Diary of a DIY Diva: Our Next Adventure

The search for our new house was a long and tedious process. We wanted a house in the country, but not too far out. We thought we wanted to move to a nearby town, but decided that we didn't really want to leave our parents and church. We wanted a bigger house with a dining room, family room, multiple bathrooms, a two car garage and a big yard, but we didn't want to get into mountains of debt. We are both working full-time now, but we were each out of work for some time and it took a little while to build my business. After witnessing what a struggle it can be in today's economy to make ends meet, we were really worried about the pressure of a mortgage...

After almost 6 months of searching for our real “First Home” we finally found a bank-owned property in the suburbs. It's a great compromise. It was a foreclosure, so we got a great deal. It's on the south end of town, so easy access to the interstate for commuting. It has the two car garage, all the room we could really want, and a decent sized yard. We love the neighborhood. It is next door to the pastor who married Jordan and I, around the corner from several young couples I grew up with and near several older couples from our church. Best of all - NO funky smell!

Unfortunately, the outside of the house is pretty ugly, but it has great potential! There are oh SO many projects, though. It was actually a double occupancy home. An older couple basically built and attached a second house in the early 2000s onto the side of their small 1950s home to accommodate her elderly mother. You can certainly tell a little old lady lived on the new side, so everything is outdated. The wallpaper boarder looks like it is straight out of the 90s, the hallway is done with laminate flooring, all the walls are white, but dirty and the carpets are pretty gross. Fortunately, all of these are cosmetic issues that should be easily remedied. Overall, it's in great shape!

The older side is… well… older… Frankly, the carpets are disgusting. There are no outlet covers, interior doors or wall molding in any room. Someone started to disassemble the kitchen at some point and obviously gave up mid-project. There are random sections of unfinished drywall throughout. The horrid second kitchen has two mismatched ceiling fans, a random closet/pantry thing, and a hideous faux paint finish on the walls. The bathroom is another horrible faux finish paint in emerald green with an emerald green faux marble vanity top, and the linoleum (yes, linoleum - ick!) is 4 inches shy of the wall all the way around. The guest bedroom has a droopy ceiling and electric blue walls. The “master bedroom” is partially painted in pistachio green with stained pistachio green carpet; plus, it seems to have been the hot hang out for all of the neighborhood critters. The “master bathroom” has unfinished drywall with the paper peeling off. The third bedroom only has subfloor – no carpet, no linoleum, nothing! The light fixtures in every room are outdated and hideous. In short, it’s a mess.

We are confident that we can update the new side in a short time. We have big plans: to install hardwood floors in the living room, dining room and study; install a french door in the dining room; new carpet in the bedroom; new counter top and tile in the kitchen; tile in the guest bathroom; a double sink in the master bathroom; paint every room... The potential list goes on and on. However, the necessary-to-move-in list is pretty short.... That's as long as we don't get carried away!

We are kind of intimidated with the older side, though. It's a given that we will immediately tear out the offensively disgusting carpets, we will have to finish the drywall, it needs some electrical and plumbing work, and, I'm sure, more projects will pop up along the way. Cosmetically, Our idea is to finish tearing out the mismatched kitchen cabinets to help the home seem more like one property instead of a double, turn the "master bedroom" into Jordan’s historic sports themed “Man Cave” and, to take advantage of the second entrance, turn the second living room into my 1920s themed home office. We are also going to have the guest bedroom on that side for more privacy. Jordan relinquished the third bedroom for me to store all of my event planning supplies, so I gave him one of the bathrooms (and gave him permission to install a urinal - made his day!). The FOURTH (yep - fourth!) bathroom has the laundry hook-up so it will be our gigantic and weird laundry room-bathroom.

We certainly have our work cut out for us here, but we are ready for our next big adventure!

The "Before" Pictures