After officially closing on our first house last Friday, the planning for making it a home has begun in earnest. I think the key work in this whole process is going to be: Stages.
Stage 1: Move-In Ready
Sometimes I think looking at vacant houses is easier than occupied ones. You don't realize how dirty something is until you move all the furniture that's never bee cleaned behind. So Friday's time at the house revealed that the previous owners weren't detail-oriented and also not big on spring cleaning (usually a time to wash windows & cupboards, toss junk, air out rooms, etc.).
Hence, stage one of our renovation is to get the place in a condition suitable for living in.
Little projects:
Stage 1: Move-In Ready
Sometimes I think looking at vacant houses is easier than occupied ones. You don't realize how dirty something is until you move all the furniture that's never bee cleaned behind. So Friday's time at the house revealed that the previous owners weren't detail-oriented and also not big on spring cleaning (usually a time to wash windows & cupboards, toss junk, air out rooms, etc.).
Hence, stage one of our renovation is to get the place in a condition suitable for living in.
Little projects:
- Scrubbing (or hiring someone to clean) bathrooms, kitchen cupboards, floors and trim work.
- Get new carpet for the upstairs bedrooms and stairs
Big projects:
- Prep & paint. We've got tons of trim to take down, walls to patch and sand, and the living room and master bedroom have to be primed and painted before we move in.
- Expose hardwood floors. We've confirmed the presence of wood under the carpet in the living room, office and guest bedroom. Brian's ripping up the carpet and pad, while I will be pulling nails and staples.
Our excitement got the best of us Friday when we drove straight from closing to Home Depot to buy a pry bar and a shop vac. In less than an hour we had unearthed the floors you see here.
We found all the expected scratches and dents, staples and nails, and in addition evidence of a past dog who was poorly potty trained.
Since the floors are on the list for demolition next summer, our plan is to clean what we've found here and put down a lovely area rug. Anything is better than the gross carpet we pulled up.
Also worth noting: The fireplace is starting to grow on me. Originally I loathed it and had insisted to Brian the only way I could do anything with this room was to whitewash the brick. Now I'm starting to have visions of warm terra cotta walls reflecting great evening light from our West-facing bow window.
Comments
Post a Comment