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It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
April 16th, 2008
The Husband and I were living in a craptastic rental house in a town whose claim to fame was that there had not been a shooting at the Burger King in two months. It was a drive to our jobs, our neighbors were INSANE (side note: our 70 year old neighbor would mow her lawn in a string bikini, and there was a little girl who stood on the corner holding a poster with facts about George Washington. Really!) , and I am pretty sure that it was haunted. Anyway, we had to move.
So we started looking for houses in my hometown. We looked at a lot of houses and saw several that would do, but none that were THE ONE. Our realtor was starting to get irritated. I think in a last ditch effort to have us make up our mind, she showed us the most filthy house I have ever seen. It had wood paneling, thirty five year old gold, shag carpeting, and the walls had streaks of DIRT, and ICK, running down them. It was wall to wall furniture and smelled of smoke.
All of the above are with the mean, MEAN, old, OLD lady’s shitze still in it, so feel free to mock how ugly it all is. And yet, as soon as we were in the front door I KNEW, KNEW, KNEW that it was our house. The reason? Well partially because it was affordable enough we could afford to paint, refloor, and rehab the house, but mostly it was the neighborhood. It has old trees, is on a quiet street, is close to our church, and has good schools.
We worked our fingers to the bone making the house livable. It turns out that my Dad is a good carpenter, my Mom can paint with the best of them, and my Father-in-law could easily be a professional dry-waller (there was so much drywall dust that both dogs got respiratory infections and the vet asked if they had been spending time in a construction zone). The Husband put in wood(ish) floors with the help of everybody (me included). I scraped popcorn ceiling until my arms could not move. Long story short, it is much better now.
Stay tuned for part two (as soon as I clean enough to take the after pictures.)
Filed under Family-blame the DNA, Parenting for Dummies, lexapro lexplains it |12 Responses to “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood!”
Its good to be reminded of how much was accomplished here. A totally rewarding experience as well as a great home for you three.
Wow, I had forgotten how ugly it used to be…..and how much I Knew, Knew, Knew this house was going to take a tremendous amount of work. It’s for that reason I didn’t want to even contemplate it at first. But Hey You convinced me we could make it our own, and the price was just too good (probably in direct relation to the ugliness). So, we bought it, and yeah….lots of work was done, walls that were there are there no more.
The scariest part of the entire process was walking into a room to find your father-in-law (Hey You’s father) swinging a sledgehammer with all of his might directly into one of the walls of what has just recently become your house. I remember my eyes getting huge, mouth dropping, and actually asking Hey You, “are you sure he knows what he’s doing?” Guess he did, because the house we bought has been molded into our Home. And I LOVE it.
I had to come back and look at that pink room again. You really can’t tell just how nasty those walls are in that picture. We washed them twice before we could paint them. Do you have any that show those nasty air vents? Yuck, I remember them too.
Wow! What a transformation! I love your house…very comforting, welcoming, inviting, friendly. I give it two thumbs up!
no air vent pictures, but remember the GIANT mushroom growing inside the one in the master bath? What would possess her to put her house on the market looking like that? Oh well, worked out well for us!
I just love how the paneling went 8 feet up and then was popcorn ceiling the rest of the way to the ceiling and on up. So sorry I was really pregant during all the work, but I did sacrifice my husband to the cause some, and hey when you are as big as a house and super tired at least that is something.
Your house is wondeful now, I miss being able to drop by. Of course that probably isn’t because of how nice the house is.
I concur. The people who occupy the house are way better than the house itself!
Aw shucks girls. Big sloppy internet Kisses to you too,
Its funny to know The Husband had concerns about Hey You’s dad taking a sledge hammer to a wall. I remember that same feeling when he took a sledge hammer to a wall in our first house back in the 70’s. But, it was the only time I ever doubted his ability to do something he said he could do. He proved himself to me years ago.
Maybe the atmosphere in the house has something to do with it, but I agree its the people who live there that make it most inviting. Thanks for being you. All of you.
And the neighbors….don’t forget the neighbors!!
Oh my! I can’t believe they put that house on the market in that condition! WOW!!! Looks much better now.
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