the hizzy, part 1

I mentioned the other day that we are under contract right now for a house that you might call a dump fixer upper.  I was debating whether or not to post pictures of the house because of what happened last time.  A few nosy interested friends asked to see the money pit potential of our soon-to-be home (hopefully?).  I aim to please.

So…

From the outside?  Completely charming.

Beyond that, not as charming.  Here’s a partial tour.

This is where you would enter from that cute front porch.  Ryan hates the tile, I actually don’t.  But if we’re in the business of remodeling practically EVERYTHING, I guess we may as well update it too.  That door you see next to the double doors is a walk-in coat closet.  Genius.  Is it just me or is the coat closet always crammed? 
This is a view of the 29×19 great room as you walk into the foyer.  Everything is dated.  Everything.  I don’t mind the stained woodwork and wood beams.  Other than that, it all pretty much has to go (except my mom and husband).The drapes are dreadful and the fans are blah. I’m thinking about painting the brick fireplace and doing some kind of mantle.  Love the canned lights in the ceiling.  
I don’t have too many bad things to say about the master bedroom.  (I’ll save that for the master bath).  It’s nice and spacious and I love the window.  It faces the road, you can see it under the copper awning in the first picture of the exterior. 
Somebody screeeeeeam!  Yeah, nice, huh?  Okay, where to begin?  Those sconces?  The countertop?  Or the cabinets.  Oh, by the way.  It’s carpeted.  It’s awful.  
Hope you’re enjoying this somewhat embarrassing tour.  What were we thinking???  Moving on.  To save myself some time, I won’t post pictures of the master closet; I’ll just say that it is really nice.  Excited about not having to keep my clothes in Dexter’s room anymore!
I really like the tile in the master bath and the shower is in great shape.  The shower might be the one new(ish) thing in the house.  I’ll show you one more room and save the rest for later.  This mama’s tired.  Just got home from my grandpa’s funeral and the boys went right to bed.  Taking advantage of a little quiet time.
This is the office view from the great room.  I like to call it a library.  Doesn’t it sound more quaint? Hehe.  I love the cabinets.
To the left, a view of the backyard and custom cabinets. 
More shelving to the right.  
So that’s it for tonight.  Care to see more? Would you run the other way?
xo, 
~C~

life update.

I suppose an update is in order.  I’ve been trying to hold off because we know how things turned out last time.  We do have a contract on another house.  It is almost a total remodel.  I mean it.  New floors. Paint in every room.  Kitchen do-over.  4 bathrooms that need to be completely updated.  Lighting, fixtures, tile.  EVERYTHING.

Right now, we are waiting for their response to our requests from the inspection.  There was nothing major but a few fixes are going to be deal-breakers if they refuse.  This house was built in 1983 and wow… I think everything in there is original.  You get the idea.

Work.
Work.
Work.

In other news, we have a big first tonight.  Theo went away to an old fashioned amusement park with Nana and Pop Pop.  He’s spent the night with them before, but he’s never gone out of town or been away from “home” with anyone but us.  We’re missing his first amusement park.  It’s kind of a big, sad deal!

Dexter is starting to talk.  He mimics and repeats sounds, trying to say words every day.  He is starting to say things on command.  He’s also starting to identify objects by name as he points to them.  My favorite? When he points and says “I want that.”  Not quite that plain, but I understand him.  He’ll say “I want that” and point, then he keeps saying “that, that, that.”

I can’t stop thinking about this house.  I have some pictures of it, I’m debating posting them.  Because guys? It’s lovely outside, but pretty hideous inside.  Should I?  What have we gotten ourselves into?

Reminds me of a fascinating blog I stumbled across while searching for remodeling ideas.  It’s written by homeowners who bought a house that’s….Not Quite a Teardown…but almost.  The transformation is shocking and addicting.

Work has been pretty tough lately.  I haven’t been getting much sleep.  My grandpa has been really sick.  We have had some fun, floating on rafts in the lake.  We really need a getaway.  We need a change of scenery.  Some new kind of fun.

~C~

the last night at home.

May 24, 2012.

That’s the last night our boys slept at their beds in their first home.

Coincidentally, I had scheduled our family pictures for the same night long before I knew it would be our last night there as a family of four.  It was serendipitous timing for the photo shoot.  I have bragged on our photographer before, but she never ceases to amaze me.  Every time she leaves, I’m thinking she didn’t get anything good, but somehow, she always does.  We wanted to make sure some of the pictures had our house in the background.

The main reason for the photo shoot was to capture my baby boys, ages 1 and 2.
Photos courtesy of Simply Angie Photography
I can’t help it, I just think these two are the cutest peanuts in the pack. After Angie left, we decided to take one last walk to the Dairy Queen down the road.  We can get to it from behind without ever leaving our neighborhood.  We took in all of the sights and sounds and smells.  Fresh cut grass.  Kids laughing and playing.  Cars driving by and people waving.  Neighbors saying hello and nodding at one another as they pass on the street.  It really is a wonderful neighborhood. 
In an unexpected twist, Theo chose the stroller over the wagon for our last family walk.

Ordering our treats.

The air conditioned store was a nice break.

This is what we get now when we tell him to smile for the camera. 

I WANT ICE CREAM.

Monumental day, monumental first:  His very own ice cream cone.

And boy did he make that thing disappear, down to the last bite of cone.

Now that’s a good big brother!

Theo decided he wanted to walk/run home – the whole .8 mi home!

He knows the way.
It was getting dark so we went inside and turned on a little Lightning McQueen to end our day with some normalcy.  We tried explaining what is happening to Theo but I don’t know how much he understands.  He just keeps saying “I wanna go to mommy’s house.”  When we tell him we can’t, he says “my stuff’s all gone!” We took him there after we had moved everything out.  He thought it was fun hearing his own echo and driving his Little Tikes car as fast as he could through the empty rooms.  
xo,
~C~