Friday, April 30, 2010

Getting into the swing of things...

I said I would get back into blogging. So, here is my 1st attempt in that. We'll start this post, with talking about the house. The biggest project we have ever taken on & hopefully, we will never have to do this again. I thought "This will be so much fun!" when we 1st started. I thought it would be awesome being able to design our entire house. I did go to school for Interior Design. But no, it's not. At least not this stage. It's so slow!!! I can't even describe how slow this part it. All the tiny little things that need to get done before the big, noticeable stuff can even be touched. Plus, if you don't know, all of this is being done ourselves which takes even longer. But, we save money. We get more bang for our buck this way.

BUT, once it's all done, it will rock! There are some things that are slowly coming along. Of course I have taken pictures of all of these things! Duh! lol

If you don't remember, this is what our house looks like. the only thing that has really changed from this picture (I need to update) is that we have a front screen door & part of a new fence on the right side.

This is what the house looked like when we 1st bought it. We had to paint the house because FHA wouldn't approve it otherwise. The paint colors didn't come out like we had in our minds but we didn't have time to change it. We plan to get new siding but that stuff isn't cheap so in the mean time we just might paint the green either a dark color, or a different color all together. We'll see.

This is my favorite thing about the house so far. This amazing door! I wish this was our front door but it couldn't be. Not only does it swing the wrong way, but it is also too big. It's 36 inches. This doorway was originally 32 inches like the front door. Someone returned this door. $1,500 door. How much did we get it for? No joke, $150. Not even lying. It's stupid the price that we got it for. It was well worth the half of a day it took to put it in considering we had to cut a big hole in the house to fit it. Now everyone stops to look at it when they drive/walk past. I can honestly say, it is the best door in the neighborhood, by far.

Today, if it stops raining for a few minutes, I plan to take more pictures. We have a new front walkway. It's not 100% done but it's better than it was before. Before it was ugly cement blocks. Some were broken. Instead of fixing them, they put down fish tank rock. Yes. Fish tank rock. Red, blue & I think if I remember right there were some green in there too. While pretty in a fish tank, it's not so pretty in front of a house. It was pretty trashy which is the last thing I am going for with our cute little house.

We found out from our neighbors (who all seem to be awesome BTW) that the houses leak when it rains. We have no drainage system in the neighborhood & no sump pump. Grrrrreeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaatttttttt! So, they laid down plastic all around the house to hopefully prevent the basement from leaking. Lets hope. It worked the past rain so lets hope it works this time around. Then I will feel more confident. It looks rather ugly right now but we plan to cover it with rocks & put big planters over it. We can't plant anything there like we planned so pots of plants it is. I would rather have a dry basement than plants planted in the ground.

We took up some of the ugly orange rock & started to build a little patio.

See behind the steps where the hose is laying over the rocks? They are no longer there & a patio stones are there. I want to do the same thing with all the other orange rocks you see. I HATE them. They are ugly as sin! If we have to keep rock, I want to get rid of that rock & get something else. One I hate the orange & two they are so dirty & nasty. Not even something you could clean or want to clean.

There has been more work done on the inside too. Work that you can actually see. Both more tear down and more put up. I will try to get pictures of that today too.

I am starting to think our June move in just isn't going to happen!

3 comments:

  1. It is a gorgeous door, I just love it Kimi!
    Even if the June move in doesn't happen...it will still be so worth the wait & so exciting when you do move in!!
    I didn't know you went to school for Interior Design! I did too, for like 3 semesters LOL. I still have my drafting table, I just can't let it go!

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  2. I love the door and house with the two HUGE trees! It's going to be so awesome when your done and feel more yours since you are doing all the work!

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  3. I need to get some sort of cute photo of the family in front of the door. It's just makes it feel like a home VS a house!!!

    I just got rid of my drafting table. I love it because it was so tall but I had no room for it. I still have my drafting light though. haha

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