Some re-cap of the house until now.

It's now my time to weigh in on what has gone on in the house since we moved in.

There were quite a few issues with our closing, and it took longer than anticipated. We ended up moving in about three weeks prior to the actual closing, but had the guarantee that it would really close, so we wasted no time in starting on the interior. We had 4 days from when we could move in until our furniture arrived, so I started off with removing a 'closet' that had been built in the master bedroom:

This required some creative use of a hammer and a pry bar, but luckily, whoever constructed this monstrosity hadn't attached it to the floor, and left the baseboards intact. It came out rather easily, but left some big holes in the walls. These were all filled in with a little bit of plaster, and easily painted over.

There were also quite a few other holes throughout the house. The previous residents apparently liked hanging things. I went around with a screw driver and pry bar and removed probably 50 screws and nails, and that doesn't even touch the number of holes that didn't have anything in them. I also ended up removing the crown moulding in the living room, it was the cheap, no mitre-no cope style, made out of plastic, and poorly done to boot. That ended up being one of the more aggravating tasks I have tackled around the house. However, the biggest headache to fix was a large portion of wall that was mostly removed to install a light switch, but never had one installed. Needless to say, the plaster bucket and I were very good friends for a few days. And today, you probably wouldn't notice it without it being pointed out to you.

We managed to get both bedrooms and baseboards in those rooms painted prior to furniture being delivered. Not as much as we would have liked, but still enough to relieve some headaches. When we decided to buy a house to renovate, we took the position that where we could, we would take the 'green' option, and this started with the paint. We chose The Freshaire Choice paint from Home Depot. It is a VOC-free paint, which in you and me terms means it doesn't smell, or give of harmful vapors for the life of the paint.

We chose different colors depending on the room. Green for the office, since that's my favorite color, and we figured I would be spending more time there than the wife would. A light blue for the bedroom which complements the furniture and linens we already had in there, and taupe (I guess, I am a man and have my limits with color identification) for the living room. All of the colors go really nice with our style, and lend a warm and earthy feeling to the house. Had we not had the intention to sell the house in a few years, we would have probably gone with a more bold palette, but as it stands, they are really nice colors that are very soothing.

Some Gratuitous Paint Shots:

Cara painting the office

The bedroom color with the dresser (hand painted by Cara a few years ago)

That's all for this post. I'm sure I glossed over something Cara wanted to cover more deeply, so expect to hear from her soon on this topic.

First time home buyers

We became homeowners in November. Purchasing a short sale home means we fall within the small category of people benefiting from the current state of the economy.


That being said, the house was built in 1948, is well under 1000 square feet, and has not been treated with the love and kindness a home deserves by probably a long run of previous owners. Still, what it lacks in curb appeal, it makes up for in potential.


Time and financial constraints have meant that we've spent the period between November and now without doing any major projects. Of course, a few walls have been painted, some new furniture has been purchased, holes have been patched. But with spring in the air and our bank accounts recovered - not to mention a nice big tax refund in our collective pocket - it's about time to start making this house a home.

The first few posts will provide a brief recap of the work done thus far. After that, the posting should follow a more linear progression through some major renovations, interspersed with minor updates. First up: the kitchen.