Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Two Weeks Later...

And I still haven't closed yet.  It's down to one signature on one piece of paper so that we can finally close.  The person to whom the signature belongs was out of town until yesterday, so I'm hoping he/she signed that paper and popped it into its return FedEx envelope so that I can at least get in the house by the weekend... not that it'll make too much of a difference, as I'm working all weekend... but still.  I can get SOMETHING into the house.

All of this delay has had a tiny silver lining, though.  I have come to find that the folks behind Home Depot's appliance delivery service are truly dedicated to making your experience the best it can be.  I've had to reschedule the delivery of my new appliances three times so far.  Everyone I've dealt with has done their utmost to make sure I've been rescheduled on the day that's most convenient for me, and they've handled my calls with kindness.  Sadly, it's looking like delivery is going to have to be rescheduled again, unless I close by the end of business today.

Speaking of new appliances, here's what I got:

Samsung 30 inch 21.8 cu ft French Door Refrigerator in Stainless Platinum

I really wanted a refrigerator with a freezer on the bottom.  The kitchen has black and stainless appliances right now (the range and the wall oven) which I'm keeping, so I needed something that fit in with the rest of it.

I'm probably far too excited about my new washer and dryer than I should be, but laundry takes up a vast majority of my time as far as daily chores go.  My bestie has a washer and dryer with a HUGE capacity.  She literally just dumps an entire laundry basket into her washer.  It spins the water out so thoroughly that it takes less than 40 minutes to dry completely.  She let me use it one day when my dryer was on the fritz and I was sold.

Maytag Bravos 4.3 cu ft washer


Other than packing, that's all that is new in my world.  The weather is getting decidedly colder; we've already had our first snowfall and it's cold enough to frost every night since.  That means that I have a very limited amount of time where I can hang my clothes out on the clothesline before they freeze solid out there.  It means I need my new dryer, in my new house... yesterday.  Ugh!  I can't wait to close!!!

UPDATE:  I'm closing in the morning!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Final Walk-through...

I bought a house!

For the most part, the closing process on the new house has been remarkably uneventful... until this week, of course.  I was supposed to close on the new casa yesterday, but due to a failed sewer inspection last week, some work had to be done to the basement bathroom.  Namely, the shower there had to be hooked up to the town sewage in a way that would pass code inspection.  That work was completed as of today, and the new inspection takes place tomorrow, so let's hope that everything is wrapped up by Friday morning.  

Regardless, my final walk through is tomorrow afternoon.  I haven't been in the house for a few weeks, so I can finally make a list as to how many cabinet hinges, drawer pulls, and cabinet pulls I'll need to revamp the kitchen, which hasn't been touched since the house was built.  Once again, I'm dealing with some serious ugly, but it's structurally sound, well-insulated ugly, and THAT I can definitely deal with.  

On design inspiration, I've definitely been loving the Petersik's current home at Young House Love.  I never thought I'd embrace gray/greige as a wall color, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be the main wall color throughout the house.  Currently, the walls are a bright, tropical blue abutted by Campbell's Tomato Soup (the actual color of the soup) orangey-red.  The contrast is startling in a bad way.  Throw in 1960s aesthetic, and you have the rancher I'm about to own.  YHL's foyer is light, bright, and captivating.  Look at that Moravian light!  I LOVE it!  And the dining room!  The capiz pendant light is awesome, and would look amazing in my dining area.  I don't mind if the only drama in my life is from light fixtures.  In fact, I prefer it that way. 

The living room has some issues, not all of which are cosmetic.  The fireplace's fire box was drilled through in order to make room for a vent pipe for the wood furnace in the basement.  In order to make it functional again, I'm going to eventually convert to be used with a vent-free gas insert.  

Living room
The one room that absolutely has to be dealt with immediately is the bathroom.  Apparently, there was a local trend to not install a shower and to put a standard window in the bathing area.  I've tried to contemplate the reasoning behind that, and I'm still coming up empty.  Further, the original tile is 4x4 blue and pink that was painted over with cream colored latex paint.  I'll stop and just let you see it for yourself: 

I'm speechless too.
Possibly the worst feeling is when you have a room that you completely want to change, but it's also completely liveable as-is while you fix the uglier aspects (bathroom!) of the house.  For me, this room is the kitchen.  Definitely a first world problem, but it just screams the need for updating.  On a side note, that refrigerator is from the early 1980s.  It's still going strong, but likely costs a small fortune to run.  I'm going to have to break down and get a new refrigerator.  

Got wood?
The microwave over the stove top(to the far right) definitely has to go.  As it is, it doesn't allow clearance for my larger stock pots or canning pots.  I can't deal with having a stove top that I can't use to its fullest extent... and I don't feel like waiting an entire year to get my apples canned.

There's a small preview.  I can't wait to close so that I can get in there and start scrubbing and painting.