Renovation Realities

The renovation reality is - nothing ever goes quite as planned... but isn't that the fun of it? Haha. Right now, our focus is on the basement. We've been really lucky so far; our family and friends have been amazing with helping us out. After the Matt, Eric, & Joe worked their tails off on Saturday, my Grandpa went down with Matt on Saturday night to do some nail-pulling and general cleaning up. My cousin Tony came over Sunday morning and pulled nails. It sounds so simple but considering how many nails hold up a piece of sheetrock, and how much sheetrock was nailed to the ceiling (far above my reach), it was a huge help. My Uncle Paul was over Sunday and Monday and ran all of our wires for us. He put in new light switches, ran wires in the ceiling for recessed lighting and internet, and fixed some other electrical issues. Eric came back on Sunday and helped Matt with more of the demolition and clean-up. We've got piles and piles of contractor trash bags full of sheetrock and nails and plaster right now. It's a little crazy.
Last night, I spent a couple of hours with Matt in the basement running speaker wire for the surround sound, cleaning up the messes, pulling even more nails, and generally prepping the basement for the arrival, today, of Matt's father and Uncle Mike, who are helping with the rocking of the basement. They got a chunk of it done today. Tonight, my parents came over to help with some more of the clean up. Matt finished the removal of sheetrock behind the bar. With the help of my parents, my Nana & Grandpa, and my little cousin Anthony, we were able to get the basement cleaned up, all of the trash bagged, and the walls ready for more sheetrock.
The upstairs is coming along, slowly but surely. The sheetrock dust from the basement is awful and I can't wait until the rocking is done so that I can clean my house and have it stay clean for more than five minutes. At least we're lucky enough to have such a fantastic family. We really can't show how much we truly appreciate what they've been doing for us over the past week. I think Matt would agree with me that we're pretty lucky.

Demolition Men

Things didn't go exactly as planned, but we're getting there. The other day, Matt and his Uncle Mike went and got all the sheetrock and other things we need for the basement. Yesterday, my cousin Tony and Matt tore up all of the carpet and loaded the trailer for a dump day this morning. Today, Matt and his friends, Eric and Joe, tore up the basement pretty good. Take a look back to see what the basement used to look like. Not quite the same...

Little by Little

Little by little... we're getting there. Things have been crazy and the rain threw us off for a while, but it's starting to look like a house. I've been to Walmart at least four times, Home Depot a few more than that, and we've had pizza and subs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but we're getting there. Today, we had quite a few little helpers. Dad got out early and was able to piece together the corner desk. I'll never understand how someone can just piece something together and make it look like something. Anyways, Laura helped Uncle Leo piece the desk together.
She worked her little butt off getting all of the screws in place...
... but she's never too busy to smile for the camera...
I can't complain; in the end, the desk was put together and Laura's pretty proud of it. In the meantime, Cassidy found that she loves our glass slider, completely enjoys picnics on the floor of our sunroom, and loves our microwave more than anything...Matt and I have been thorougly touched by the amount of hard work, time, and energy, our family and friends have put in. We don't know that we'll ever be able to repay the kindness of those that have been here so much the past few days, but we hope they realize how much we appreciate it. We can't wait to be in a real, liveable house, where we can invite people to come over and not have to picnic on the sunroom floor (unless of course they want to)! Thank you all!

Those Darn Mirrors

In the past few weeks, when we've discussed what will be the first thing we do when we get into the house, it has been , without question, get rid of those mirrors in the living room. It isn't that they're necessarily ugly but they're not our taste and neither of us wanted them there. After talking to lost of people, we were scared we'd have to smash the mirrors and pull them off piece by piece, or cut the sheetrock to detach them. We were pretty sure we were going to have to patch the sheetrock... and then we were going to have to match the paint! In the end, it was much easier than I think either of us expected. Here's the progression:

I think it ended up pretty good if I do say so!:) We matched the paint and it looks great!
My Papa and Mama also came by today and brought us one of my favorite housewarming gifts. I think it looks so great with our cabinet colors and with the themes of our kitchen.
We also got a beautiful Irish plate from my Nana and Grandpa on the day we moved in. As soon as it's out, we'll put a picture of that up here as well! Can't wait to get the rooms completed!

New House - Day 1

Coming into the house was a little crazy. The former homeowners were kind enough to basically leave us their bar. The bar, which has a beer tap, came with the entire rack of glasses hanging from the ceiling, all of these cool taps (tap heads? I don't know what you'd call them..) We counted them... I think there were over 25 different ones.

They left all of these bottles and glasses and all sorts of good stuff. This is just a sampling of course.And then... they left us two mini-fridges full of beer and soda (mostly beer).
We've had a few visitors stop by to help... Cassidy made sure our counters were clean & comfy.
And Damon was here to help us test the ladders & paint the living room!

We've also done some work on the house which I'll post as soon as I get time!

Closing Day & The Proposal!

Well, the big day has finally arrived. Matt and I were scheduled for a 9am closing in Salem. I believe we were a full hour early, even after going to breakfast at Red's. It went very smoothly and there was not nearly as many papers to sign as I had imagined. Our closing attorney was a sweetheart and we were done by 9:30. We had packed up our cars on Sunday, so we stopped by my Mother's to grab my truck and then we headed to the new house. It was the most exhilarating feeling to unlock the new house and walk in and have it all be ours. So fantastic!

So we came into the house and went into the kitchen. We were looking at the papers that they former homeowners had left for us and Matt said, are you happy now? I was like, eh, I guess so. So he said, "Well then, I guess it's a good thing I brought this" and out pops a beautiful diamond ring and down on one knee he goes. Of course, I said yes and the ring fit and it was so perfect (just like Emily said). Matt did a great job with my great-grandmother's diamond (the center); it's a beautiful setting and I love it. I also love the design along the sides. My Aunt Denise took some great pictures of it so hopefully she'll send them to me and I can post some up here. Just remember, it's much more beautiful in person!

Six Days and Counting..

Well, we are officially six days a way. Next Tuesday we pass papers. I'm psyched and nervous. There is so much to do before then! We've got to get the final bedroom paint colors picked out and mixed... we've got to get the paint supplies and the cleaning supplies, and the last minute stuff.
Lately, we've been looking at furniture. We are going to need an entertainment center or television stand of some kind for both upstairs and downstairs, end tables to match our coffee table, and eventually, a kitchen set. None of this is needed before we move in the house but we've been looking none-the-less. The end tables that match our coffee table are only available, it seems, at Bernie and Phyl's and they're $160 each. Considering we only paid $200 for the coffee table, delivered, from Bob's, $320 for end tables is a little ridiculous. I've received a few coupons for the Mill Stores so I decided to spend my Good Friday checking out their stock. I found some end tables that I can definitely stain to match our coffee table. I also found a TV stand that I loved. I brought Matt back Monday night and we bought the television stand, picked out a second one for the basement, checked out end tables, and even found a kitchen set that I really loved. I like that the items are from the Mill Stores for a few reasons. For one thing, I can stain it to match whatever I want, which is really nice. The other thing is quality. The stuff at the Mill Stores is solid wood. You can feel the quality. It's not flimsy. It's not cheaply made. And - it's nothing spectacular. It's simple but I love it.
So... we have one TV stand bought and another one picked out. We have 20% off coupons which have dropped the prices nicely and really, they're cheaper than buying the finished stuff at the store in the styles that we like. I'm so excited to be able to get in there and start working on the house. Yay!
In the meantime, Matt and I are trying like hell to find time to help Zosia and Eric get their new house ready. I still have paint on me from helping them on Saturday. I figure, it will finally disappear around Sunday or Monday and I'll be sure to add a different color on Tuesday and Wednesday! I forgot how much I missed working on houses. As happy as I am as a teacher and living up here, I often miss South Carolina and working for Habitat. I've got to get myself settled and find a way to get back into some construction and Habitat up here. It's so rewarding!

The Countdown Begins

We are two weeks and five days away from closing – April 21^st (we think)!! I drove by the house yesterday and the “Sold” sign is finally up. It felt like it took forever to get to this point. I can’t believe we’re already in April. March flew by so quickly because of the classes I was taking, National Junior Honor Society, work, and a bunch of other stuff going on. I can only hope that April will go quickly as well. Our friends, Eric and Zosia, closed on their house in mid-March, and Matt and I went there on Saturday to help them paint and get things ready. It made me even more excited and antsy to get into our house! I'm so happy for them, but I'm pretty jealous, too. Haha! I am pretty sure that as soon as we sign those papers, I’m going to be in that house working my tail off every waking moment until it is “ours”.

I will, however, be forcing a break on April 22^nd from 6 to 9. (Here comes my plug for Paddy Kelly’s and the Relay for Life fundraiser! Haha.) A good friend of ours, Kerry, is a team leader for a Relay for Life team. Relay for Life is an overnight cancer walk that raises money for the American Cancer Society. In order to raise as much money as possible, the team does all sorts of things including a wine/rum/beer/tequila tasting at a liquor store in Salem this coming weekend with lots of raffles. (I’m thinking I’ll try for the Red Sox tickets!) Recently, one of my closest friends growing up, affectionately known as Little Dave by my entire family and most of my friends, purchased Paddy Kelly’s with his business partner, Adam. We hooked Kerry and Little Dave up and on April 22^nd, Paddy Kelly’s will be hosting a night of food and fun as a fundraiser for Relay for Life. For a $10 cover charge, please consider joining us for give-aways, free food (and their food is fantastic!), and raffles as well as good times with friends as we fight for a cure!

In the meantime, I’m pretty sure Matt and I will be doing our last minute shopping and gathering of supplies before we move in. I want to put together a couple of bins of cleaning supplies and paint supplies so that we can walk in and get started. We’ve formulated a plan and we have the best of intentions but I guess only time will tell!