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Friday, November 22, 2013

We Are In!!


These last few weeks have been really fun, but a lot of physical labor. We managed to close on the HUD home we purchased, gut it, repair it and finally refinish everything.

 This was such an amazing adventure that I think everyone should take part in at least once. Even if it's just heading over to Habitat For Humanity and volunteering for a home build. Do it. There comes an amazing joy from building something out of nothing and doing it with people that have the same heartfelt intentions.
We started with uncertainties that slowly evolved into a great plan. Finding a house is no small task.  Finding a house you can make a home when you only have forty-five days is crazy. Especially when you need to tear out the floors, fix a joist (is that what it's even called?), seal windows and brick cracks and the other five hundred items.

I am not a contractor. I don't even know what the real difference is between a "driver" and a "drill", but together with our family we made a home.

  Please don't think we did this elaborate remodel with high end anything because that is not the case. We kept it simple. We shopped around for all our materials, opted to "refinish" cabinetry and tried to reuse as much as we could. I really tried to shop local during this process, but sadly we were met with some poor customer service and prices outside of our budget.

So, Yes, Home Depot was our friend and I have a new found respect for men shoppers.
You know how people always say men and women are so different? I never really thought that until the guys sent me to the big box store for some additional supplies. Clearly whoever setup Home Depot was a man because each time my common sense would kick in on where something would be located, it was met with that big "whaawaa whaa" sound.  Now I understand how my hubs feels in the grocery store. I think I'll let him off the hook for now on.

Speaking of shopping, our food intake during this time has been horrid! I mean, I have eaten more fast food in the past two weeks than I have all year!
This has left me feeling so gross. I'm ashamed to admit it but, I was in no way prepared for this move food wise.
Some things I wish I would have done to prep;
1) Have easy freezer ready meals on hand. ( That I  had made ahead of time )
2) Not have packed my crock-pot
3) Moved the fridge and pantry first, not last

All in all the move has gone pretty well. We are in, still unpacking and trying to rid our non-essential "stuff". There are random item strung from the front yard, through the house and into the backyard. It will take time to manage the madness but we will get there.
 Thank you to all that made this happen for us. We couldn't have done it without you.

Here are a few pics of before and after.


Before
When we ripped u the carpet, this is what we found.




Random wall shelving unit removed!

Water Damage

A few Termites! Thank god for bonding.


Deck needed steps







And Then there was After





Tiny kitchen, But I love it!~