Renovation

It Finally Happened!!!

2007-03-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Last night T & I got our VERY FIRST candy bar selling girl at our door!!!

It was SO exciting! I have never had anyone come to our door (since we lived in apts in a college town) to sell us delicious sugary treats! So of course we spent all the cash we had - which thank goodness was only $5 - on candy bars we don't need but just HAD to get!

We bought twizzlers (YAY), carmello, a couple Reese's peanut butter cups, and a kit kat! I seriously LOVE this house thing!!

I think we are going to keep a few dollars out in the living room so the next time a little candy selling person comes to our door we will once again be ready to buy! (of course I am sure this will get old eventually - but I am currently LOVING it!!)

DEALS DEALS and MORE DEALS!!!

2007-02-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

First...sorry I don't write on this one as much....we have kind of stopped renovation until spring time and of course until we get our refund check!!! haha! But don't give up... I will probably be putting up posts at least every couple weeks!

Ok, so here is ANOTHER great thing about buying a house.....the amount of coupons you get!!! We have seriously gotten 3 packs of coupons in the mail in the past couple weeks! Anything from free food, to discounts at home stores, to just random crap that doesn't have anything to do with buying a new home! I have to admit I am loving it!!!

We just got another pack in the mail last night with some really kick ass discounts! I like discounts, ecspecially with all the money you can and will spend on a house! AWESOME!

Of course we have gotten other things saying buy OUR insurance or refinance with us..blah blah blah. How do they get your information anyways - SCARY!!!

But anywho...I am excited and know at least some of these coupons will come in handy! Keep them coming!!!

I Love This!

2007-01-31T06:42:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of our carpet cleaner we bought a month or so ago! (I put it together by myself)

Anyways, we were not originally going to buy one but it was onsale and we had some gift cards so we thought - hey, why not! And I have to tell you....I am SO happy we got it!

We used it at the house to clean the carpets before we moved in and it was amazing! Well actually it is amazing and gross! It is gross when you throw a bucket of very dirty water away...but it feels great afterwards knowing that your carpet is - infact - CLEAN!

We also used it on the apartment carpet before we left and were amazed and disgusted at how dirty that carpet was. We had had a few bad leaks in our apartment during our nearly 3 years there and even though we used carpet cleaner and stuff to clean the areas....when the carpet cleaner itself went over those areas you could just see all the grossness coming up! ICK

So I think this was a GREAT purchase and something we will use. We won't be cleaning the carpet every week, but maybe every 4-6 months we will pull it out and clean - it is well worth the time!

DONE!

2007-01-31T06:39:00.000-08:00

Come last Sunday we were out of the Apartment for good! YAY!

Update on the Apartment

2007-01-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

So we are just about out of the hell hole know as Bateson's Palace. I can't wait to be done with this apartment. It has never felt like home, just a place to live and now that we actually have a home I almost get angry every time I step foot into the apartment. Our landlord has been a dick the last couple months since we told him (and he was never like that, we even invited him to our wedding b/c he was always a good friend to T.) but now that we are leaving his true colors are coming out. So we are renting through January and come this Sunday we will be done with the apartment forever...and that is an AWESOME feeling!

We would have been out of the place sooner but we are doing ALOT of cleaning because a very good friend of ours is taking over our lease. Since we know our landlord won't clean, we want to make sure that everything is in good shape for our friend....otherwise if it was anyone else we wouldn't care. So we have been over there after work the last few nights cleaning.

As we look at an empty apartment I do have alot of great memories tied to this place. I have met many of my current friends there, I met T. there, I had many many parties and lots of fun there....but those days are over. One by one our friends moved out and on and T & I stayed. Now we are just ready to begin a new chapter in our lives together and away from this place.

Just a couple more days and we are done, we can officially relax in our new home!! YES!!!!

Piles and Piles of JUNK!!!

2007-01-26T07:48:00.000-08:00

So I am a little embarrassed by this but T & I have come to the realization that we have WAY too much JUNK! We just finished moving the last of this junk out of our apartment and now it is taking up a good portion of our basement (as well as a storage unit). Who should have that much stuff - it is ridiculous!

Before the move I would look around and knew we had alot of stuff but I thought part of it was because we just didn't have a big apartment and therefore it wasn't as much as what I thought. HA, yeah right - boy was I wrong! It feels like we just keep moving and moving and moving stuff. Stuff that we have not even gotten into for the past couple years (at least). It is truly embarrassing! Two people as young as we are SHOULD NOT have this much stuff!

So over the next few months we are going to go through every single box and get rid of things. Some things I am sure T will sell on ebay, others will be given to Goodwill. (So it really isn't ALL junk - just alot of stuff) I just think it is ridiculous how much the two of us have collected and I want to get rid of it now so we don't have to worry about it. I think it will feel good to get rid of things and start over (in a way). I want to have that show Clean House or something like that come in and help us get rid of this stuff! I feel like are stuff is taking over our lives - UGH!

P.S. I think I still have more stuff at my parents and T. has more stuff at his parents!!! RIDICULOUS!!!

Won't You Be......My Neighbor?!?!

2007-01-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

So here is a question for all you nice people, how close are you with your neighbors? We have been working and/or living at our new place since December 1 and I have yet to be greeted by a neighbor (well except for the condo person who stopped by for a quick minute to drop off the rule book – but she had to do that). Now not that I am expecting to be or necessarily want to be friends with my neighbors but I find it weird that no one has even looked our way – infact we really don’t see people out in our neighborhood, possibly b/c it is colder and a bunch of older people live there. Anyways - what surprises me most is that our duplex neighbor – the person we share half a side of a house with, hasn’t even come over and T & I have only seen her pulling out of her drive way once. Am I expecting too much? Should WE be going around to the 6-8 houses in our circle and be making nice? Or should we just not care and continue doing our thing? What is proper neighbor protocol – because we just don’t want to be “those” neighbors who everyone else gets together and talks about. Infact – rumor has it from the previous owner of our place that the condo association was not happy that a “younger” couple was moving in b/c this was a quiet/family neighborhood. HAHA – so I guess our late night drug and alcohol parties where we invite 50 people over till 6 in the a.m. will have to stay to a minimum!

I am not looking for a Desperate Housewives neighborhood where everyone knows everyone’s business and we all hangout – but I also don’t want to be the black sheep of the neighborhood…..I just want a house of our own where we do our own thing and when we see a neighbor we both smile and wave and carry on with the day (ah….how perfect that would be!)

So once again I ask should we just carry on as normal and not worry about it, should we be making the first move and introduce ourselves to our duplex neighbor, at the least? I guess I always thought people brought you cookies when you moved in…that just be on TV! hehe

Things I Enjoy or Re-enjoy about our New Place

2007-01-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Ok, we have officially been living in our new place since December 22 and over the past 2 ½ weeks have a list of things I love about our new place or have a re-discovered love of doing!

1. Having one and a half bathrooms – two toilets comes in handy!
2. Having a garage
3. I once again like doing the dishes
4. Laundry will be fun once we get our washer and dryer (thanks again M&M!!)
5. Putting clothes away in our new dresser (usually I just kept them on piles on our floor)
6. Having adult neighbors – even if I never see them
7. Not having to fight for a parking space
8. Not hearing our neighbors above us or across the hall
9. How easy it is to get on the highway from our new place
10. How close we are to Wal-Mart (I know not everyone likes Wal-mart…but it is nice being as close as we are!)
11. Seeing our cats enjoy the new place (they run up and down the stairs chasing each other, love the new furniture, and really just seem happier since the move)
12. Paying my mortgage – I know this will get old but I did enjoy writing that first check this month!
13. Coming home and having this place actually FEEL like home
14. Having my family spend the weekend at our new place
15. Having a dining room
16. Having friends come over and say they feel comfortable and relaxed at our new place (that is how I want everyone to feel when they come over!)
17. Going to the store and buying stuff for our house
18. OUR NEW FURNITURE!!!
19. Having two a two-story home!
20. Having a basement – even though I would prefer not to go down there often
21. Our painted walls – they look fabulous ;-)
22. Going to the mailbox to get our mail AND that UPS will actually deliver and drop off at our place (they were not great living in an apartment!)
23. Cooking
24. Trash Day (every Thursday!)
25. Having a bigger kitchen with tons of cabinet space
26. Building a home and starting a life with my wonderful husband!

I know there is TONS more, but that is good for now! I truly LOVE our place, it feels perfect!

Goodbye my dear friend - I hardly knew you!

2007-01-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

So our washing machine is broken. It was never used by us (came with the house) and I imagine it was not in great working order before we got there! It is fairly old and I don't think worth fixing with our home warrenty. The motor runs but it doesn't spin and there is some rust in the washer....so it is time for it to move on! It isn't that big of deal because besides the washer and dryer all the other appliances were brand new....so if we have to spend a little money on a washer it is all good!! We have some gift cards from Best Buy we may use - which is nice! Right now we are heading to the laundry mat to do our clothes (blog to come on wrestling kitties).

So if you have any suggestions on good brands of washing machines to get (mid-level) please let us know!!! Also, where can you dispose of old appliances that no longer work? I don't think the trash man would like to see that!!

Dining Room - 78% Completed!

2007-01-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have neglected this blog for awhile, but I am back!!!

So here it is, our semi-finished dining room!! We still have white drape things on order which my parents got us (thanks mom and dad!!!), put the white base boards, light & electrical covers up, hard wood floors (eventually) and do the chair rail and crown molding….but here is the paint finished room with our fabulous new furniture! YAY! I absolutely LOVE this room (it is so pretty and worth all the aggrevation) and I am also SO very happy that it is pretty much done! P.S. I am done painting until this spring – NO MORE!!!!

Also - does anyone know where we can find some nice wine racks for ontop of the server? We are looking for silver ones, but can not seem to find any....well we haven't been actively looking, just looking when we are out and about! But if you see any (that are silver/iron stackable or hold at least 12 bottles) then please let us know!!!

Wall Repair 101

2006-12-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

So I have become a self-proclaimed expert (in my opinion) on repairing walls. From the wee little nail hole, to the “holy-shit” our curtain rod just took a huge chunk of our wall out to the needing to smooth out rough surfaces over an entire room….I think I can handle any wall repair! :-)

So here is the 411 on how to repair/smooth out problems on your wall!

First, I recommend an all-purpose joint compound. This could vary slightly depending on your situation, so ask your home improvement store expert!

HOW TO:
1. First, sand the surface thoroughly you want to repair. This sanding roughens the surface and provides a good base for the joint compound (mud) you will use.

2. Use coarse sandpaper and a good sandpaper block. For large areas to be repaired, use a power sander. *Remember to wear a mask and eye protection when sanding

3. Fill the dent with a good grade of joint compound using a 3" or 4" spreader. Spread the compound evenly a couple times over the area you want to fix. Once it is covered completely press your spreader down firmly over the dented area removing any large chunks of mud. You want the area to be smooth and even with the wall.

4. For extremely large dents, allow the compound to dry overnight and then apply a second coat. *For larger dents home improvement store sell a plastic sticky net that you can put over the hole before you apply the mud. We used this and it worked great!

5. When the material is completely dry, sand the area (wear mask and protective goggles) and prime it for a coat of paint or other finish.

6. Be sure to remove any high or low spots in the patched area with a fine sandpaper.

(I got these directions off DIY website and then added my own info!!)

Hope this information helps!!!!!

The Dining Room Fiasco

2006-12-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

So let me bring you up to date on the "progress" we have been making on our dining room! Yes, this one little room has been taking up ALL our time since we started working on the house on December 2. Everyday that we have been at the house working, a portion of our time has been spent getting this dining room ready!

So a recap:
- First it started with horrible wallpaper. It was ugly and a pain in the ass to remove! This was super think not coming off the damn wall ever wallpaper!

- So we went to the store and got a steamer to quicken the progress. (Once again - steamers are sent down from God by the angels, they are wonderful!)

- By day 2 all the wallpaper in the dining room was removed! Emotional feelings at this point - VERY HAPPY!!!

- T. then spent a couple days sanding the walls by hand and wipping them off with tact cloth (a cloth with glue on it to help remove the dust off the walls from the sanding). The main reason it took so long to sand was b/c the wallpaper took off parts of the paint that was on the wall leaving parts with paint and parts with drywall. It looked horrible so T. worked VERY hard to smooth this down before we painted. Emotional feeling - tired, ready to get the room done and move on to another room.

- We primed the walls with the best primer Sherwin Williams sells. It is a grey primer and it is used to help hide any problems in the wall. We were hoping that this primer would hide all the raised areas on the wall.......it didn't work. Emotional feelings - discouraged, upset, TIRED!

- So we went to Sherwin Williams and they told us that what we need to do is use all purpose joint compound (the mud product you use to repair holes in walls) over all the walls. Yes ALL the walls! *sigh*

- So we bought joint compound (mud) ....thank goodness it isn't expensive....and proceeded to mud the entire dining room. This my friends took a few days to finish. We had to put two layers on (letting it dry 24 hours in between each layer) and it just was a long, not hard, but long process to apply.

- T. then had to re-sand all the walls and tact cloth the walls again to remove the dust.

- Then last night we finally put the primer on again and I have to say it worked! YAY! We were so excited as we started painting on the primer to see that it was actually working! It is SO smooth with the exception of a few parts that could be smoother - but we don't care! It looks really good!

- So tonight is the first coat of paint (hopefully we only need two coats) and then the dining room is basically done.....well stage one is done! (the rest will come later)

Because this took alot longer to complete then what we originally thought and this place is in good shape overall the halls and kitchen will be done after the first of the year. We want to focus on moving in this week and we can finish these later. The biggest painting projects are just about done, and that is all that matters!!! We just wanted to get the main (harder) rooms with the most furniture and traffic finished before we moved in - and that will be complete wednesday! YAY!

What's Done.....

2006-12-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it may not look like much, but trust me....it is alot!

The top two pics are our living room. We painted the living room and steamed clean the carpets. We painted it sand dune, which is a nice soft beige color! We love it alot! (it is hard to tell in the photos)

The bottom pic is our second bedroom, we painted that modest white, which is an off white color with a tint of brown! I like it alot better than plain white! These two rooms are completly done, of course they were the easiest!

Question of the Day - Home Edition!

2006-12-12T11:21:00.000-08:00

Do you use contact paper in your cabinets and drawers?

We just removed this UGLY and old contact paper from every cabinet and drawer in the house. We are still in the process of deciding do we get new contact paper or just leave it out? Do we put it in all the drawers/cabinets or just certain ones? And what about the difference between the regular contact paper and the coushy/net like "paper" - which is better? I know it is good to protect the wood and stuff but is it important or more of a problem?

Any suggestions, what do you have, any preferences?

I Freak Myself Out!

2006-12-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

So last night I spent a couple hours after work unitl T. got home by myself in the new place! The last couple days someone has been with me, but yesterday from 5:30 - 8pm I worked ALONE!

Now I don't know about any of you, but I do a pretty damn good job at Freak'n myself out! First, I don't like being alone at night. I always think someone is hiding in a closet or something (this is why I refuse to watch scary movies - because I think it is real!) So anyways - being downstairs sucked b/c some of the windows do not have curtains/drapes over them because we are painting so with the lights on I can't really see out but people could see in! (it is a nice community...but still I think about it!) So I went upstairs to do some work in our empty house and the silence was killing me! I could hear things creek/heat turning on/water/wind....EVERYTHING! And of course I focused on all the noises and freaked myself out more! After I finished taping upstairs I walked downstairs, grabbed a pepsi, and called T. to see how long before he would be home!

Now I know it is nothing! I have done the same thing with every new place I have lived as well as well as I still do it if T. isn't around at night. I check all the closets, doors, make sure no one is around! But now I have a much bigger place to check, including a basement (eek!) as well as a whole bunch of new sounds to get use to! Once we have our stuff there and I get use to the sounds it will be fine! But until then, if I am alone, I will most likely freak myself out again!

However, having this new place makes it worth it! So what if I go a little crazy in the process! haha!

I Hate Wallpaper!

2006-12-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

So here it is folks….I officially HATE wallpaper! I was never a big fan of it anyways, more like a I don't really know you/can't really judge you relationship - but that has all changed! (Also, I just personally don't like the way it looks - I prefer the look of paint.) But now that my husband and I spent 5 hours working to remove wallpaper and only getting ¾ of the way done with our dining room I can honestly say it is the worst thing ever invented!!! I said it was invented by the devil, T. says the French - well who ever invented it SUCKS!!!

We first used the great little gadget above to put little holes all over the wallpaper (that is a task within its self). Then we sprayed on 2 coats of wallpaper remover * per directions * that we got from Sherwin Williams. Soon after we actually began scrapping we realized that the wall paper they used was extremely thick! It was almost like two separate pieces of wallpaper on top of each other! We basically peeled off the top layer and then had to go back in and spray the bottom "layer" with more remover and then scrap that off, thus soaking our walls and creating tons of extra work! It was taking me forever! So T. went out to get another scrapper so he could help and instead came back with the greatest invention ever! A steamer! (Insert choir of angels singing)

This steamer was awesome and for only $50 it is well worth the investment! My Husband used the steamer and I continued the old fashion way of removing with the wallpaper remover (why, b/c we figured both of us working is better than one and I have more patience to do the scrapping and he likes playing with new toys) so it worked out! The steamer still took awhile, especially b/c this seemed like the thickest wallpaper ever invented but it came off very easily and a lot quicker than my way. (T. got 8 panels of wallpaper to my 3 1/2). The steamer saved a lot of time and may have even prevented common husband/wife bickering due to frustrations of removing the wallpaper!

So one room down, one and a half left!

So do you have any tips for removing wallpaper? Or maybe a "fun" story about having to remove wallpaper?

TIP: Not that I have much experience to speak of but I would say it is well worth the investment to use better products like a steamer. A steamer isn't that expensive, doesn't use chemicals, doesn’t damage the walls and makes the job so much faster and easier! If you have the time, patience, a smaller space (or maybe just thinner wallpaper) and want to use the chemicals I say go for it – but for us and our situation the steamer is da’ bomb!

Dining Room - Before

2006-12-05T07:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a few before pictures of the dining room. This is where we are starting. The top picture is a pic of the wallpaper from hell (blog to follow)! You can also see those kick-ass lights on the wall that look like they were taken from a motel 6! hehe

What will be done in this room before we move in:
- The walls will be painted in Fine Wine (from Sherwin Williams)
- The base board will be in a white
- New curtain

What will be done in the future:
- Remove the carpet and add the pergo hardwood floors
- Add a chair rail (white)
- Add crown molding (white)

Furniture:
- Dark cherry dining room set
- Matching server
*We will be getting our dining room set and server in the next couple weeks! (I will post pics!)

First Dinner

2006-12-05T07:16:00.000-08:00

T. & I had our first dinner in our new home! Sunday we sat on the floor in the center of our dining room on a make-shift table and ate our first official dinner of fine Wendy's couisine! It may not have been the best first dinner, but the realization that this was OUR place kicked in and as far as we were concerned it was perfect!

Our New Home!

2006-12-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

So, I have decided to create a secondary blog to follow the progress we are and will be making over the next few months in our new home! We are super excited about everything that is going on in our new home, however, I didn't want to flood my other blog, wrestlingkitties, with too much about the house. So this blog will post pictures of our progress as we renovate our new house and be a place for people to share ideas on home remodeling tips and pictures! Please feel free to share YOUR tips in the comments for us first time "Do-it-ourselfers" and anyone else looking to renovate!

More pictures will be coming later this evening on the progress we made over the weekend!

Please enjoy & PLEASE SHARE!!!