SURPRISE!

Side note: Was I the only kid who had trouble with spelling the word surprise? I think I failed that spelling test…and was scarred for life…so now I always spell it correctly.

We knew that once we got renovations started, we would find surprises along the way. HGTV did a good job of preparing us for that. It took a total of two days for us to get the courage (and masks from Ace Hardware!) to remove the suspicious blue rug in the back bedroom.

And there they were: Two terribly ugly, discolored stains on the otherwise beautiful hardwood floors underneath. GAH! It was the only rug/carpet left in the whole house-we knew they were hiding something!

Josh went at the stains with a mop, scrubbing for about thirty minutes and got some of the surrounding not completely sunk in yet grime, but overall-not a huge deal. We are planning on refinishing them at some point, but for now, an area rug will work. It definitely won’t be the blue rug – that thing went straight to the street for trash pickup next Monday.

We are thankful that our first surprise wasn’t anything super major! Phew.

On another note, Josh met with our first of three AC specialists to get quotes on an energy efficient system to replace the system that was installed in 1970 and can blow air but can’t blow COOL air. Not very efficient.  Isn’t she a beaut? I definitely won’t cry when she is taken away and replaced with a new one!

I am curious: What was your first surprise when you bought a house? Was it something major or something minor?

 

50 Shades of Filth

We are the second owners of this home, meaning the previous owners lived in it for 56 years. You can tell they loved it by the custom built shelving, the homemade curtains, meticulous paint jobs, etc. They took great care of the house and we will do the same. (My hypothesis is that they got numerous offers from investors, but never accepted them so that a sweet couple like us would buy it and love it as much as they did..hah)

The previous owners actually moved out last fall, so the house has been accumulating dust for almost a year. Combine that with the foot traffic from showings and family members moving their stuff out and you get 50 Shades of Filth.

Last night, my mom and I went to the house with the goal of cleaning the entire main floor from top to bottom. After tackling the inside of the kitchen cabinets, I realized that was definitely going to be an impossible feat. Holy moly, ya’ll..it was gross. I will spare you the details and pictures, but let’s just say we went through two jumbo rolls of paper towels cleaning the cabinets and drawers. Yuck. After putting several hours of hard, sweaty work into the house (did I mention we need to replace the AC unit?), I am getting even more excited for this house. Even just cleaning it up made it feel closer to being OURS. It gives me hope that all of our hard work will be worth it when we are living in a home that we can completely make our own.

Tonight I’m heading back to complete the rest of the main floor. The upstairs is going to remain dirty since without the AC it is too hot and we won’t be putting any of our stuff up there. We don’t have enough furniture anyway!