The House: Before and After...

Last night we hosted our first large group in our home. The life group we meet with on Sunday nights from church came to our house for dinner, games, and a devotional lesson. It was a great evening. In preparation, Jack and I cleaned and cleaned so today, as promised, I have pictures of the inside of our house: before and after the renovations! (Please excuse the picture layout. Inserting this many pictures through blogger was more challenging and time consuming than I expected.)

Keep in mind, all of the before pictures were taken before the previous owner was completely moved out so the furniture was moved out when they left.

Let's start with the utility room:

Before:

Notice the green paint, green vinyl valances, and unpainted wood paneling....

After:

Now, it is a utility room so pardon the hangers and slight mess, but notice the beautiful tan and white paint, lovely new valance and new floor. There is also a new light fixture in here but you can't see that from this picture.

Now to the kitchen! Before:

There's that green paint again. And how about those saloon doors?

After:

So the changes in here include painted cabinets, new hardware, new light fixtures (again not pictured), new floors, new window treatments, new blinds, and new paint.

Some of the biggest changes occurred in the living room. So...here is the before:

The living room was originally two rooms: a den and formal living room. The formal living room was red with white carpet and a flowery border that was triple-glued (rrrrrgh)! The den was green (again) paneling and because of the fireplace the room was very narrow and offered few options for furniture set-up. So...we began to think about taking down the wall between the two rooms and creating one large living room for ourselves.

After:

Now we have a large living room and 18 people sat comfortably around last night during our life group meeting. As you can see, we also have new carpet, paint, window treatments, and light fixtures in this room too.

Guest bedroom and guest bathroom. Before:

The guest bathroom had gold lantern light fixtures that cast a yellow light all over the room, not to mention that they were hung low in mirror. Furthermore, there was no shower in the guest bathroom, just the (wonderful) jacuzzi tub. The guest bedroom was fine. The biggest problem with it was a ceiling fan that was improperly hung and no carpet. (Jack and I like carpet...don't judge us.)

After:

In the guest bathroom, we changed light fixtures, added a vent/light fixture, added the shower and marble around the jacuzzi tub, painted, and put in a new toilet. In the guest bedroom, we painted, added carpet, and changed the light fixture.

Finally, our bedroom and bathroom. Before:

Our bedroom had wall paper and no carpet. Our bathroom was green (again) and the shower tiles were falling off the walls. We ended up having to take the shower completely out and re-doing the entire thing. That was one of the largest projects we tackled.

After:

In our bedroom we added carpet, painted (after stripping wallpaper), changed the light fixture, and bought new bedroom furniture (which I love!). In the bathroom, we painted and completely gutted and changed out the shower. We put in marble instead of tile. Hopefully it will serve us well for years to come.

There are other rooms in the house not pictured here (the dining room, office, garage, and outside storage building) but these are the ones that are 1. clean and 2. the most changed. This project took up a large part of our summer and we are very thankful to our wonderful family who helped us with all the work and also friends and family who helped us move.

We feel truly blessed to be in our home. It is great for us and we have learned alot from the renovations (as you may have read if you keep up with this blog). Thanks for your prayers and support!

Dear Jacuzzi Tub...

Dear Jacuzzi tub,

Thank you for coming into my life. When we first viewed what is now our home, our realtor showed you to us with some enthusiasm. While I knew your capabilities, I was only mildly impressed. We really weren't looking for a home with a Jacuzzi tub. None of the other homes we had seen had a Jacuzzi tub. It was not a deal-maker or breaker for us. No offense, but your presence in our home was merely icing on the cake. But now, oh now, I know the value that you add to our home. When I have had a long, very stressful, restless week, I begin to day dream about you. Turning on some music, pouring just the right temperature of water in you, and allowing you to work your magic, you can relax at least some of my stress away. Yes, you have your weaknesses. You are a little short, but then so am I. And you more than make up for your lack of length in your wonderful depth and many jets that shower me in powerful massaging bubbles at the push of a button and turn of a dial. Yes, Jacuzzi tub, you are truly one of the blessings in my life.

Francie

Oh no...it's August.

Once again, August is upon us. Jack and I have come to learn that August tends to be a very busy month for us. It seems to have started when we lived in our previous location and were in charge of the campus ministry at our church. The beginning of the school year is always a big time in campus ministry so we usually had many big events with lots of things to coordinate, plus we both worked in schools so starting things up there added extra pressure to the mix. Living where we do now, August is still an insane month for us and as I turned the page on my calendar a few days ago it struck me that the days are upon us now.

So how are we doing now that summer is pretty much over? Well, the boxes are probably about 50% unpacked. I've basically completed the kitchen. I have some items to donate and some to store, but otherwise the kitchen is done and I love it. The other rooms are getting there. I've found myself staring at boxes of things now that I'm just not sure what to do with. I'm sure you have those items-- the ones that you really don't want to get rid of, but yet what do you do with them? That's the stage I'm in. We haven't hung any pictures yet because boxes have been lining the walls and it would be too much trouble to move them to hang pictures. So, there is still alot of work to do, but in time all of that will get done. It may be Christmas before it's done, but it will get there.

I survived turning 30 and I can now use the phrase, "well, when I was in my 20's..." I was able to get together with some of my friends from college, most of whom also turned 30 this summer, and we had a nice dinner. We all marveled at how strange it is that our college years were approximately 10 years ago and how old that makes us feel. I really enjoyed getting to see them and catch up.

Jack and I both had goals we wanted to meet for work that may or may not be met before school actually starts in a couple of weeks. I guess that is just the way life goes. I think God is trying to teach me to let go of my plans and be ok with going on his time schedule, not my own. So I'll continue to work on all of the things on my list and hope that this year's August goes well. Pray for us as we move through this crazy month.

Finally moved in....kinda!

Well this past weekend was a big weekend for our family. On Saturday we moved the rest of the stuff from the house we were renting to our new house. There are still somethings in the garage at the old place and the house needs to be cleaned before we turn it back over to the family member we were renting it from. However, for all practical purposes we are totally in our new house!!! YAY!!! Nearly 3 months after we took possesion, we are finally living in OUR house. It's kinda weird though. For the first time I can remember, I kept myself awake last night (not for too terribly long) worrying about everything else that has to be done. AUGH!!!! We haven't even unboxed everything....heck we haven't even unboxed 70% of our stuff, but I'm already worried and thinking about what has to be done NEXT!! DANG IT!

However, I eventually fell asleep and everything that needs to be done will eventually get done. God will provide. While I had a moment I wanted to stop and thank EVERYONE for helping (physically or financially) us during this process. I would try to name those that helped, however I am affraid that I would leave someone out. To everyone that did help we owe you a huge debt of gratitude. Without your help we would not be in the house as early as we were. Heck we may not be in the house at Christmas if it was just us working on it!!

Again thanks for keeping up with us on this blog. We hope that you have enjoyed the frustrations, joys, and lessons learned during the process of getting the house done. More will come as we work on the other projects that are keeping me up at night! ;)

NYC, Birthdays, and Moving In

Much has happened in the past few weeks. Jack and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary by spending the night in our new home. Our bedroom furniture came in a few days before our anniversary and with some help we moved in just enough items that we could begin sleeping in the house. It's been good to start the moving process. After this weekend, we hope to get the last of the boxes and furniture out of our old home and be completely moved into our new home. It will probably take a while for all the boxes to be unpacked, but that is ok. It feels good to be in. Once I can get organized enough to take some pictures, I will post the before and afters (I know, I know, I've been saying that for a while.)

This past week I actually went on a little vacation. (Good timing, right?) Well, last winter my mom suggested that she and I go on a trip for my big 3-0 birthday this summer. She and I used to do alot of traveling together when I was in college so this was an opportunity to do something like that again. The idea was to go to New York for a long weekend. So, back in February we booked the plane tickets. By the time it was over with, the long weekend turned into almost a week because flying out on Thursday was cheaper than Friday and coming home on Tuesday was cheaper than Monday and we found a good deal on a hotel. Anyway, all of this happened way before we knew that Jack and I were going to buy a house and renovate and move in at the end of July. But that's what happened, so last week I packed up with my nerves shot and left for NYC. It was a great trip and a much needed break from reality.

Here are my recommendations for anyone going to NYC:
1. If you are going to stay at least 5 days get a City Pass. The pass is an advanced ticket to several museums/monuments and if you want to go see everything on the pass, it's a good deal. Plus you don't have to wait in any lines get tickets. This saved us a ton of time and helped us schedule our trip.

2. Save your money and plan to bring an extra bag home with items you purchase there. I have never seen so much stuff to buy in one place. There are stores, street vendors, souvenir shops, and markets everywhere. And most of them will reduce their prices when you start to walk away. This is a true test of self-control.

3. Get a really good map, especially if you plan to use the subway. New York subways can be tricky. We met one woman from Athens who said she had taken the wrong train three times. She had been to two other countries where she didn't speak the language and had been able to figure out the subway system but was having a very difficult time in New York.

4. If you are planning to see a Broadway show, get up the day of the show and go to TKTS in Time Square to buy your tickets. The line looks long but they move you through fast. If you are really counting on going to one particular show you may not want to do this (they don't sell tickets to everything) but if you are ok with two or three options, this is definitely your best deal. We got half-price tickets to 9-5 (Excellent show!) and ended up being 6 rows back from the stage. It could not have been better and there is no way we could have done that for that price had we bought them in advance.

So now I have returned and this is probably going to be my last time to post while I am still in my 20's. Looking back on the past decade, so much has happened in my life. I've done most of what I wanted to do and I have changed alot since I was 19 turning 20. If you had asked me then what my life would be like now I would have never guessed it would be like this. But that is the nature of life. I can't even imagine what I will be writing when I'm 39 turning 40. What a decade this will be...

Lessons on Home Remodeling - Tip #4

Trimming doors when new flooring is installed.

It's time for the weekly installment of Home Remodeling tips from Jack and Francie!!! (I started writing this and then Francie beat me to the post so I had to slightly modify mine. NO big deal.)However, regardless of that this week you get a two for one deal!!! Call it our summer special! ;-)

Tip #4: Trimming doors when new flooring is installed.
Last week the vinyl was laid in the kitchen/utility room. Because of the people who laid the vinyl having to also lay down underlayment, the doors in the utility room leading to the garage and outside needed to be trimmed. BUT the people who laid the flooring didn't trim doors. SO in mentioning this to others they said that the carpet people should trim the doors. Thinking that the doors to the bedrooms might also need trimming, we hoped to just have him also trim the doors that the vinyl layers did not. In the famous words of Ray Stevens......WRONG! The carpet is being laid today and when asking them about the doors, they also said that they were not suppose to trim the doors either! SO now we have to try to trim the doors ourselves or find someone who will. So tip #3 in the house remodeling of the Jack and Francie's house is...."Ask before you buy the carpet/vinyl/tile/etc if the layers will trim the doors. If they don't develop a plan assuming that the doors will need to be trimmed."

Lessons on Home Remodeling- Tip #3

Never celebrate too early.

We have learned over the course of this house remodeling venture that nothing is as simple as it seems. Most things take longer than they should and don't work the first time you put them up, hook them up, hang them up, or turn them on. Yesterday we decided to go ahead and move the washer and dryer to the utility room closet. There is no hook-up at our current residence so the washer and dryer have been in storage. I am very excited about the idea of being able to do laundry in my own home again once we get moved in! So we discovered first that the dryer will not plug into the current electrical outlet because the outlet and the plug on our dryer don't match. Ok...we have to switch another outlet. So we brought the washer in to hook it up. Everything was connected beautifully. Time to try it out. Hot water...works. Cold water...works. Warm water...works. Hallelujah! Something works the first time!! I did a dance in the utility room. "Celebrate with me! Something works the first time!" But, alas, remember Tip #3. We began to drain the water we had just put into the washer and behold....water all over the floor. There was a bad hose that needs to be replaced. We spent the next 30 minutes or so sopping up water with some kitchen towels we found from the previous owner and a few paper towels. When Jack disconnected the hose...whoosh! another big rush of water. We got it all cleaned up and dry but needless to say we have a washer and dryer IN the house but neither are in working condition at this time.

Oh yeah, and this weekend was the 4th of July. Happy Independence Day, everyone. We did take Saturday off-- away from work AND the house-- to enjoy a break and the festivities. It was a nice day for both of us. Praise God for the courageous men and women who serve our country and protect our freedoms. May God bless us even in our weaknesses.

Lessons on Home Remodeling- Tip # 2

When the previous home owners leave you a cabinet full of cleaning products, take the opportunity to use them and assess their value.

Today, I will evaluate three-- that's right THREE-- home cleaning products for you. Kaboom! (in honor of the late Billy Mays), George Foreman Knockout Multi-Purpose Cleaner (our former homeowner must have liked infomercials), and Windex with vinegar (yuck). I cleaned the guest bathroom last night because it is finished. Yay! Both bathrooms are actually done, but I was only able to get to the guest bath last night and I really need to give it another good cleaning, but last night gave me the opportunity to test out these three amazing products. Here is my assessment:

While I mean no disrespect to Billy, the Kaboom! disappointed me. It left a weird white residue on the counter top and just didn't seem to clean well. So it was out. Same goes for the Windex with vinegar. I searched through the 15 bottles of cleaning products I inherited with the house looking for another glass cleaner, but to no avail. This Windex left several streaks that I could not remove so I'm going to have to clean the mirror again. So, out of our triple product test, the winner is....George Foreman's Knockout Multi-Purpose Cleaner! Actually, this was pretty good. It seemed to clean well on multiple surfaces and didn't leave any kind of residue or film. Is there anything George Foreman can't do?

Lessons on Home Remodeling- Tip # 1

When an electrician comes to your home to create a place for new ceiling fans and install them, DO NOT take the time to put the ceiling fans together to save time for the electrician. Your efforts will be futile.

Wednesday night, before the electrician was to come on Thursday, Jack and I decided that we needed to put our two living room ceiling fans together to save the electrician time and save us some money. Mind you, our home has no lights right now because we took them all down (again to save us some money) so the electrician can check the wires and secure the boxes where fans used to be. So Jack and I sat in the living room with head lights (flash lights on an elastic band that you attach to your head) and put together ceiling fans after church Wednesday night. Thursday when we came to make sure the electrician had no questions for us, the ceiling fans were all but completely disassembled in the living room floor. "We can't hang them assembled," the electrician informs us to our dismay.

Things are moving along and hopefully the house will be move-in ready soon. It will probably be ready for us before we are ready for it, considering that I haven't packed one box. Not one. I think I am avoiding the whole situation. I would rather take one or two mad packing days than begin to pack slowly and take one box over at a time for several days. As soon as things are complete I promise I will post the before and after pictures so you can see what I've been talking about for the past two months or so.

Space

Last week I decided to make a call to the contractor just to see if we were still on schedule to have the wall taken down between our formal living room and den. According to what he had told us when we had the estimate done, this job would probably be done about the middle of June, so maybe next week-- if we were lucky. Thursday morning he called me back and when I asked him when he might get to us he said, "How about I come today?" TODAY?!? My heart started to flutter. This was the big job I was waiting for-- and earlier than I expected. But on the phone I kept my cool. "Sure, today would be fine," I said in my most professional sounding voice.

By the end of the next day, we had a big, beautiful, open space where a wall once was. Jack and I sat in our lawn chairs in what used to be a small formal living room and looked into the open space that is now our whole living room. It's terrific. We are so pleased. The job is not completely finished, but close. Painting is well on its way. The bathroom showers are getting their marble treatments today and hopefully Jack and I will make flooring decisions soon. Things with the house are really falling into place. Soon, I hope to post some before and after pictures of the inside of some of the rooms so you can see the transformation. I want to wait for completion so you can really see the difference (paint and all).

On another note, I started a summer Bible study with a few friends today. We are going to meet weekly and I am excited about it too. I think it is going to be a real blessing to me to spend time with some other women each week discussing God's word and learning how we can pray for one another. My summer class will meet for the last time this weekend and then I will just finish up grading and be able to check that off the list of things to do this summer. I hope I can continue to be motivated to do the rest of the work I need to do but with God's help, I know I will be able to do what needs to be done and let go of the rest. Thanks for your prayers. I have been able to feel his peace the past few days.

The Work Continues...

Demolition continues at our house. We officially have a hole where the master bedroom shower used to be, but we also have a new shower head where there previously wasn't one in the guest bathroom. Tiles have been removed and I think I saw a little smile on Jack's face when he got to take a sledge hammer to the shower floor this past weekend. It is fun to work with tools and tear stuff up, no matter what it looks like when you are through.

The wallpaper removal is a whole different story. Whoever put up the border in the living room and dining room loved wallpaper paste. LOVED wallpaper paste. I think they must have found a good sale on it somewhere and just hated not to use it all because they double or triple pasted this border on this wall. It was going no where. This border had to be removed in layers-- the top layer, the backing, and then the sticky residue left behind kind of like when you remove a price tag from an item and the residue is left, but worse. My mom, Jack's mom, and I, along with my cousin, and a few others from time to time have worked on it for days and we have about a wall and a half left to remove.

We are beginning to consider paint colors and floor coverings so everything is moving along nicely. We are rather boring when it comes to paint, so that choice shouldn't be too difficult for us. And when it comes to floor coverings, we prefer carpet. I know, I know...hardwood is beautiful. Hardwood is THE thing to do. Hardwood is easy to care for (sort of). We've heard all of the arguments and seen all of the eye rolling when it comes to floor covering. We do have some original hardwood in the house, but we just prefer carpet. So, we will protect that hardwood by choosing a carpet that we like and enjoying the comfort of nice, soft, warm carpet. Thank you.

Between all the work at the house and all the work I'm doing for my summer teaching, I completely forgot that this past weekend was a holiday weekend until last Friday. So while I enjoyed having the day off yesterday and spending some restful time with our families, I now have to be mindful of the shorter work week in completing what I need to do for my summer class. I am trying very hard to focus on enjoying each process that I am dealing with this summer, from the house, to teaching, to all of the other work I am having to do. I know how quickly this summer is going to pass me by and if I spend all my time worrying about how quickly it's going to go or wishing the house was done and I was moved I'm not going to enjoy any of it. So instead I'm trying to learn as I go, take pictures, and enjoy the processes I'm involved in. I hope that will help me make the most of this summer.

Renovations

We closed on the house two weeks ago tomorrow. It feels great to have a home even if we don't live there yet. Since my job is more flexible than Jack's and allows me more opportunity to slip away and meet plumbers, contractors, etc for estimates, I've been calling people and meeting them for the past several days.

Some things have been difficult about this part of the process that I didn't expect. For example, do you know that there are multiple ways to take down a wall in a home? We met with 7 different contractors/carpenters who were qualified to take down a wall between two living rooms and each of them described a completely different way that they planned to take down our wall. Some of them seemed viable, others seemed a little scary. All of it was a little overwhelming. The fun part for me was listening to all of them talk about what they would do and how they would do it so now I can ask some questions and talk about taking down a wall and sound half-way intelligent about it. "So are you going to put a header up there or are you going to use an LVL beam in the ceiling?"

That's right...just call me Francie Vila. Or better yet...name me after one of those people on HGTV who never actually does any of the work but stands back and watches other people while smiling and talking about it like she knows what's going on. Yeah, that's who I want to be.

We have pretty much settled on who is going to do most of the work now, so it's a matter of making some of the detailed decisions and waiting for when they can work us in. So far-- so good.

Summer has begun as far as my school year goes. I am teaching a class that begins shortly so I haven't really gotten to take a break yet, but I look forward to taking one soon...maybe.

House Update

Quick update folks-- we are closing on the house tomorrow morning. I know for some people this is no big deal at all. For me, this is huge. I feel the need to celebrate and freak out all at the same time. We don't plan to move in for a while because we want to do some renovating to the inside and we are blessed to be able to stay in our current location until that work is done. I know the next few months is going to be filled with decision-making, first experiences, and eventually moving which may all be stressful but it will be worth it to enjoy our first home together. We are truly blessed. Hopefully as the summer moves on we will be able to post updates on our progress. Keep us in your prayers!

Update

I know we haven't posted in a while. This month has been CRAZY. Spring is busy for me in the semester at work, but we have also been busy personally and had to take care of a few things. I do want to say this-- thank you for your thoughts and prayers on the house situation. We found one. :)

This past weekend, Jack and I were out working in the yard. While moving trucks around we missed 4 phone calls from our realtor. She left a message on both of our phones. When I did get back in touch with here is how our conversation went:
Realtor: "Are you in town?"
Me: "Yes..."
Realtor:"I have a house you need to see. It has some great features for you and a huge outbuilding that Jack will love. You need to come see it."

So Jack and I talked briefly and we asked her when would be a good time to come by.
Realtor: "Now."
Me: "Well, we've been working in the yard all day, we aren't cleaned up at all."
Realtor: "Doesn't matter. No one is here. Come on over. You've got to see it."

So Jack and I got into the car with the faint smell of our outdoor workmanship and headed off to see this house. Part of the reason the realtor was in such a hurry was because the house was priced very well. Very well. Her concern was that if we wanted it and we didn't move on it soon that someone else would make an offer before us.

So we went to see it and it was great. We brought our families in and they loved it too. While we normally take a long time to make these kinds of decisions, we also knew that other people would be seeing the house that afternoon. So we went ahead and made an offer. By Sunday afternoon, we were on our way to buying a house! Now we are in the process of inspections, securing the loan, etc and it is wonderfully distracting. If everything continues as hoped we will move in sometime this summer after we have done some updating to the inside of the home.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers. We are very excited that we have found a home and we pray that everything moves smoothly from here.