Our Fixer Upper

Alright, I'm not a blogger.  I don't even like the word.  BLOG... GER.  It's weird. Reminds me the word booger.  I enjoyed writing a fair bit in high school, but obviously those days have come and gone.  Who's got the time?  I never understand how moms do it in this day and age?  They work full time, cook gourmet dinners, keep an immaculate house and somehow manage never forget an after school extracurricular experience.  I, however, work almost full time, keep a clean and tidy house, cook enough to keep everyone alive, and mix up tae kwon do and runclub nights rather frequently.  But the kids are healthy and happy.  I don't over do anything.  Keeping it simple.  Especially in my spaces.

You see, I have a little OCD.  I randomly start routines that are very hard to stray from.  Like the order in which I arrange my hanging clothes, which counter I wipe down first, vacuuming in straight lines (and of course always out of the room), and never ever going to bed with dishes in the sink, etc.  So of course buying a fixer upper from a sheriff's sale that needed a lot of work was going to be my therapy.  And if you ever lived the midst of a constant rennovation, those little OCD moments can get kinda outta whack.

But we scored big time.  Walking into a home with an instant 100k of equity and an amazingly low mortgage payment was a dream come true.  We don't mind a little work.  And we're gonna live here for 30 years, so we have plenty of time.  And I also have the good fortune of marrying quite the hardworking handy man who is a jack of all trades.

So anyhow, we purchased this gem of a house in the fall of the 2012 for 6 grand over the opening bid.  And with our sizable down payment from the sale of our last house plus 3 months of being homeless yet still employed (we lived with my parents) we had to finance very little, thereby keeping our monthly mortgage payment lower than last Januarys heating bill.  :)

So here she is, 3198 sq at end of a cul-de-sac with a three car garage and a swimming pool to boot.  The lovely shit brown color exterior, and interior of a 1988 custom built home.

She's got good bones.  However she hasn't been updated since she went up. And she's been empty for the last couple years after apparently a very bitter divorce.  While I felt a little guilt taking advantage of someome else's misfortune, we needed a home.  But the best thing about this house is the neighborhood.  Even before we moved in, we were at the house every day after school and work trying to clean it up.  The neighbors were quick to come and introduce themselves, and all of them were lovely people. And most everyone's children were the same ages as ours. We could not have asked for better.  It is literally the neighborhood that I grew up in.  The unicorn of neighborhoods where you can send your child out to play and pretty much expect them back when night falls or if they're hungry.  Everyone helps watch each other's kids.  The one where the cops come play basketball with the kids in the street.  That small town, everyone knows each other, most perfect place to live.  2 years later, we still kick ourselves about how lucky we got.

So anyhow, she sorely needed work.  A lot of work, but mostly cosmetic.  And that I can deal with.  And as much as carpet in the bathroom was a good idea in 1988, that's gonna be one of the first things to go.  Yuck.  I once read that living in a house with someone else's carpet is like wearing someone else's underwear.  And I believe that whole heartedly.  However, after a thorough cleaning, the re-carpeting budget went to more pressing matters... like the lack of toilets and a water heater and appliances.  You see, we are working on one project at a time as money allows.  We made the decision not to ever finance anything we can't afford.  And while duct tape over the bullet hole in the master bedroom window worked for a year, windows are damn expensive.

Yep, that's carpet in the master bath... of course it perfectly complements the dead plants behind the tub.  Who leaves their poor plants to die???  Did I mention there's no toilets or lighting fixtures?

I truly wish we had taken more photos so I had something to compare as we complete our projects.  But now I'm remembering to grab some "befores" BEFORE we start the project.  I point out the master bath here, as that is our current renovation at this time.