House Project: the beginging

This house has been work from day 1. We knew it would be, but never quite understood the stress it would cause us early on!

Welcome to our home. :-) Here is a very basic floor plan. (Not to scale, and not totally accurate, but it gives you the gist.)

First floor (you enter through the mudroom/laundry room)

Second floor. (This basically sits on top of the square part. The kitchen/mudroom don't have rooms above them.)

This house was a special situation, we know. You read before about the offer process. Well, with everything we had lined up, we should have been able to close in less than 30 days. Yeah, should have! We got the offers submitted and accepted, did the inspection, and then we had the bank appraisal. Well, what a joy that was. Why? Because the appraisal came back at a C-5, and they would not back a loan under C-3. (The reason for the C-5: some water damage and in need of paint.) Really? What ever happened to sweat equity? And who moves into a house and doesn't plan to paint the walls? Especially when they look like this:

The C-5 rating meant that we had to do work on the house, before we ever owned it. Do you know how difficult this is? It means you have to slap up paint and hope it passes, just to paint it all again when you are actually ready and can do the fixes properly. 

We had to get it to a C-3, and thankfully we had a crew that helped us get there! (Shout out to my Indiana family who came down Labor Day week to help us wash walls, paint two rooms and fix cracks, peeling plaster etc.) Yes, that crew included my 84 yr old granny!

This is the first room you walk into: the mud room/laundry room. Its a lovely room, really. The walls and floor were gross, but again, we knew changes were a-coming!

This is the kitchen of giants (even I need a stool to reach the upper cabinets, and I am 6ft.) I will also note, there is no room to put a refrigerator in here, so it has to go out to the mudroom/laundry room. 

This is the dining room. See that spot on the wall above the window? That was the "water damage". It actually ended up just being plaster and paint that had gotten wet at some point and so was falling off.

Here is the beauty up close. 

This is the archway that leads from the dining room to the living room.

Here is a picture of the formal living room. Behind all that junk is a fireplace. Yes, its been cleaned and it is in working order!

From the dining room, you enter the hallway. My back it to the "front door". Its a very neat stairway, but first, I will take you into the library. 

Well, it will be a library, someday. My husband and I love books, and we have always wanted a library like in those old houses in England. Ours will in no way be that large or grand though!

Next up is the cozy little tv room. The tv goes there in the corner, and the couch where I am standing. From that window grandma and the hubs are looking out: you can look down the hill to the creek. Its also where we often see the deer pass by on the hill. They have a favorite little spot down there that blocks them from the wind. Almost daily we see at least four doe. Twice we have seen a buck. One day I will get a good picture for you.

Bathroom #1 is tucked behind this room and kinda under the stairs. Its functioning, and in pretty good condition. One day, that wallpaper will go!

At the top of the stairs, you have two choices. Lefts go to the right. 

You enter into bedroom #3, which also has a door into the bathroom. This window is also a good vantage point for the deer. 

And then you can enter into bedroom #4. This house has a TON of doors by the way.

Skip across the hall, and you get into the one room that has been painted recently, though even in here the paint is peeling. (And recently is 20 years ago). 

But lots of storage space! (Until you try to put clothes in here...)

Down the hall takes you to bedroom #3. 

Believe it or not, this was the bedroom whose walls were in the worst shape. Cracks everywhere! It looked like quite the patched up patient before we painted it. But, you will see that later. 

And last but not least, bathroom #2. 

:-) 

There are all the "before" pictures. This house is a major work in progress, so even the pictures to come are rooms that are not fully "done". Enjoy the progress! (We are!)