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!)