Everything we started led to something else. Hubby decided he wanted a rock wall on the fireplace wall. The kitchen door needed to turn into a window because removing the wall would make for two doors right beside one another. The bedroom sliding glass door needed to be turned into a picture window. The entire downstairs needed to be painted.
grow Grow GROWING
Then we started getting bids for everything. That's when the YIKES started. Everything we looked at was between $10,000 and $12,000, and those were for the little things. Hubby and I argued about little things. Choosing colors became a major issue. We needed to pick tile, fixtures, lights, appliances, flooring, bathtubs, windows, new doors, and on and on and on.
The first bid was astronomical. The second was low. The third............well, we're waiting!!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
First, you buy a house
After looking for a house we would like for several years, something unique happened. One of my good friends put her house up for sale to move in next door to look after her mother, who was suffering with dementia. As hubby and I sat eating lunch one Saturday, hubby said, "Why don't we buy Michelle's house?
I called her immediately, as she had not yet listed the house with a realtor, and she squealed with happiness! Not only did this take the sale of her house off of her back, it also meant that we could be next door neighbors. Life is wonderful!!
As hubby and I looked over the house, which we already liked, we agreed that it was very possible that this would be our last house. We were getting it for a very good price, it sat on the golf course, so the patio/back yard/swim-spa overlooking the 17th hole, seemed to be something we could make into our dream house.
The upstairs siding and roof needed some repair, wood around windows needed replacing, there were several other needed repairs that we knew we would do right away.
And then, we decided the master bathroom could be remodeled.
The bathroom, while not bad, did not have a separate shower. The toilet sat in the middle of the large room. It had closets that weren't necessary, as a huge atrium had been closed in to be a closet, at the back of the bathroom. It was a little dated. We decided to make some changes.
Remove two front closets, enclose toilet into it's own area, add tiled shower, replace bathtub, add a vanity area, and replace the two sinks.
ALSO, we decided to take in a storage closet behind the large closet to make a LARGER master closet (it will be for both of us).
Sounds so simple......
I found some great photos of bathrooms, and one of them, elegant and perfect, would work for our setup.
The more I thought about the closet, the more things begin to increase. The closet needed not only rods, but, because both of our existing closets had storage, we needed no drawer space in our bedroom, so it needed to be added to the closet. So closet build-out began.
The kitchen did not have a gas stove, which I love and have used forever. So, thinking it wouldn't be a HUGE deal, I suggested that we add a gas stove. That began the following tumble of events:
1. Move gas line to kitchen
2. Remove wall between kitchen and living room
3. remove elbow of kitchen
4. Remove elbow part of the kitchen cabinets, including cabinets above it
5. Remove oven and include with gas stove, and enlarge pantry to include the area where the oven used to be
6. build in drawers to replace those being removed in area formerly made as a bar area
7. replace breakfast room with drawers, cabinets and a small desk area
8. remove kitchen door to become a window
9. replace ALL the tile on the first floor because removing wall and elbow will create area that will have to be tiled, and existing tile cannot be matched
Holy cow.
In the meantime, we had included replacing all baseboards and door facings, repainting all the downstairs, and adding crown molding in the dinign room, master bedroom, and new master bath.
Enough for now
I called her immediately, as she had not yet listed the house with a realtor, and she squealed with happiness! Not only did this take the sale of her house off of her back, it also meant that we could be next door neighbors. Life is wonderful!!
As hubby and I looked over the house, which we already liked, we agreed that it was very possible that this would be our last house. We were getting it for a very good price, it sat on the golf course, so the patio/back yard/swim-spa overlooking the 17th hole, seemed to be something we could make into our dream house.
The upstairs siding and roof needed some repair, wood around windows needed replacing, there were several other needed repairs that we knew we would do right away.
And then, we decided the master bathroom could be remodeled.
The bathroom, while not bad, did not have a separate shower. The toilet sat in the middle of the large room. It had closets that weren't necessary, as a huge atrium had been closed in to be a closet, at the back of the bathroom. It was a little dated. We decided to make some changes.
Remove two front closets, enclose toilet into it's own area, add tiled shower, replace bathtub, add a vanity area, and replace the two sinks.
ALSO, we decided to take in a storage closet behind the large closet to make a LARGER master closet (it will be for both of us).
Sounds so simple......
I found some great photos of bathrooms, and one of them, elegant and perfect, would work for our setup.
The more I thought about the closet, the more things begin to increase. The closet needed not only rods, but, because both of our existing closets had storage, we needed no drawer space in our bedroom, so it needed to be added to the closet. So closet build-out began.
The kitchen did not have a gas stove, which I love and have used forever. So, thinking it wouldn't be a HUGE deal, I suggested that we add a gas stove. That began the following tumble of events:
1. Move gas line to kitchen
2. Remove wall between kitchen and living room
3. remove elbow of kitchen
4. Remove elbow part of the kitchen cabinets, including cabinets above it
5. Remove oven and include with gas stove, and enlarge pantry to include the area where the oven used to be
6. build in drawers to replace those being removed in area formerly made as a bar area
7. replace breakfast room with drawers, cabinets and a small desk area
8. remove kitchen door to become a window
9. replace ALL the tile on the first floor because removing wall and elbow will create area that will have to be tiled, and existing tile cannot be matched
Holy cow.
In the meantime, we had included replacing all baseboards and door facings, repainting all the downstairs, and adding crown molding in the dinign room, master bedroom, and new master bath.
Enough for now
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