stages

Getting our house ready to move in has happened in some definite stages, and we're not done yet! Before we even got to these stages though, the biggest hurdle was dealing with the FHA inspector and collecting a million and one documents for our loan company. Every time we turned one document in, somehow that created at least two more documents that they needed. Just when I felt like we were ok, another set of requirements would show up. It was extremely frustrating and stressful, so even though I have been bone tired at the end of long days working on the house in the last week, I feel great! I will take hard physical work any day over stress about paperwork that I have no control over. Here's what the past few weeks have looked like at House Sparrow.


Stage one: de-carpet and clean 

BEFORE

BEFORE, one of the bedrooms

BEFORE, the dining room

When we moved in, the entire first floor was covered with various wall to wall carpets. Some appeared to be original to the (1947!!) house, others replaced in the 1970's, and some more recently updated. But they all had one thing in common:filthy! Obviously it needed to go, especially since below those dirty old carpets was hardwood flooring.

Abby watches the carpets coming out

My cute Will starts getting rid of the gross carpet

Much of the padding had completely disintegrated and had to be scraped off of the floors beneath, then scooped up like we were shoveling green snow. There were big piles of this green, filthy padding all over, and by the time I left on carpet removal day, my pants were stained green! I knew they needed to come out immediately, especially since there was hardwood floors underneath! The walls and all surfaces were also very dusty and dirty. They all needed to be washed, and so they were, just as soon as the carpet was ripped up, rolled out, and and moved out of the house. Once the carpets were out, tack strips surrounding the perimeter of each room needed to be removed, and staples everywhere needed to be ripped out. We were lucky enough to have access to the house prior to closing in order to do some work required to be approved for our FHA loan (the house was sold "as is"), so after we got the OK from the seller, we got the carpets out even before the house was technically "ours". It was so nice to get a head start!

Stage two: repair and paint

The walls were full of nail holes, the moldings full of chips, and the cabinets full of dings. The previous owner did lots of living in this house, and it showed! I've spent the past few weeks (two Friday evenings, 2-3 weekday evenings, 2 full Saturdays, and one Sunday) mostly in the kitchen. I repainted everything, including the cabinets, and I finally finished today.  The walls are painted in Valspar's Oatbran in their zero VOC kitchen &bath formula, and the cabinets are also the zero VOC, but in a white that I just picked  up off the shelf---the whitest white available! I wanted those cabinets to be bright!

BEFORE

love those moldings popping out now with a slightly darker wall color

All that is left if the floor and new cabinet handles just waiting to be installed! I'm putting down vinyl sticky tiles for the time being, and they will cover the beige, black, and glittery gold linoleum that is on the floor right now. My dad came in and primed and painted all the ceilings on the main floor, and painted all the living areas. That was a huge help! What he did in a day and a half would have taken me a week. The living room, dining room, hallway, and foyer are all painted in Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter, which I had color matched into Valspar's zero VOC formula.



 When I left the house tonight, it was ready for the next stage, floor sanding and staining!! I decided to take some last minute pictures before I left, just to capture how the house all picked up and waiting for some beautiful staining. As a note before you take a peek, I took all of these with my iphone under horrible lighting conditions, so the coloring and clarity is awful! I can't wait to get in there in the afternoon with some good sun and my good camera. The floors also look like they're in much better shape than they actually are in person.

the dining room, which is already so much better without those carpets!

the previously VERY blue bedroom that is seen above. This is just primed right now.

Stage three, floor sanding and refinishing will be happening without me there at all! A friend from highschool who just so happens to have been my prom date many years ago is doing the work.Thanks Jeff!
See you in a few days, little house! We're hoping to start moving in NEXT SUNDAY! Still kind of hard to imagine!