Internet, at last!

(Some of my friends on Instagram said I should put our home renovations on my blog, and I think that's a great idea. It will be fun to look back and see progress & how I was feeling at the time.)

After the house we originally wanted fell through, we were pretty bummed. None of the houses we'd seen really did much for us, until the Big Pretty Yellow One. I had actually seen it online, but passed right by it because the inside was horrid looking. I saw an ugly, dated kitchen and green, dirty carpet and I was outta there. But our realtor knew our style, and the fact that we liked the charms & quirks old homes offered that newer ones couldn't, so she took us to the BPYO "just to see." 

 It was a 1911 Victorian. We immediately fell in love. For some reason, we were able to see past all the old-lady decorations and carpets, fixtures, & entire rooms that clearly hadn't been updated since the 1970's. We were able to see the beauty in its bones, and what a masterpiece it could be. We also felt it's inner spirit, which sounds weird, but you'd be surprised at the feelings you get when you enter a house. In many homes we toured, we got an unsettled feeling, like something just wasn't right. It's not something you can put your finger on, just the faintest stirring in your gut. In the BPYO, we felt at ease immediately. (Even though there were crucifixes hanging in the basement, the back door has 6 (SIX!) locks on it, and the neighbor said the old woman living here heard noises in the basement...) If it is haunted, the spirit is either benevolent or has chosen not to make itself apparent to me...yet.

We got it appraised, had a home inspection, and thought we'd be able to move in right away. (Silly first-time home buyers.) It took about a month, but on February 28th we closed on it & were home owners! The first thing we did within being in our new home for an hour, was tear up the carpets...they were just so foul. The hardwood floors underneath are in great condition, surprisingly, but we're still hiring a company to come refinish them. Friday, the moving van was dropped off and I was fearful at the thought of unloading everything by ourselves. (Remember, we had the entire Willey clan helping us load it at Fort Leonard Wood.) Zack sent out an email to some guys in his unit bribing them with alcohol, pizza, & a poker night if they came to help unload. Fortunately, people did actually show up and they all got the truck unloaded in under two hours. Amazing. Even if they did come solely for the free beer, I am so grateful!

 

The butler's pantry sink came in handy during our move-in party!

 The past week & a half has been full of unpacking, ripping up carpet, painting, priming, & cleaning like an absolute psychopath. I am kind of a neat/clean freak anyway, but when you've got a house this old that was lived in by a 99 year old woman...you have to do the type of cleaning you'd never imagine. (I am not proud of the things I have seen and done in the past few days...including lying on my back on the bathroom floor scrubbing the underside of a toilet.) The most hilarious part? I've only gotten 1/4 of it clean. HAHA. There's so much woodwork throughout the entire house, I don't think my bottle of Murphy's Oil is big enough, truly.  

Zack prefers to work shirtless...I don't hate it.

The floors are being refinished the next two weeks, so we figured painting before the floors are nice & pretty was wise. This past weekend was supposed to have been one big painting party, but Zack had staff duty Friday night so that set us back. Plus, we're really good at procrastinating. We did get part of one fireplace painted (btw- painting brick is one of the worst things in the world), our dining room primed & spackled (we did a major no-no & painted over the existing wallpaper...but only because there were at least 3 layers of super old wallpaper & the walls were probably damaged underneath), a kitchen table painted, & my lady cave/office painted. So not a total loss, just not as ambitious as we had hoped.

The walls & floors are immediate "must-do's", but we hope to have the kitchen & bathrooms completely redone by the end of the summer. I wish we had millions of dollars so we could get the kitchen taken care of right away, because for me it's the biggest eye sore in the house. And, sadly, where I spend a lot of my time. But good things come to those who wait, right? 

Now, for some before pictures!

The front doors

The "sitting room" (We have yet to decide what we're doing with this room exactly..)

Entryway

Living room (Recently discovered that our sectional doesn't fit! Wahhh)

Dining Room 

 Butler's pantry...one of my favorite quirks about the house! It connects the dining room & kitchen and was used for food prep, dish washing, & storage. I love it.

The ugliest room in the house...the kitchen. There's so much wrong I can't even. 

I mean, really. What is this ceiling?

 Door leading into the laundry room/mud room and then onto the back deck

 

Back deck (The sellers left that old patio furniture. Bleh.)

Back of the house

1/2 bathroom downstairs...it's smaller than the closest in this house, and that's saying something. You have to sit side-saddle on the toilet. No joke.

Stairway- under the stairs there's a large closet that's great for storage.

 

That carpet & those drapes...sexy.

 

Upstairs hallway connecting all of the rooms. That built in storage thing is amazing, because most of the houses up here are similar to Europe in the closet situation...aka there aren't any or they're tiny.

Zack's man-cave...he is so excited he gets one of these again!

My office/lady-cave

The little sitting room off of "my" room...I love it! I can just see us sitting out here with a glass of wine in the evenings.

Guest bedroom

Upstairs bathroom...another thing of beauty. -__-

The master bedroom...the fact that there's a fireplace in it was a major selling point for me..

 MY closet. (Sadly, until we can knock some walls out & make a larger closet, Zack's clothing has been banished to the closet in his man-room.)

 The wallpaper is velvet. We fancy, huh?

You can't tell from this picture, but the attic is HUGE. We said if we were living here indefinitely/this was our home for life, we'd refinish the attic into a massive master suite. How incredible would that be?! Alas, the Army probably won't go for us staying at Fort Drum the remainder of Zack's career.

Hopefully I will have some pretty "after" pictures up at some point in the next 3 years. ;) I've definitely shed a few tears the past few weeks from pure frustration. There's a lot of work to be done, and it's frustrating not being able to get the house settled the way I want right away. But it's like eating an elephant- one bite at a time. (Thanks Daddy ;)) It's beginning to feel more & more like home each day, but still not completely. We're getting there, though.

Housewarming gift from one of the realtors

  

Sweet note from the sellers

More housewarming goodies- thank you Chris, for the flowers & gift basket!