.  By doing so we had entered a Short Sale process.  "Short" has nothing to do with the time it takes to make an agreement.  Finally, at the end of July we heard that the offer was approved by the bank.  We closed on the property a week ago.  Now we are to proud owners of 2 homes.  YIKES! 

Time to sell our current home and hire a contractor to work on the new house.  This is going to be an adventure! (That is me trying not to be stressed and looking for the silver lining.)  Honestly the house will take more than a little love.

Here is a "before" picture.

We have to start with a new roof and a bump out in the guest bathroom upstairs to allow a shower.  I will have more to show you during the process, plus this house has a very interesting history.