When we had our home inspection, we were advised that we should get a professional in to inspect the furnace. (We knew it was old, but was in working condition.) We had so much going on, that we didn’t do that for a few months. But in the meantime we didn’t really run the furnace at all because the weather was warm enough.

Another surprise for us when the summer came was that the air conditioner was broken. When we were buying the house we were told that it was just serviced and in working order. Not true! So what got us moving on this project was the summer months that became pretty hot without air conditioning. Continue reading →

Inside, we’ve concentrated most of our efforts on the upstairs. Since we moved in, we’ve been living just on the first floor (and using the finished basement) while the second floor has been under construction (i.e. tearing out flooring, demolishing the bathroom, and rebuilding walls). We’ve now painted all three upstairs bedrooms, with the help of our friend and old neighbor Rob.

Continue reading →

Just because we haven’t updated this blog since we posted about moving in, doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy! Promise! Over the next few posts I’ll summarize what we’ve been up to over the past 11 months (wow, it’s been that long already!?!)

Continue reading →

There aren’t too many pictures to share of the actual move because it was such a busy day! But what we do want to say is how THANKFUL we are to all of our awesome friends and family who helped us move. Thank you. Seriously.

Continue reading →

…but somebody had to do it!

a small selection of the cleaning supplies necessary to tackle the many jobs

Continue reading →

One of the things that we weren’t expecting to do was deal with such filthy carpet at the new house. Prior to closing, I had even borrowed a carpet shampooer from a friend, thinking that we of course would want to clean the carpets, but also wanted to save money and didn’t want to hire out.

But then we did our final walk-through. And we slowly began to realize that not only would a little carpet cleaner not do the job, but there was NO WAY we would be able to live with these carpets even if they were professionally cleaned. The stains from who-knows-what were so widespread. I shudder thinking about what things happened to that carpet. So we made the decision to RIP IT UP!!!

safety first!

Continue reading →

To continue, here are pictures of what the outside looked like the day we closed:

nice of them to leave us their garbage

Continue reading →

Prior to us closing, we knew that renters were living in the house. On one hand, that was a great thing because it meant the house was kept at least in working conditions throughout the winter. On the other hand, we didn’t realize how filthy they would leave the place. When we did our final walk-through just hours before closing, the renters were still moving out, leaving a trail of dirt behind them. Many people have asked “why couldn’t you do anything about that!?” but honestly we had very little recourse. It basically had turned into an as-is sale, so our choices were to (1) buy the house, or (2) not buy the house. That’s it.

So, as lovely as the house seemed via the pictures from the listing, here are the real before pictures of what we are working with. Unfortunately they don’t even do it justice…

first order of business: changing the locks

Continue reading →

To continue, we’ll share more pictures of what the house looked like in the MLS listing. Onto the inside:

dinette

Continue reading →

To start, we’ll share pictures of what the house looked like in the MLS listing. The outside:

Front view 1

Continue reading →