Living Room: Three small areas still need sanding. The walls are almost entirely painted, except for a narrow strip beside the front door, which is very difficult to get at, and the bits we have to sand. The trim is still naked.
Tonight, sand the rough bits, then paint them. Figure out a clever way to paint the bit by the door, and prove it’s clever by successfully painting the bit and not much else that ought to remain unpainted, like for example, me. Tape for priming the trim.
Dining Room: The walls and trim are painted, except for one area that was filled. The ceiling is still the old colour.
Tonight, sand the rough bit, and either fill it more or paint it. Stare gloomily at the ceiling.
Ben’s Room: Walls and trim are painted. Ceiling still white rather than green so pale it’s practically white.
Tonight, stare gloomily at Ben’s ceiling.
Master Bedroom: Trim is all ripped out and tossed. Walls have been sanded.
Tonight, prime around new wall-connector-box-thingy that Glenn and Henry installed. Prime around where baseboards will be, and where the trim will be around the windows. Stare gloomily at the ceiling, just on the principle of the thing – it’s already the right colour, but may need another coat.
Basement: The walls are all primed, but need another coat. That red is showing through. A few of the posts have been primed. Did you know the ceiling down there is *black*?
Tonight, maybe have Ben prime some more posts. Stare gloomily at the ceiling.
Attic: The insulation is old, thin, and apparently tunnelled through by mice. We’re researching whether we should pull it all out and toss it, or just insulate over it. Either way, won’t that be *fun*.
Tonight, ignore the problem and hope someone else takes care of it.
Rachel is the Goddess of Paint. Worship her mad painting skills!
Glenn and Henry wired the house for who-knows-what-all, including at least: phones everywhere, computers everywhere, and cable everywhere. They made noises about how there is only 100 amp service in the house, and how we need 200 amp service, and gosh I wonder what would be involved in that… followed by much arcane muttering about things I don’t understand. I got to do my part, though – I called the power company and found out they don’t actually know if it’s 100 or 200 amps to the house, but if we upgrade inside the house to 200 amp service, they will upgrade their part (from the power lines to the house) if necessary, for no charge. Next wiring project (I think) is ceiling light fixtures for the bedrooms, the dining room, and the top of the basement stairs.
The gas line is being put in (from the road to the house) tomorrow or Wednesday. The insurance company is still thinking about our water heater claim. We haven’t made an appointment to have the new water heater installed yet, but I’ll probably get on that today. Mm, hot water!
One of my co-workers was giving away a couch, chair and ottoman last week, so Paul and Glenn picked those up Saturday. We’re getting another second-hand couch shortly (thanks, Henry and Amy!) and voila! the basement is furnished.
I pulled the trim off the walls of the master bedroom. We need to sand the walls so the GOBS of old paint are smoothed out. Nastiness. We need to cut and paint the new trim. Won’t that be fun! Then we can paint the walls and install the new trim.
The window contractor (Renny) has (hopefully) ordered our new windows. He is still saying he thinks he can get them installed before my parents arrive for Christmas.
This week our big plan is to buy and install a whack o’ insulation. I get the basement, Paul gets the attic. Whee.
(“M” is moving day, December 19th.)
We started signing papers at 8:30 am yesterday. At 10:15 we were shaking our closer’s hand, and we owned the house.
Wow.
We went back to the apartment, gathered some things, bought a few necessities, and went to our house. I cleaned the kitchen while Paul replaced a bunch of two-prong electrical outlets with three-prong outlets.
We took a piece of the carpet that was extra and went to Home Depot, where they have a scanner in the paint department that can scan and colour-match carpet or other samples. We scanned it.
Later yesterday evening, the City of Oak Creek inspector came over and scoped out the house, then gave us a list of the things the city would reimburse us for upgrading. Insulation in the basement and attic, siding, windows, doors, an indoor air-cleaning thing for the furnace… he listed lots more work than we could have done for just the $4000 they’ll give us. He said he recommends new siding and rigid board insulation for all the houses in that neighbourhood, because the walls are thinner than is now recommended for insulation purposes.
Tonight, Ben and I and are going back to Home Depot to co-ordinate paint for his room (and to buy a roll of insulation for the basement). :o) He’s thinking pale green, and maybe darker green for the trim. I think that will look really nice.
After that, he and I will probably head over to the house and fill nail-holes in the walls, or something. We want to make at least a little progress every day. Paul won’t be in on tonight’s trip, since he’s going to Chicago to meet a friend of his, the Famous Author Catie Murphy.
We'll keep you updated.
Yesterday afternoon, our finance guy called to let us know that our mortgage application passed through underwriting and was now *approved*. This means the house is ours unless the seller changes his mind... so that above-mentioned hurdle is the closing. That’s where we sit down with the seller, both real estate agents (I think, I know ours will be there) (our finance guy will be there as well) and a “closer”, we go through the formal process of transferring ownership from the seller to us. So one last time on this house purchase, cross your fingers for us on Monday, November 7th, at 8:30 am. I dunno how long it will take, but the books agree on one thing: it will always take longer than you expect. Our finance guy is coming over on Sunday to go through the closing package with us, so we will be familiar with the docs in advance. That way we’ll know what we’re signing without having to read all that legal-ese for the first time on Monday.
One more step. What a relief!!
For Christmas we’re going to ask Santa for gift cards from places like Menard’s or the Home Depot, so we can buy tools, renovation materials and other home supplies. Closing is still not official (the underwriting of our loan is not yet complete) but we are really looking forward to getting into our house and making it our own. Yes, there are things it *needs* like replacement windows, and a new roof, but there are also things we want to do… like, we’ll finally have a space where we can have all our books on shelves! We’re going to use a bunch of space in the basement for a library. :o) Reams of shelves, a couple comfy chairs or a couch, and a lot of really clever lighting (courtesy of Paul), and voila! a cozy and fabulous space with all our books on shelves and accessible. :o) As you can tell, we're nervous and excited!
I got an email from my mom yesterday to tell us that they're home... it turns out they didn't get any of the messages I left for them, so they learned we bought a house by reading our blogs. Oops! Not how it was supposed to happen. Oh well. They also learned we want them to come to us for Christmas instead of us going to them... also not the way that was supposed to happen. Oh well, again. It all worked out and they will be visiting us for the holidays.
I'm really tired of waiting to hear if the financing is for-sure or not... I've been so nervous, my back is really sore, my neck is awful, and I've had a tension headache for four days. :op All the stretching, heat, and breathing in the universe isn't taking care of it either. I wonder if the doctor would prescribe me a hot tub...? :o)