Our house...In the middle of our street...

I should start this out by saying that Matt and I LOVE houses. Or maybe I love houses and Matt is just really good at turning something that is near ruin into something beautiful. I am serious, that man has mad skills. This is our second time to do a major home remodel, except this time we bought a house that was not-so-livable (it took my mom three attempts to just walk through the whole thing) and have the luxury of doing some of the major repairs before moving into the house.

I just got home from completing my first project on our house. By completing, actually I mean attempting, because as it turns out modern day wallpaper stripper does not even touch thirty-year old contact paper. I am certain I heard the contact paper laughing as I scored it with the little doo-dad and then tried to un-stick the space age glue with my measly chemical solvent. So, that was my thought, someone suggested renting a steamer, but I doubt water, even very hot water is going to do anything to this stuff either.

It was the first time I had been alone in our new house for any length of time, and it felt nice, and a little creepy. I seriously think some weird stuff went down in this house, seeing as how it was an estate sale (I do not know if the person actually died in that house) and then they had to turn off the water and electricity to try and get the son, who was squatting in the house, to evacuate. Turning off the water and electricity did not work, evidently, and it took over a year to get him out and get the house on the market. I do feel sorry for the guy, but there were ten heirs, and the other nine were really ready to get the brother out. Now, this family apparently had some issues, we found a box of pad locks in the garage, there were SEVEN on the front door. Several of the door jams are broken from the inside, like someone slammed the door so hard, or maybe was 'stuck' inside and hit the jam so hard that it cracked. The were hardcore Catholic, with crosses and and religious cards taped all over the walls, along with some random shopping bags and people cut from magazines. Sometimes, when I let my mind go places I should not I have a odd mix of the scene in Seven where they find the killers scary lair and Psycho with the whole devoted son thing. I try to think happy thoughts after that.

Okay...so why did we buy this house, you may ask, and LOTS of people have. We bought it because it is a stinkin' awesome investment. Houses in the neighborhood sell for significantly more than we paid, and given the right face lift (or maybe CPR and some electric shock is a better medical analogy) the house will be an awesome place to live. We are within walking distance of THREE parks. The house is on a corner lot with great trees, it has a four bedrooms with a den and a living room. We love the layout, the location, and the previous owners even had the decency to remove all the old carpet, for whatever reason. So...this is the list of things Matt the Wonder Husband has done:

1. Scraped all the old popcorn texture off the ceilings

2. Re-textured the ceiling

3. Paint the ceiling

The ceiling was a very involved project

4. Laid 750 square feet of tile

5. Removed a wall between the kitchen and the living room

6. Put up a new mailbox

7. Run wires for new lighting

8. Demo'd the old kitchen removing all the old counter tops and appliances

9. Prep work, Prep work, Prep work

10. Worked a full time job

11. Still been a loving husband and father

My brother Josh lovingly (I paid him a lot) painted the bedrooms for us over his Christmas break.

The things we have left to do before we can move in:

1. Lay wood flooring in the bedrooms and den

2. Paint the Kitchen cabinets

3. Tile the Kitchen counters and back splash

4. Replace two toilets

5. Hang lights in every room

6. Clean the bathrooms and get them usable

7. Paint closets and trim

8. Patch the fence so our dogs stay on their side

9. Replace interior doors

10. I do not know what my deal with lists has been. I think I just find them to be very organizing, and I like that.

At this point I think we are going to sub-out tiling the kitchen, because we are hoping to get into the house in the not too distant future and Matt's work is picking up. It has been REALLY frustrating to be pregnant during this remodel and not be able to help much at all. I have done a lot of the leg work, finding the best deals, scouring craigslist for materials and appliances. Eating bon bons and holding the whip, it has been great. So, here is a very poorly made video tour of our house from about 6 weeks ago, enjoy.