Three Weeks In

We're three weeks into home ownership.

Here's what we've encountered:

• The property line is a good foot shorter than what we had been told by both the sellers real estate agent and the sellers themselves. This makes our narrow back yard even more narrow. That's not the main problem, however. The main problem is that the sprinkler heads have to be moved before we can start to put the fence in. It is good news that we got the fence permit, though!!! It's not as big of an undertaking as we feared, but it's still a project.
• The pipes under the kitchen sink are leaking. Again, not a big deal - but an annoyance for sure.
• The alarm company sent out a contractor to reset the alarms and show us how to use the system and after two hours he walked off the job. He came back a week later, after many frustrating calls to the service center, and was finally able to get things set up.
• The microwave stopped heating food - it's more expensive than a typical microwave because it is one of the ones that is mounted above the stove.
• When Eric took the microwave down to see if it had a back or a top exhaust, he found a hornets nest, swarming with hornets, inside the exhaust vent.
• We woke up this morning to a puddle of water on the kitchen floor. We thought maybe one of us didn't completely shut the freezer door. We went out for a few hours this afternoon and when we came back the kitchen was almost 50% covered in water. Eric reset the circuits and checked on some of the vents, etc. No dice. We had just come back from buying $100 in groceries including $25 in good meat.

We love it, we really do. I'm not trying to sound ungrateful. We're just ready to be settled (still unpacking, still unpacking a lot....) and to have things work (I mean this house is only 7 years old!!!) and to make this house our "home" and not some sort of money pit.

*image courtesy of Google Images

The "Before"

(to see all of the "before" pictures of our new house,
click on the flickr badge on the right side of the page or click here to go directly to the photo set. Make sure to click on pictures to get descriptions and "notes" on what you're seeing. )

Anyone who has heard anything about our new house knows there is one thing we need to change before we can officially move in. The previous owners seem to have a particular liking for Green. EVERY Room/Hallway is painted sea-foam green (I will post the official color name when I get it, for those curious).

Don't get me wrong, it's actually a pretty nice color when you see it in person - if it was in one room and one room only. Seeing the color throughout the whole house, it's just overwhelming. On top of that, there is carpeting in the bedrooms, and the carpet color is hunter green.

Before you ask, or jump to any conclusions, there was no sale on that particular paint color. The owners chose it specifically. As a matter of fact, the sellers agent told us this is the second house she has sold for them which is all green. Wow. Just Wow. `

Once we signed the P&S we hired Eric's uncles so they could start painting as soon as we closed. They started working today and I CAN'T WAIT to see it!

We also had National Floors Direct come out the day we closed to give us an estimate on replacing the carpet in the bedrooms. Unfortunately the cost is much too much for us right now ($1900 for JUST the master bedroom?!!) so we'll have to deal with the carpets a bit longer.

The night of our closing we slept on a futon mattress on the floor in the bedroom. The only "furniture" we had in the whole place. We slept like rocks (and most likely with grins on our faces!)

The commute in to work the next day wasn't as bad as we anticipated. I was sitting at work an hour after we left home (of course, in Belmont I was 2.5 miles from work!) We know we were lucky because August is a big "vacation" month, there was good weather and no accidents on 95/128 (knock on wood!)

So now begins our journey. I'm excited and anxious! There's so much we want to do to really make this house our home. Stay tuned.

Our Home Base

We just bought our first house, and couldn't be any more excited. We're really looking forward to sharing pictures and stories about our journey of home ownership. Improvements have already started, be prepared for lots of upcoming "before" and "after" photos!

~S, E & S (woof)