Holy ****!

We are not the swearing kind .... not at all really ... well, maybe if one of us were to cut off a finger .... and definitely during labour - but any other time, it's pretty clean language around here.  We got to see the new house again last night and as we were leaving my soon to be handy man of a hubby blurted out "Holy ****!  This totally caught me off guard, and helped me understand a little better the stress that is on Pete.  I think when he said it, there was a little excitement too - in disbelief that this is really our dream home. 

Yesterday was a tad overwhelming for both of us as we had four contractors coming to the new house to take measurements.  Contractors included a roofer, a counter guy, a carpet installer, and a furnace dude.  Our general contractor (the one doing the master bathroom) had already been in to see the space, so he did not need to visit again.  We were supposed to have someone come to give us a quote on the windows too, but they never showed :(  BOOO!   The reason we had to have all of these "guys" in now is because we are participating in the Purchase Plus Improvements program for our mortgage.  We basically needed to get quotes from each of the contractors to send into our lender so we can get additional money to make improvements on our home.  We got a deal on the house, so we have some room in what we have been approved for with our mortgage to make it pretty :) 

Now it's decision time for so many things!  We have already picked out the carpet we like for the playroom and the upstairs kids bedrooms, but we have so many more decisions ahead of us like what tile to put in both bathrooms, what kind of tub we want, what kind of flooring we want in the main living area etc.  I am not the best at making design decisions, so I will have to lean on my sisters and a few friends for some help in this area, but I am GREAT with timelines, and I DO know that I have until the first week of May (or a bit earlier if materials take time to be ordered) to figure what we want. 

One major decision that we recently made was to just scrap the granite countertop on the island in the kitchen.  If you recall it currently looks like this:

The seller put on the listing that there was granite in the kitchen - which is normally a selling feature - but this is just so not us.  The dark greeny brown colour is just not going to fit with our vision for this kitchen.  Here is an inspiration picture I nabbed of Pinterest to help you imagine what we are going for:

We just love the look of the dark floors, white cabinets and white counter top!  The other reason we are taking out the existing island counter top is because it currently has a stove top in the middle of it, which leaves almost no space for me to make my tasty pastries!  My sister has an island with a stove top and she highly recommended that we do not do the same.  Her reasoning was that if you have anyone sitting at the counter behind your stove, you have the potential danger of catching your elbows on fire!  We certainly don't want that!  We will be moving the stove over to where the built in oven is currently sitting, and we will just replace both with an actual oven.  This also solves the problem of having no vent for the stove, as we will also be putting in a microwave with a range. 

We leave you today with a picture of my soon to be handy hubby freaking out at our celebration dinner: 

At least he had drink in hand!

Rebecca & Pete

A few before pics ...

So now that we have this dream home of ours, we thought we would post a few pictures from the original listing as well as a few of our own.  Take a look!

Front view of home

Front room

Living room, dining room, kitchen

Kitchen

Living room

This is the granite counter top for the island in the kitchen - it may just have to go!

This is the current master bathtub - ya it's going.

This is the vanity and toilet in the master bath - yep - they are going too!

See that lovely green tile on the floor - we are keeping that ... just kidding!

This is the shower in the master bathroom - the structure will remain, but everything else will be changed.

Ewwww!

Linen closet in master bath.

This is the tub in the kids bath.  There is no shower - weird huh?

Kids bath

Playroom lighting - can't wait to change this!

Laundry room/powder room

Playroom fireplace

Home sweet home!
 

Well, there you have it!  As we get to visit the home prior to our possession, we will take a few more, but you probably have a pretty good idea of what we are working with. 

Rebecca & Pete

How do you spell Moley?

HOLY MOLEY!!!  We got the house!!!  We actually found out on Monday, but I was too in shock to write about it!  When our AMAZING realtor called to say that we got it my reaction was "Holy Moley" and he asked - "How do you spell moley?".  Needless to say, we are super pumped but also feeling scared out of our minds!  What did we just do?  Well, there is no going back now!  We move in, in just three short months!

We had been dreaming and planning ever since we laid eyes on this house, and now that it is real that we got it, the pressure is also real!  What do you mean we have to make decisions!  Yikes!  Thank goodness for HGTV and the internet!

Okay, now for a sentence that does not end with an exclamation mark (can you tell I am still freaking out?).  My highschool English teacher would be horrified.  As soon as we got the news we printed off a calendar and started a timeline.  We already knew we would be needing to hire in some pro's to renovate the master en suite bathroom, as well as have professionals come in to replace the windows and install carpet.  But we also wanted to figure out how long we would be living with ... wait for it ... my parents!  Love you Mom and Dad!  It actually won't be too long.  We just need to get the kids rooms painted, and carpet laid, to make the space livable.  Well - adequate.

Here is the LONG list of work that needs to be done.  I have tried to list the jobs in the order of which they will take place.  Here we go:

-Get keys!
-take before pictures
-prep walls in kids rooms for painting (walls are covered in pin holes!)
-paint both kids rooms (walls and ceilings)
-paint bedroom hallway
-make extra panel for curtains in Gracie's bedroom
-paint playroom walls
-paint playroom fireplace
-find screen for fireplace in playroom and paint it
-make curtains for playroom
-install carpet in bedrooms, hallway and playroom
-purchase, paint and install new baseboards for bedrooms and playroom
-Pete to demo master bath
-hire a contractor to renovate master bath
-do finishing touches on master bath: board and batten, chandelier, accessorize 
-rip out old built in appliances in kitchen
-hire a cleaning crew to do a once over everywhere as well as a deep clean of the kitchen and powder room
-install new appliances
-install new furnace (and possibly new a/c)
-install new windows in the front room
-Pete to demo kids bathroom
-Rebecca and Pete to figure out how to put kids bathroom back together
-hire a roofing company to replace roof and fascia
-paint exterior siding/front door/garage door
-remove old kitchen light over island and replace
-patch large gaping holes in living room ceiling
-paint ceiling in living room/kitchen/dining room/front rooms (all connected)
-paint living room/kitchen/dining room/front rooms (all connected)
-install hardwood floors in living room/kitchen/dining room/front rooms (all connected)
-install back splash in kitchen
-paint kitchen cabinets
-paint master bedroom
-make curtains for living room windows
-paint front hallway and laundry room/powder room
-remove shower stall in laundry room/powder room
-create cabinets to hide laundry room in powder room
-put up board and batten in front entry, stairs and bedroom hallway
-change lighting pretty much everywhere
-create storage cabinets in storage room
-create work bench space in garage
-remove ugly broken hot tub in back yard
-remove ugly metal shed in back yard
-remove pine tree in front of house
-install sump pump in basement
-enlarge basement windows
-finish the basement

Holy Moley!  That is not even everything!  Let's stop there before I sprain a finger.  Maybe we will keep this little list and blog to ourselves until we cross a few off - told ya - we are nuts!

Rebecca & Pete

How it all began ...

Hello!

You probably think we are nuts!  Yes, we, our little family of (currently) four have decided to put an offer on a house that is a total mess!  We have been on the hunt for our dream home for a just a little while now, but we feel that we have come across something with mega potential.  So what it needs is a new ... new... well EVERYTHING - that's right - it needs a new everything folks.  Here we go!

The first time we walked through the house we were with our realtor, who out of courtesy usually suggested we remove our shoes, so as to not track in mud and snow from outdoors all over the homes we were viewing.  Well this lovely future dream home of ours was a burn your socks after kind of house.  I truly hope the current home owner never reads this as I don't mean to be rude, but come on!!!  You do own a broom!  We SAW it!!  Anyways, after burning our socks later that evening, we just couldn't get the house out of our minds.  We were in love.  To be honest - I was in love, Pete on the other hand needed to warm up to it a bit.  I love the messy houses with all the loads and loads of work needed - he has an easier time getting excited about a home when he knows there won't be as much work to do.  Never the less, here we are now, both in love and in dream mode.  Bring it on!

We did put on offer in on this home last week, but because of an unfortunate family emergency for the current home owners, they decided to not look at any offers until this coming Monday.  Shoot!  Well, it wasn't all bad.  This gave us a chance to make our offer stand out from the rest.  We found out there were already two other offers that came in that day, but ours was the best number.  The sellers were afraid that if we got a home inspection done, that we would run in the other direction as fast as we could.  Little does he know how excited we are to do some DIY projects and really get our hands dirty.

Our realtor had a plan.  He suggested we get our house on the market to see if it would sell super fast and get a contractor to come look at the house (one that would be doing a reno for us anyways) instead of doing a proper home inspection.  We were willing to do just about ANYTHING to get this house.  We were all in.   This would mean that we would offer the same amount of money but this time with no conditions attached.  Now how in the world could you say no to that!?!

I cleaned the house for three days straight and got it in tip top condition in preparation for showings and for pictures to post our home for sale online.  This was STRESSFUL ... did I mention we have a busy toddler and a newborn!??!  Now you REALLY think we are nuts!  Every time I would make a bed or clean up our toddlers toys Gracie would undo all my hard work - ugh!  Oh well.  All my hard work paid off!  Our home sold in less than a day!  Yahoo!  Now what?

Our fancy shmancy realtors put a clause in our acceptance of the offer we got (for ASKING I might add!) that our house is only available for their offer if our offer is accepted on Monday - get it?  Kind of confusing I know.  Thank goodness for clauses and loop holes or we would be homeless right about now!

Anyway - now we wait ... ugh - ask anyone who knows me.  Patience is not my strongest suit!  It is what it is.  Hopefully we get it or this blog is DUNZO!

Rebecca & Pete