Friday, January 20, 2012

Finally!

As of 1/18/12, Scotty and I are official homeowners in Colorado! Now, I would have announced this sooner but we ran into a few hiccups with the previous owner.  We were sitting at closing just about done and it was time for him to sign the bill of sale.  The bill of sale mentioned all the included appliances.  Dude looked at us and said, “I got rid of all of those.  They weren’t in the contract.”  While Scotty and I mentally freaked out at each other, we decided to not react to that statement until our real estate agent was in the room.  Luckily, she happened to walk in about 30 seconds after he said this.  I quickly caught her up.  His real estate agent verified it was in the contract and the agents discussed.  We weren’t quite sure what was going to happen but decided to wait and see what the previous owner did.

Closing concluded after that.  The agents asked for the keys so we could take possession.  The seller said no.  He had for some reason decided not to vacate his property.  Uh… what?!  Can you do that?!  Turns out legally, no.  We talked to the agents and the police department.  We could not legally have him removed until 24 hours after closing.  So we waited.  Scott drove by multiple times during that 24 hour process (probably close to 10) to make sure that he appeared to be leaving.

4:30 PM on January 19th rolled around – and the house had a new door lock.  I love having a handy husband.  Last night we brought the dogs over.  They ran like crazy animals through the whole house up and down 2 flights of stairs and around and around.  They were super funny.  We also put up some paint swatches and started pulling down the kitchen desk.  Kitchen desks drive me NUTS.  Talk about dating a house.

We also unfortunately (at least unfortunate for our budget) decided we will have to rip the carpet out.  It really is just unsavable.  In a few months, my husband will hopefully be laying beautiful new hardwoods throughout the whole downstairs.  It will look so much better.  I’ve decided I can probably wait on a fridge to get those new and much more sanitary and clean floors.  Right now, we are starting our research on hardwoods versus bamboo.  I’m leaning towards bamboo even though supposedly all hardwood is produced in an eco-friendly way these days.  I just don’t believe it.  Especially since I’m a penny pincher and will be ordering from the cheapest wholesale place I can find.

We officially have a house!  As I told my husband, we now have a 3,618 square feet project!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Ugh!

Well, after waiting and waiting and waiting some more, we were almost ready to close this last Friday.  We have been through a whirlwind of back and forth, delays, and more delays with this loan.

Both our loan officer and real estate agent said they have never seen so many hurdles come up for such well qualified buyers.  I guess that’s life eh?

Cherry on top of the whole situation – the house will go to auction on Wednesday if we don’t close.  We are in a waiting game waiting for a condition to clear with the IRS.  Either we get the house VERY soon, or this whole process was waiting and fighting for nothing.  Hopefully Wednesday will be a GOOD news update! :-)

On a brighter note, Scott and I discovered the neatest store today! It’s called a Sears Outlet.  They essentially sell floor models and scratched and dented appliances.  We looked around today through there and realized we will be able to save a BOATLOAD if we are able to deal with a few cosmetic flaws.  To give you an idea, I fell in love with a $3,000 stove today.  It was KitchenAid, dual fuel, convection, and double oven.  There was a TINY dent on the bottom the second oven.  And I mean TINY.  It was most visible from the side view.  The sales person had to show it to me since I couldn’t find the blemish.  Price tag on this bad boy? $1,500.  Now, I don’t want to run out and spend $1,500 on a stove but there are some great deals to be found in there.  The same fridges we’ve been eyeballing for nearly $3,000 were $1,300 and came with all the bells and whistles.  We decided we could probably live with some minor flaws as long as our eyes weren’t drawn to them, they were coverable (aka fridge art) and they didn’t affect the performance of the machine.  What’s even better is they are still completely covered under normal manufacturer’s warranties and you can purchase an extended protection plan.  We were stoked to find such a place as we have 6 appliances to replace.  6!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Boy how time has flown!

I haven’t been able to update much due to a large remodel project I’m in the middle of…. :-)
Here’s a quick run down of what my first weekend looked like:
  • Saturday - taped/repainted all the molding on the bottom level (except the tops of door frames), raked leaves up
  • Sunday – started painting actual walls on the main level (Scott even was able to do the 30 foot walls in the family room most of the way!), picked up our new stove and new dishwasher
  • Monday – our personal belongings were dropped off!  I started unpacking and painting the kitchen cabinets white
  • Tuesday – unpacked and worked on the cabinets
When I write it down… it really doesn’t look like much! But let me tell you, I was BUSY! Naturally it was the 1 weekend of the month that Scott had to work so I didn’t even get much help.
We still have quite a bit to finish, but it is nice to see some progress!

Our new dishwasher: KitchenAid Superba Series

Our new stove: KitchenAid Dual Fuel Double Oven Range

The second weekend my mom and her boyfriend were in town visiting.  It was nice to have a break from the house.  All I feel like I do is work and come straight home and paint walls or cabinets.  I’ll be glad when my kitchen is back together!

This past weekend (our third weekend in the house) we again didn’t get anything done to house guests.  I LOVE have house guests since I get a break from the house.  Though it sure does drag our projects out farther and farther.

On a plus side, the cabinets are 85% done.  The bottom ones are 100% done and we only have 3 cabinets left to paint.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  We also were able to put together our guest bedroom this weekend.  We ordered a nice memory foam mattress and frame so when our guests come over they aren’t stuck on the floor (or bringing their own bed like my mom did!)

On the projects for this week/weekend is to make an uphoulstered headboard for the guest room.  We bought some plywood and are going to mess around with fabric and foam for an economical headboard option. 

After about 3 weeks in the house I can say we fall in love with it more everyday!