I've gotten some angry verbal feedback that I don't update this nearly enough, (thank you, Julie and Jeanette), so now that we're slightly more settled into the new house, I will give it the old college try to update more often.
Yes, new house! We bought a house waaaaaaay back in October (October 1, 2009) in Sacramento. It was a "fixer" in the most literal sense - built in 1955, original owner who maybe updated it once in the 70's, wasn't taken care of at all, etc. The owner passed away, and her daughter put the house on the market maybe a year later. From what I've heard from neighbors, it took almost all of that year to clean the junk out of the house. When we toured it, it was a nightmare of dust, cobwebs, dark wood paneling on approximately half the walls in each room, and horrid old cabinets, appliances, and linoleum (gasp!). Naturally, Ben and I said, "Perfect! Let's get it." So we did.
I quickly drew up some plans, got building department approval, and we began our journey into headache-land and bank-depleting-ness. It was a very bumpy road. What started as, "Let's remodel the kitchen, update the bathrooms, add a couple electrical outlets and light fixtures, and throw in some new flooring and paint," turned into total overhall. New electrical throughout the house, new mechanical, new plumbing, complete remodels of both bathrooms, new texture and paint throughout the house, skylights, all new windows, new doors...basically everything is new. We doubled, then tripled our budget and added an extra month and a half of time to our schedule. We went tile shopping, hardwood floor shopping, light shopping, carpet shopping, granite shopping, plumbing fixture shopping, and paint shopping. And finally, after many calls from contractors, many checks written, and many stressful months, we moved in. On Friday, March 12, movers came to our house in Modesto and packed our stuff into a truck. The last box was unloaded around 7:30pm. We had done it! But it wasn't finished. Will it ever be? Who knows, but we're here and we are so happy with the results.
We've now been in Sacramento for two and a half weeks, and we couldn't be happier. It just feels like home.
Here are some "before" shots of the house.
All together now - "Ewww!" You thought I was kidding about the wood paneling, huh!
Next I will post some demo shots.
Then we got even crazier.
But then things started to come together.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of in between photos, so we'll go straight to the (almost) finish line.
So there you have it. That's what I've been up to for the past five months. It's been fun (sorta)!
