I bought a house too! (well, almost)

[Shake]

Originally Posted by Roland98

Oh yeah, I forget sometimes that not everyone knows where I live. Small town in Iowa, between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. And thanks, C-C and ms_ann.

Ahh, you read my mind. I was gonna ask whereabouts that was. Congrats, Ro! Very happy for you! I bet the kids will love it!

[Talulah]

It looks very nice. Congrats! It looks like you and the kids will be very happy.

[Roland98]

So, updates! I’m moving in this Saturday, so I’ve been consumed with Getting Shit Done.

So far…

Kitchen before:





After some wallpaper stripping….



And some painting, getting ready for fridge arrival…



Still to do: finish painting the cabinets, change light fixture, need curtains. Floor is going to go, we bought wood laminate but don’t know when we’ll have the chance to get it down. Might replace the cabinets/counters too when we do the flooring. For now though, everything’s gonna be white—might not stay that way, but just need some simplicity after the horrible wallpaper.

Okay, living room before:





After:



The colorwash looks kind of extreme in that pic, but that’s the lighting and the flash—it’s more subtle.

Still to do: replace the front door & light; hang curtains; flooring (which will be the same wood laminate—we bought enough to do the whole downstairs).

Downstairs bedroom, before:





After stripping the wallpaper:



The walls are hideous—PV suggested they mighta had a lot of bookshelves or something secured to the walls, but there are screw holes everywhere, and the paneling is just generally fucked up, so I’m doing a coat of texture paint over it first, and then I’ll paint that:



I know it's hard to tell from the pic, but for those unfamiliar with texture paint, it's kind of like a light plaster. For this one, I put it on and then ran through it with a wisk broom, so it has vertical lines in it right now to help cover the paneling.

Still to do: finish painting, replace carpet with laminate, light fixture, curtains.

Bathroom is also de-wallpapered and I have the kids' rooms in various stages of finished; I'll snap some photos of those when I'm there tomorrow. I'm hoping to at least have everything painted before we start moving stuff in. I'll still need to put up chair rail in Aurora's room, my bedroom, and the bathroom (and obviously, install the floors), but that's not quite as urgent.

[ms_ann_thrope]

Looking good! You have been very industrious. I hope your move goes well!

[Prince Vegita]

The part she didn't mention (again) is that I'm paying to go out there and help her paint/move/assist with assorted construction. Because I'm such a good goddamned boyfriend.

(Waiting for teh smackdown....)

[livius drusus]

Oo! Before and after pics!1 That's my favorite part.

It looks like all the hard work really paid off, Ro. Congratulations on a job well done. Now it's time for you to sit back and let the Prince do everything else.

[Roland98]

Originally Posted by Prince Vegita

The part she didn't mention (again) is that I'm paying to go out there and help her paint/move/assist with assorted construction. Because I'm such a good goddamned boyfriend.

(Waiting for teh smackdown....)

No smackdown. Gotta wait until I get all that work outta you before I start in with the insults...

[viscousmemories]

Good lord that wallpaper was hideous.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

What VM said.

Looks good Ro!

[Prince Vegita]

Gettin' on the plane soon, baby. Hope I don't get snowed out. Can't wait to see you and all you've gotten done, and to help get your shit moved in.

And then teh Christening.....

[Roland98]

Updates!

I'll pop in with some newer pictures of the interior later, but the last month has consisted largely of cleaning up outdoors. When I got here, the lawn was covered with old leaves, and there was a carpet of pine needles underneath the large tree. For instance, this picture:



and this one:



That brown spot in the middle of the yard on the right isn't dead grass--it's a fucking sand pit. Like, for children to play in, but dug right in the ground with no way to cover it. What a great way to invite every neighborhood animal to come take a shit and let little kids play in it. Oh,and they had an unbelievable amount of stones surrounding it--stones for me to mow over. So I dug out as much sand as possible, moved the stones elsewhere, and put down dirt and planted grass.

There's also a mostly-rotted stump to the right of that. I hacked that thing to hell and burned most of it, then filled that in too and planted grass.

and this one of the patio (looking the opposite way from the top picture):



You know those big garbage cans, the ones you use to take like 3 bags out to the curb? I filled one of those 40 times with leaves and pine needles. Fun.

But now it's coming along at least. Patio corner:



The swingset is over the grass patch where the sand pit used to be.

Longer view:



I think the plants under the pine tree will eventually flower, but I have no idea what they are. The shoots were so covered by the pine needles I'm amazed they survived. There's also some ivy growing in there that was also largely killed off but is making a resurgence.

Planter under the pine tree:



To give you an idea just how thick the pine needle carpet was, I didn't realize there was that circle of bricks around the light until I started cleaning up under there. Oh, and you can see the ivy and those other plants better. I still need to get some mulch to fill everything in (and something ate a few flowers in the planter!) but that area is mostly done.

pepperspray also asked about other flowers. I totally suck at gardening and am the farthest thing from a botanist you can get, so I'm just going to post some of the pictures and maybe someone here can tell me what they are:

First, the one I know (only because my sister visited last week and told me), a bleeding heart:



Close-up:



This one looked dead until about a week ago:



I had another one that looked similar, but it had purple-blue flowers that have already stopped blooming.

This is along our back garage/unfinished spare room:



No clue what they are, but hey, pretty!

These I keep waiting to bloom, they've been like this for over a week now:



And this is one I planted myself, but I can't even remember what it is now:



I also have 2 purple lilac bushes, but I already missed getting pictures of them, and some tulips in the back that are also done for the year. Finally, I have at least one rose bush and I think some peonies (at least, the neighbor lady tells me they're peonies...) that have yet to start blooming. The side of the house and one garage are totally surrounded by greenery, but I'm not sure exactly what are weeds and what are flowers. (Hell, I thought the bleeding hearts were weeds until they flowered). So I may update through the season as things pop up...

[viscousmemories]

Wow, good job Roland. It looks great!

[Prince Vegita]

Sigh..... can I move in yet?

[livius drusus]

Wow. You may not be a botanist but you sure keep them babies alive and thriving. The landscape looks gorgeous.

[JoeP]

* JoeP arrives late
Lovely! (The "after" pics at least!)

[Prince Vegita]

So I thought I'd update a bit. We've got about 40 projects going on right now in various stages of completion, but one that we did finish up is our bedroom. You know, the one up in the thread with the dark red carpet and bright pink walls?

Here's the next phase.



First coat of paint over the texture paint, this will look good with the streaked texture when finished; the long floor to ceiling lines will give the room a rustic, clapboard sort of feel. For now, however, the room is still a dark, dank cave due to the draftiness, unlevel floor, and dark carpet. After finishing up another coat of paint, we tried to live with the room the way it was, assuming we'd get new carpet someday. Following a winter of mildewy smells, cold drafty floors, and ending up rolling into the wall at night with Ro on top of me (not in the good way), something had to change.

Next... the major step.



Leveling the floor. I put in a series of stacked boards of differing thicknesses to act as risers so that the new subfloor could be level. At this point I took the opportunity to seal up any gaps in the old subfloor (it was very drafty in winter-- 10 degrees colder-- and bugs could get in during summer!). The only thing I would've done differently is screw in the subfloor and possibly buy a better quality subfloor with interlocking edges, for some stupid reason I nailed everything down. There are only 2 places where the floor squeaks, but screws would've fixed that.

Finished product:



The floor is level, the paint is finished, I installed new carpet and finished the trim. On the wall is the Andrew Wyeth painting ("Wash House") that was the inspiration for the room. Now it is cozy, warm, bright and inviting. We kept one wall white as an accent wall, it really keeps the room feeling light and airy, and bigger than it is.

[Prince Vegita]

Here's a pic from the kitchen. No more fucking awful wallpaper. We'd still like to do new counters someday, and we need to put the laminate floor in (still sitting in the garage), but the walls are a pale yellow and all the cabinets were repainted white. It looks much better now!




Ro's wearing a tank and shorts, don't get excited and over-oggle the reflection.

And to give an idea of the next project that needs finishing:



Some asshole hung a cheap plywood interior door on the front of the house but didn't bother putting up even a cheapo screen door. I had to tear out the old frame, rough out a new opening since modern doors are 6 inches taller and 2 inches wider standard, replace the whole threshold which had rotted out all the way down to the foundation, and hang the new door. Yes, the whole house is crooked from settling. There's no way to level the door or that awning (WRT to either the leaning house or the ground) and have it look right (it will be even more obvious in pics of the new door). That awning has to go.

[Qingdai]

Looks better already.
What are some people thinking of? Hanging interior doors outside?
That wallpaper!

[JoeP]

Very cool! And yet warm in winter.

Originally Posted by Prince Vegita

Ro's wearing a tank and shorts, don't get excited and over-oggle the reflection.

Oops. Too late.

Actually I assumed it was the nude ghost of Roland-future come to chastise you over your comment about there being a not-good way of her being on top of you. In a spooky yet strangely ... interesting way.

[biochemgirl]

Very nice

[Prince Vegita]

So you can imagine that the front door didn't look any less shitty from the inside. Sorry I don't have a pic to but just scroll up and get the idea. Well, I finished up the trim on the new door inside so it is mostly done now. All that remains is to paint the walls a color we like better (hence leaving the photo in black and white), and go over the door itself with a semigloss white.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Looks good!

[Qingdai]

Oh, the purple flower on the vine up thread is a clematis, the other vine with yellow flowers looks like a honeysuckle to me.

Nice door.

[LadyShea]

I think it's charming! Coming along quite nicely.

[Roland98]

Well, six years later, we're moving states (again) and selling this house. Accepted a full-price offer on it today after being on the market a grand total of 5 days. Some updated pictures to show the final product:

Front of house. Tore off/redid roof; changed out front door (mentioned above); painted shutters; removed original awning; painted pipe at side.



Living room: new door, new ceiling fan, new paint, new trim



Kitchen: complete gut, floor to ceiling. Found brick walls underneath the layer of paneling and another layer of plaster. Took out old cabinets, counters, pulled up industrial carpet, put in new everything including ceiling and lighting, laminate floors, solid surface counters, maple cabinets, new appliances, new exterior door.







Master bedroom: textured/painted walls, new trim, new floor/carpet, new door



Bathroom: partial gut here. New tile floors, new bath, new toilet, new paint, new light fixture, new sink & faucet, new mirror, new door



Bedroom 2: didn't end up doing much here except new door, paint and new light fixtures. We have a new closet door but haven't had a chance to get it up yet.



Bedroom 3: also new door, paint and light fixtures.



Upstairs landing: new paint and trim.



Garages: new roofs, gutters, siding. Lifted both up and put new sill plates under both. The smaller one is the one that had the extra room, but we had to gut that because it leaked both through the roof and the floor and there was mold everywhere. So now it doesn't have any water infiltration and is being used as a boxing gym.



Outside: roof/gutters on whole house, had to cut down the big pine tree because 2 consecutive years of ice storms left it with branches on basically just one side of the tree, and it was huge and dangerous. Also took down the flower boxes because they were rotting. Can't see it very well here but we also did landscaping stone around house and garages, and a new sidewalk in the back from house to garage.