Slam Dunk!

Bye bye rusty, old basketball hoop!  Even before moving in, we knew the basketball hoop's days were numbered.  Aesthetics aside, it posed a problem as it was within an inch or two from a major electricity wire attached to one corner of the house, which made me quite nervous when winds were intense the other week.

Project: Goodbye basketball hoop!

Project: Craft Room

I finally have a permanent space to create things!  Things that involve sewing, knitting, scanning photographs, editing video, painting, drawing, and so much more.  Let the crafting/creativity begin!

Project: Craft room! - paint ceiling, walls; remove carpet; replace outlets and light switch

Milestone: One Month

This week marks one month - ONE MONTH! -  since we've been homeowners.  It honestly feels like our settlement was just yesterday!  The overwhelming shock of being first time homeowners and fear of the unknown has slightly diminished over the last month - just slightly.  We're now in a new phase of shock called wowzers, this house and all its projects are expensive with no end in sight!  But we're having fun and we have our very own space to put our stamp on, and that is priceless.

Some things I'm still adjusting to:

- Long-term renting has conditioned me to think all walls are shared and to be considerate of noise, volume, etc at all times.  I was playing music in the house and for a brief second forgot that our walls are no longer shared.  Not waking up to screaming kids and/or people talking loudly is both amazingly peaceful and strange... like there's an empty space that desperately wants to be filled with noise.

- Lots and lots of doors.  Little space, fewer doors.  Bigger space, more doors.  In and out, out and in.  Dr. Seuss would have a field day with all these doors! ;)

- Having a garage door.  It's an on-going relationship full of misfits and tweaking, but I'm determined to make it work.

- The kitchen.  It's definitely spacious but not very functional.  I'm still figuring it out.

- Random noises.  Some of them aren't so mysterious anymore but with every one I can label, a new one appears.  It's like a game.

Roofin' It

With the help of our neighbors who let us borrow their ladder, Thomas replaced the vent covers that protect the plumbing pipes.  I did not physically partake in this project, but I trust Thomas when we said it was not an easy job.  And I wasn't about to go on the roof to test it out!  The good news is that our roof and crawl space will be spared of damage from the rain and gusty winds we're suppose to get in the next couple of days.  And maybe the new vent covers will help us conserve some heat... maybe?

Project: Replace plumbing pipe vent covers

Switch It Up!

We started replacing some of the old school light switches and buttons with new ones.  In doing so, we've visited the lighting aisle at the home improvement store so many times that we are now helping other people find stuff.

The new switches complete the picture in the space.  They give the space a fresh, clean look and, most importantly, they work!

Project: Replace old light switches with new ones

Garage Door Drama

Not so long ago we were dreaming of the luxury of pulling in and out of a garage... then we became homeowners...

... and the garage door drama began.

Lesson #1 - Take someone who has a garage to the inspection with you.  And make sure you use it several times during the inspection to ensure it works properly.

I was pretty sure my garage door was possessed as it would not stay closed.  The garage door kept coming up no matter if I closed it electronically or manually.  This, as you could imagine, was a TON of fun! *wink, wink*

As it turns out, my coworker has a garage door repair business and he was very kind to make us his first appointment this weekend to fix it.  He looked at it for all of 1 minute and diagnosed several incorrect things.  We are totally grateful for this connection as he saved us a ton of time and energy.  In the end, he replaced the springs, added a brace to the top for stability, shimmied the rails with wedges for smooth operating, and oiled each component.  We even got all fancy and replaced the broken remotes ;)

Up next: tweak/fine-tune the other garage door to lengthen its operating life.

Project: Garage doom repair

In Progress: Bedroom Landing Redo

The landing at the top of the steps is at the beginning stages of a facelift.  Val helped us out again by painting the edges in white and Thomas finished painting the walls and ceiling in white.  The space, which is technically windowless, is much brighter.  And the outdated beige color is finally gone... woohoo!

We also changed the light at the top of the landing with our three bulb light, which seems to be perfect for the space.  It's nice to see how some of our interior pieces that we bought throughout our relationship are fitting into different areas in the house nicely.  As if they were meant to be :)

Up next: figure out the floor situation, paint/replace trim, decorate.

Project: Bedroom landing redo

Bosch is the Name, Dishwashing is the Game

Meet our new dishwasher, Bosch.  It was love at first sight one afternoon at our local home improvement store.  Bosch looked particularly good with its sale price and charming features.  So we asked it out (bought it) and haven't looked back!

It works amazingly well.  I've never seen dishes so clean and glasses so shiny before.  And it's super quiet, too... like a mouse!  The rack design is also nice, with intuitive spaces for all types of kitchen and dish ware.  We're very happy with the product and it makes cleaning up after dinner so much fun.

Project: Replace old, inefficient dishwasher

I've Got the Power!

My stepfather, Ben, taught me how to correctly and safely replace electrical outlets.  And with this newly acquired knowledge, I'm on fire!  Pun intended ;)

Isn't the new one pretty?  And, yes, the orientation of the new one was done on purpose.  My hubby is very favorable of EU-like standards and ways ;)

Project: Replace old, yellow, two-prong electrical plugs with new ones!  

1 Bedroom Down, More to Go!

Our friend Val offered to help us with painting - thank you, Val!  We'll be painting every weekend until summer, so Val's help is truly appreciated.  Val did a great job and even helped us discover a not-so-nice nest of carpenter ants pulverizing the wood under the bedroom window.  This discovery led to a visit by a pest control service the same day to help us kill the buggers.  Carpenter ants work hard at destroying wood (mostly in moist areas) and then return to their queen.  The guy from the pest service was pretty impressed with us for finding the nest, which means we found the queen.  It's sad to kill such hardworking creatures but they aren't doing the house or our budget any favors - so die little buggers!!

We pulled up the carpet afterwards to find more oak wood floors in GREAT condition.  Yay!  We also replaced the outlets from two to three prong plugs.

Up next: determine ant situation/finish killing them if needed, paint base board, and decorate.

Project: Study - paint ceiling and walls, kill carpenter ants, remove carpet, replace outlets