Moving Right Along

It was difficult, but we found a rental property!  HUZZAH!  The people we'll be working with, from what we can tell thus far, are AMAZING.  We're working with them on a month to month lease... AMAZING.  The owner said he and his wife just built a house and they understood how crazy and unpredictable building can be.  Apparently he's the type of person who believes if he's nice to people and does what he can to help them out... it'll come back to him.  Unfortunately there aren't enough people like him left in the world I'm afraid.  For working with us, Bryan will be doing some odds and ends around their property... resealing the driveway, stripping and re-staining their deck... power washing siding.  Easy peasy stuff that will help them sell.  I think it's going to work out well, as long as we don't end up on People's Court. :)  We can start moving our things May 15th.

This past Tuesday we had our home inspection.  All in all it went really well... THANK GOODNESS.  The unfortunate thing is all of the repairs are fairly minor... things Bryan could do himself... like I dunno... POUR A DAMN BOTTLE OF DRAINO IN THE BATHTUB AND CALL IT A DAY.  Intriguingly enough we have to have a licensed contractor fix these silly things.  We're working with our agent, and with the common sense that the buyers hopefully have in helping to save money.  We'll see how it goes.  Our agent suggested finding a contractor that would subcontract the work out to Bryan, inspect it, and then sign off.  We'll see. 

I went ahead this evening and dismantled the baby's nursery, and pulled everything off the walls in the remainder of the house.  I thought I would be sad... after all... I did start bawling cleaning the kitchen right before the photographer came to take pictures.  I'm sure I'll be beyond sad when we're pulling out of the driveway for the last time, but for now I feel REALLY GOOD.  Bigger and better things are waiting for us... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

My dirty little secret

We (Bryan) replaced the carpet on the stairs last Sunday. I don't have a before pic handy but just know... it needed to be replaced like BEFORE we moved in. ;)Both the front porch and backyard got cleaned up nicely...
The driveway got a makeover.
This is how Saturday morning began... a view of our dirty little secret. When you choose to have 2 kids in 2 years, quit your teaching job, and become a stay at home mom... all of the belongings in two bedrooms and a classroom get put into the already occupied man cave garage. This room used to have such swagger. Pool table, bar, dart board, big screen tv, and enough bar paraphernalia/signs to fit right in downtown. and now... say hello to our hoarder's paradise.Our new bff... the storage unit.After spending the day going through everything loose in our garage and getting it packed up, this is what the unit now looks like:And some work still needs to be done in the garage... but HOT DAMN... we're good. :)We've also been in contact with two different realtors... shopping around. We have two listing numbers... both very comparable, so we're thrilled. We've sent out our follow up questions and then will make our final decision. The hope it to be listed shortly after Easter. There are a few more small projects on the list, photos needing to be taken... but we're feeling great! :)

Entry/Laundry

Here's the entryway to our house... well looking back at the entry way As you can see the grout is RIDICULOUS. While wasting time on Pinterest Friday night, I discovered there is grout paint. HOLY SHENANIGANS. I'm in love. I first used it in our bathroom... where I wasn't happy at all with what 3 days of scrubbing it got me, and it worked BEAUTIFULLY! I spent this morning doing this area. Apply it onto the grout with a children's toothbrush, wipe excess off the tile, and voila! It has a sealer in it, so it's all good to get wet in 72 hours. This area needed 2 coats because the grout started out super dark... so worth the $12.Bryan's big project yesterday was the laundry room floor. Part of the linoleum was shrinking away from the wall. It was actually like that when we moved in, and we settled for just painting the floor. Total lame sauce. The plan was to just relay the new stuff right on top, but Bryan soon realized it was only attached at the perimeter, so it all needed to come up. That's Baby Boo... she's supervising. :)We decided to go ahead with peel and stick for maneuverability, space, and price. We're actually REALLY happy with it.
I LOVE IT! It's so clean and fresh in there now. I moved the old clothing organizer up to our closet and brought our wicker basket down. All of the cleaning/laundry paraphernalia are under the half bathroom sink. A place for everything, and everything in it's place!The vacuum cleaner/steam mop fit nicely into that little nook there next to the heater... that's all that needs to be put back in. AWESOME!

Dining room

The last thing we needed to finish in the dining room was to seal the furniture and rehang the mirror. DONE and DONE. :)

Master Suite

Here is where the magic happens. And by magic I mean... I toss and turn with my watermelon stomach, and my husband sleeps on the couch. :)The floors need to be steamed, and Bryan needs to hang that there mirror... oh and paint the bloody ceiling. It's not really bloody... that sounded bad. :)
The door on the far left goes to the hallway, then we have the master bathroom, and finally our walk in closet. And our master bathroom. Besides fresh paint, we replaced the faucets, the exhaust fan, and hung a new shower rod... one of those fancy curved ones... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH. ;) I have to steam mop the floors, and Bryan needs to reseal the grout. It took me 3 EFFING days to get it cleaned, and it's still not perfect, but it is EXPONENTIALLY cleaner, so that's what's going to have to fly.
I don't think I've ever seen our house so legitimately clean. I mean sure we clean... on occasion... when we are having company, but we're infamous for "don't open that cabinet... or closet... or look under the beds." :) We can honestly say open whatever want... and we won't be embarrassed. :)

This and that

The upstairs is JUST ABOUT finished! Bryan and I finished getting all of the screens in the windows, which was A JOB! I've attempted to clean the grout in our master bathroom... truth be told... it still needs some work. I'll give it another go tomorrow, Bryan will reseal the grout, I'll steam mop the floor... and it'll be done. Our bedroom floor needs to be steam mopped (as does the hallway), and both our ceiling and the girls' ceiling need to be repainted, and then we're good to go.

As far as the downstairs... all the screens are in, and the windows look great. Bryan replaced the ceiling fans in both the dining room and the living room. Here's the before: (Yes there are missing bulbs for a reason... the fan was so old, it just kept popping them!)... and the after.Bryan also got the ceiling in the kitchen repainted. It's feeling so fresh in here!I'm attempting to help where I can, but I'm on "overdoing it restriction." Basically I've been doing way too much for housing a baby, and it's really taking a toll on my body. I've been in pain since Friday and have been told to lay down and take it easy. If I can manage to get one thing house related done per day, I'll be referring to myself as Super Woman. :)

Half bath

Half bath is DONE! The faucets have been replaced: (before)(after)
The floor is DONE and looks great!I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Why oh why did we not make these improvements before???

Spare Bathroom

The FINAL task was marked off the list tonight in the spare bathroom. After some serious thought, we went ahead and decided to replace the faucets in all the bathrooms... SO GLAD WE DID. The right is before, and the left is after. Hopefully The faucets, new paint, new toilet seat, and brand new floors will deter potential buyers from looking at the ridiculously 1994 lighting fixtures. :)
(Please excuse the lighting... not so good at dusk.)

Heeeeeeee's Baaaaaaaaaack!

I have my husband back... sort of. He's been crazy busy with work... more on that in a few weeks. But this week he was able to cross more off the reno. list. We'll start in the downstairs half bath. He re-caulked around the sink.Fixed that pesky towel rack.And after a weekend away, I came home to an almost completely finished new tiled floor! Since this photo, he's grouted... and now we're waiting for it to dry for a couple of days until the potty goes back in. In a few short days, we're hoping to be able to call this room DONZO!
Bits and pieces in the kitchen were completed as well. Part of the floor molding was finished.And part of the ceiling was repainted along with the hanging of the new light.Bryan's parents came into town with intentions to pick up and unload mulch with their truck. The mulch place was strangely closed... until March 19thish... off the cuff project... re-screening the window screens... they look AMAZING. There are a few more that need to be cleaned, and then we can begin scrubbing the actual windows and tracks... and VOILA... LET THERE BE NATURAL LIGHT and OPEN windows!Bryan also found the pieces he needed for the thresholds leading to both bathrooms upstairs. I'm falling in love with my home all over again.When I drove into the driveway this afternoon, Bryan and the kids were just getting themselves together to come outside. While the girls rode their bikes and collected pine cones, Bryan worked on cleaning out the front bed... we'll be ready for that mulch... well... whenever IT'S ready!Totally unrelated, but I also came home to this beauty. :) Now to find the perfect place to show it off. :)I'm married to hard working saint.