We're Back! Maybe?

I suck at blogging, let's be real here. But I do have an excuse - school! It's hard to write for pleasure when you have to write papers on business ethics and marketing research. Wah. Anyway, I am back, attempt numero dos. And it's mainly because we are starting on some big renovations. First, John built a kick-ass bar in the basement (aka the mancave). We had our first party over Labor Day, and we HAD to have a bar for it. I was super-impressed with my man. It took him about 2 weeks to complete, just working nights and weekends. Our second project started yesterday, and that is the bathroom renovation. We are expanding the half-bath in our bedroom to a full bath, possibly with a sweet tub/shower combo. We'll see.

These aren't the best images, but you get the gist.


Note that the basement floor in front of the bar is the perfect dance floor.




I learned that this is called a miter corner!



And what bar isn't complete without a Sam Adams bottle opener, compliments of Pops!

inspiration

I really can't go any further in the blog without giving props to my inspiration, younghouselove. I honestly do not think I would've agreed to buy this house without them (John loved it, I had a hard time seeing past the single full bath and grandma/cat smell). But reading their blog, and seeing the amazing before and after shots, really gave me hope that we could make this house our own, even on a budget. They offer great how-to's on almost any DIY project you can think of. It's an inspiration to see other "youngsters" working on a budget, to make their home wonderful, with their own 2 hands. So thanks YHL - you've saved us from spending too much money on one of those newfangled, slapped together houses. Instead, we got a lovely home which we are working very hard to make our own.

2 Weeks In...

Well, we are officially 2 week old homeowners. And it's been freaking crazy. I love how everyone asks - when are the movers coming? When are the painters coming? I guess we are crazy for doing it all ourselves! But we are pretty much all moved in. We even got the bulk of the painting done, thanks to the help of our wonderful friends!

We really got a lovely surprise when we moved to Catonsville. We didn't know too much about the area, but we instantly feel in love. We are within walking distance to the quaint town. It's been so much fun being able to walk into town to pick up a bottle of wine, a sandwich or grab dinner at one of the great restaurants. It seems like we live in a 1950's town, where people are friendly, and everything is close by. Speaking of friendly people, we've had about 5 of our neighbors stop by to welcome us! One brought a plant, homemade salsa, and a homemade card! Is this the friggin Twilight Zone? Seriously, in our last place, people ran away from each other. I feel so lucky to have found this little happy place to live!

OK OK I'll shut up now. Here are some pix of the place.


This is the front (obvs). In the immediate future I plan to paint the railing a nice shiny black. We also need a new non-horrendous light above the garage, and a new house number. These seem like relatively easy fixes...

Here is the living room before - from different views. It's a solid house, right? "Good bones," they say. But it certainly needed an overhaul to bring it out of the 80's/grandma land.

Annnd the lovely dining room!
And the after! Bye bye heavy, dusty, cat-hair infested grandma curtains!


We still have lots to do - but are super happy with our color selections. Especially with my track record of picking out gnarly funky colors. *Shout out to my mom here - who always let me express my creative side, even if that meant painting my bedroom walls booger green.*



We chose Antique Linen by Glidden for above the chair rail, and Olivewood by Glidden for beneath. And I'll get back to you on the chair rail and trim, though I'm pretty sure it was a semi-gloss white of some sort by Glidden.

More to come!

xo
c

Hola!

So, this is my (pathetic? we'll see...) attempt at what the cool kids call "blogging." What's yer blog about, you ask? Well, I think it is mainly going to be about our voyage into home-ownership, and all the fun projects that come along with it. No one writes a manual on this stuff, and it's easy to become overwhelmed. The entire process of searching and buying a house is exhausting! I'm learning a lot from trial and error, talking to folks and endless internet-searching. So, I figured I'd share with the group, and document the miraculous (here's to hoping) transformation of our new diggs.

*Here's the deal - we are a little more than 2 weeks away from closing. So technically, the house is not ours yet... and on top of this, we are going back and forth with the sellers regarding things we want fixed per the inspection. The listing agent is kiiinda being a beeyotch. But we are hopeful that things will work out, and we can begin the transformation of a 1950's grandma house into our first home.