the house part 2: the work begins

We worked for 3 months, every day after work and every weekend to get the house in to its current condition. Because this is our first house, we discovered how little we knew about the time, energy and money it took to renovate a house. We also couldn't have anticipated the troubles of owning an old house during a cold, new england winter. We had a pipe burst within the first couple of weeks and the biggest issue with that was, in a small rural town, it is very hard to find a plumber! They only see regular customers, and since we were new to town, we didn't "qualify" for service. Our neighbors were kind enough to call their loyal plumber for us, but unfortunately the side stairwell was badly damaged by the water - we are currently pretending that area of the house no longer exists until we can figure out what to do with it!

We went a month without a kitchen because that was the one room i really needed to have done - unfortunately it was also the room that needed the most work. We thought we would be lucky and that after ripping up 2 layers of old and rotten linoleum we would uncover the beautiful hardwood floors we found under the carpet throughout the house. BOY WERE WE WRONG! There were rotten boards, plywood, beaver board( its almost more like cork/cardboard than actual board). We decided the best thing we could do in this bad situation is buy and lay new hardwood floors ourselves. It was actually ALOT easier than i thought it would be! We also needed to replace all the appliances - none of them worked. Check out the results:


We did A LOT of painting! That is what we have done the most of - here are the befores and afters of rooms we have completed! First the entryway( both colors are mores subtle minus camera flash):


The new living room:

The dining room:



Our bedroom:


Our work has slowed - significantly - because when i found out i was pregnant with our first child in the beginning of April 2008, i decided it would be best if i take a break from climbing ladders and other equally risky activities. Also, Eric hurt his shoulder playing basketball( i'll save my rant about this for another post) so he recently had surgery and will be generally out of commission for the next couple of months. We still have work ahead of us, but we have made huge accomplishments for only a few months time AND we had the house appraised on Friday and the appraisal is coming back AT LEAST $100,000 more than what we paid for the house. We are satisfied with that for the time being!

about the house part 1

So, before i even get to who Eric and I am, i have to share what has consumed our lives since October 2007. We decided it was time to try to buy our first house shortly after getting married last summer and in October we finally found the "perfect" house for us. Let me tell you though, this house was so imperfect, it had been on the market for nearly a year after having been foreclosed upon when we found it. We were looking for something first, that we could afford, but perhaps more importantly we were looking for a house that had something special about it and had just been too neglected for the average home buyer to see its potential.


During our first "walk-thru" of the house, it was obvious that it had not been lived in for a LONG time. Everything was filthy, animals had inhabited it and there were so many things that needed repair. The bathrooms were disgusting - it took me 8 hours of straight cleaning to get just one of the 3 bathrooms just to look clean, another 5 for Eric and i to feel comfortable using it. We didn't even attempt to clean the toilets, we replaced ALL OF THEM. I haven't even mentioned the fact that the house was HIDEOUS; walls covered with awful wall paper wall to wall carpeting (again hideous) that was covering fabulous original hardwood floors.

( a good example of the work ahead of us)

Our Realtor thought we were nuts to be interested in this house, but we saw its potential. It is an 1880, very large Victorian ( with perhaps some Colonial Revival influence) with some nice original elements, in a very good neighborhood on a quiet street. We just knew we could give it the face lift it needed and turn it into a place that we would be happy living for the rest of our lives.

( look at the BEAUTIFUL original hardwood floors)

After months of dealing with problems with scummy mortgage brokers which resulted in starting over with a different mortgage broker, then dealing with trying to get people at banks to focus on doing their job during the Christmas season - WE FINALLY BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE! We started our move on dec. 28th 2007, only days before needing to be moved out of our apartment. We finished moving at 10 am new years day having not slept at all, after moving all day and night of new years eve. So, let me finish by sharing some more pictures of "before." ( I'll put before and after side by side in next post!)

So here it is!

The blog has officially been created.