Week Two

From the day we got our keys we were either at our new house, at work, or sleeping.  Most of our eating 

has been done standing in the kitchen of the new house because we have no chairs and we are still unable to walk on our hardwood floors.  We could go out the side door around the back and enter the lounge thru the French Doors but we would rather just eat in the kitchen.  Now that the hardwoods are done and the deck is complete we decided to

focus our attention on the yard.  We really wanted to start out on the right foot with our neighbors so we felt it was important to clean up the mess.  My parents and Vince and Joy accomplished that the first weekend by cleaning out all of the woody and overgrown plants.  Next we had to come up with a plan.

After talking to the neighbor we discovered that the original design of the yard was beautiful.  Apparently a landscaping company came in over one weekend and put in all of the plants, statues, and flagstone.   The owners kept it up for about 3  months and then just let it all go.  We found plants that go for around $50 a piece at the nursery tucked away between overgrown evergreens.  There is so much flagstone in the yard that I believe we will be digging pieces out for the next 30 years.  

My dad has been a HUGE help in the landscaping of the yard.  He spent Saturday and Sunday at the house helping us level the yard, trim trees, install the brick next to the sidewalk, transplant, and shop at the nursery. Steve spent most of the day working on the flagstone path that will be under the Pergola and lead to the side of the house.  By the end of Saturday we were ready to put down fertilizer and seed for the yard.  We thought about laying sod but realized that we were in prime grass growing season and it was a lot cheeper to put down seed.  

TIP:  If you buy plants in the fall ask if they are going to be having a big sale.  I went on Sunday and bought about $90 worth of shrubs and as we were walking out to the car the girl tells me that in 2 weeks everything will be half off.  Thanks for telling me now!  

We feel good having the front yard almost complete.  We have had so many neighbors come up and say what an improvement it is.  You can actually see the front of the house now!  

Our new home in all its glory

So we got our keys two weeks ago this past Friday.  Steve and I decided that before we moved in we would spend about 4 weeks doing some minor repairs and some cosmetic work.  From the pictures you can see that the yard was a mess...but that was just the beginning.  I knew that we had our work cut out for us.  The inspector, who is fantastic and I would recommend him to anyone, spent 2 hours going over everything with me.  Although there many suggestions, many of the improvements were cosmetic so I felt like we were going to be okay.  What I didn't know was that buying an older home is like peeling back the layers of an onion.  Each layer you pull away reveals a thinner more complicated layer that you must face.  I have now spend two weeks working on this home.  I am dealing with exhaustion, lack of focus in other areas of my life, and neglect of my marriage.  Steve and I will spend ALL day together in the same home and barely speak two sentences to one another.  

Our first weekend there we made a ton of progress.  Steve and Hasan started work on the hardwood floors. The floors were in good condition they just needed a little TLC.  Steve took a class the Thursday before on how to refinish them himself.  We are both extremely happy he did this.  We had no idea that you need three different grains of sandpaper, three different pieces of equipment and a ton of patience to accomplish such a task.  In total it took 5 days of work with 2 of those days being full of heavy sanding and sweeping.  You would not believe the dust.  

My first weekend was spent re-finishing the back deck.  I learned the definition of swabbing the decks.  Imagine years of dog hair, mud, and bar-b-que ash built up in the cracks of a deck that hadn't been stained and sealed in 10 years.  It was disgusting.  If you ever do this, I recommend a product called "Born Again" by SunFrog.  It worked wonders but still took a long time.  I couldn't grip anything after 6 hours of scrubbing.  It looks great now and has held up against all the rain we have been having.  It is going to be a great place for parties next summer.  

While we were working in the house and in the backyard, unbeknownst to us, Linda, Cole, Vince, and Joy Dawson were in the front yard making quick work of the mess.  I literally walked away for 2 hours to work on the deck and came back out front to see a transformed front yard.  We have big plans for the yard but it would have to wait for the following weekend because by Sunday evening we were ready to sleep.  

OH.  The best moment for me.  I don't have a picture of it, but Sunday afternoon I worked the roto-tiller in the front yard.  It was fantastic but my hands tingled for about an hour after.