Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Outside....

So this is the outside of our house. It was built in 1927 and we have a slate roof. As you can see, the slate needs to be cleaned, but other than that it will probably outlast us as long as we take care of it. Since Dan used to do landscaping, he'll be working his magic with our yard. That big old bush/shrub/whatever it is next to the stairs is coming out. We're going to put raised beds around the house and put some flowers and what not. The beds won't happen until next year, but we'll probably just rip that bush and trim the rest in the meantime. We also plan on taking out the concrete paths out and replacing them with something else. We also need to pave the driveway at some point as well.
Here is the main reason that we're painting this year. The whole house looks like this and with a 2 year old running around it probably isn't the safest having little paint chips all over the place. In all likelihood there's some lead paint involved so we'll be taking extra special care with the scraping and disposal of everything. We're painting it some shade of green....like a moss or sage sorta color with tan accents.
And this......this is where it's at!! This is the Battenkill River from our backyard. The water is a little high at the moment because of all of the rain that we've been getting. It's such a beautiful river and Dan's told that there's a fishing hole right around the bend.....who thought we'd be able to put our waders on and fly fish from our backyard!! We're just going to make a little path to the river and leave the rest as it is because it's part of the habitat for the fish



So when I said that we have a lot of work ahead of us, I wasn't kidding!!! It'll be a complete transformation inside and out!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Whew!!!

I'm pooped!!! Actually we're both really pooped....or maybe more exhausted....and we haven't even moved in yet! We closed on Friday and started working on the house as soon as we got the keys. We came back and started painting the living room. Pat picked up Lillian after work (which we're so thankful for....no way we would have been able to finish with her running around!) While we were waiting for the paint in the living room to dry we started painting the dining room. It's a dark teal and it was a little shocking at first, but I really like it (need to take pics today of it) Yesterday we spent the day sanding the floor in the living room. We now know why the professionals charge so much to do it......it's A LOT of work. But we saved so much doing it ourselves. It looks like the last time it was done they cut some corners and were a little sloppy with their work. They used a circular sander around the edges of the wall and left some circular marks in the floors. I did my best to remove what I could, but I guess in the end it adds character to the house! So, how about some pics?!

This is our lovely 1970's kitchen....wallpaper and all! We have a lot of longterm goals for this room which include ripping out the the wall of cabinets and moving in the wall on the right. The wall with the sink and fridge will turn into a half wall to open it up to the living room. Since it will be a couple of years until we're able to tackle this, we're going to work on some short term goals. First thing to go is the wallpaper and some of the drywall which is damaged. We're also going to put some of that peel and stick laminate flooring down that looks like tile since the flooring on it now is damaged. We're going to paint the fridge black to go with our new stove. I'm sure once we're done with the short term stuff it will look like a completely different room.....which is certainly a good thing!!

Need a 30 year old stove?

The lovely wallpaper with glitter on it.....seriously......how could this have ever been in style?!

Living Room Before


Living Room After Paint and sanding....Dan also put in new light fixtures and the base and top of the stairs.


Living Room Before.....the main reason we decided to sand the floors!


After sanding. We're staining today......a dark walnut color!


The nice and wide staircase!


Living Room Before


After


Anyways, it's going to be a long week and we're going to be really tired.....but in the end it'll so be worth it. Besides the kitchen stuff that we'll be doing a few weeks our only other major task this year is going to be repainting the outside of the house. We have to completely scrape the entire house. We'll be starting late August so we'll have a little time to relax.....but not too much time. We knew it was going to be a lot of work when we bought it, but it's ours and we can make it our own!!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

The day before....

So it's finally here. Tomorrow is the day where I'll finally feel like a full fledged adult.....silly I know! Renting really sucks. You spend all of this money and in the end you have nothing to show for it. Up until this point, buying our own home was the last piece of the puzzle for me. My family will finally have some roots to plant. Tomorrow is going to be such a whirlwind of a day for us and I'm sure in the process I'll probably shed some tears because of shear joy......and then later on from shear exhaustion! Over the next week we have a long list of things to tackle before the final move which includes.....

Paint Living and Dining Room
Paint Bathroom
Sand, Stain and Seal Wood floors
Install Kitchen Sink Faucet
Install Shower Fixture
Clean Attic
Prep Kitchen and half bath for new floor
Clean up yard

The next few years will be devoted to remodeling the house. We'd like to do the upstairs bathroom later this year and I'm really excited. Next year we're probably going to replace the windows since they're the original ones that came with the house which of course means that they're single pane......not exactly energy efficient!! The biggest task will be the kitchen. We plan on knocking down a few walls and completely opening up the downstairs.

So.....when I get back here this weekend I'll be sure to take some before pictures.....including the beautiful wallpaper in the kitchen.....gotta love that 70's wallpaper that has glitter in it!!!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

This....


Pretty much sums up how we're all feeling here in Bombria land! We're pooped and we're ready for this week to be over with! Lillian has a slight touch of a cold and I'm trying to stay on top of it because I don't want to make another trip to the hospital (knock on wood!) As of right now, our closing is scheduled for Friday at 11 am......it was pushed back a day. What does this mean for us.........a longgggggg Friday night filled with painting 2 rooms that need to be sanded the next day!!! We have to paint the dining room and the family room in one night. I know we'll be able to do, it's just going to be a long day/night!!! We're going to spend the night at the house and put Lillian on the twin bed and me and Dan will sleep on the blow up. Anyways, I just thought that I'd update the blog since it's been awhile!

Monday, June 09, 2008

Sunday, June 08, 2008

We're Back.....

and we're tired!!!! It was a long and great week and we certainly loved getting away from everything. The weather wasn't the greatest, but it could have been a lot worse. It rained almost every evening, but for the most part it stayed dry during the day. Lillian did okay.......just
okay.....not great, not horrible.......just okay! It was most certainly a learning experience and something we won't be doing when we have another 2 year old. It goes to show how important a daily routine is to a two year old. Change things up a bit and they just don't know what to do with themselves!!! Don't get me wrong, I loved our vacation. But I want her to love it as well and I'm not sure that she did. She did love the beach though......so much so that she didn't want to leave. She's back to the "normal" Lillian that I know and love now that we're home and I'm happy to report that she slept in her own bed last night. You would think that sleeping in a king size bed would be more than enough room......well not when you sleep with Lilly! Anyways, I'll be editing pics and putting all of them in a slideshow that I'll probably finish up on Monday or Tuesday so in the meantime here are a few from our week.....
First time in the ocean!

A field of Lupine's on the street that our cabin was on


This was the view from our cabin


And this was the view from a rock that I was sitting on while I waited for Dan and Lillian to return from their little adventure on the carriage roads.

Well, we've got a busy week ahead here in Vermont since we're closing on the 20th.....time is just flying by!!