One Year Later...where do we stand? Part 1

It's been a crazy year of DIY and home renovation. We are no where near as far as we thought we would be (I'm guessing the baby and work travel had something to do with that), but we did make some great progress. Over the last year we:


1) Rid the basement of mold, installed a sump pump basement waterproofing drainage system and encapsulated the crawlspace with Basement Systems
2) Replaced the kids' swing set with Rainbow
3) Had $1000 worth of tree removal/trim work done
4) Renovated a bathroom to working order (only one little pesky thing I want to do in there)
5) Started (and still working on) on the staircase/foyer/hallway wallpaper removal and repainting. This included 2 layers of painted wallpaper and all yellow trim/doors to be painted white as well as the staircase. Thinking this will be done in another month after caulking/painting.
6) Getting our heat and A/C unit repaired multiple times. The relay units on the heating unit needed work several times this winter. The A/C unit seems to be working great so far this year.
7)Had the pool liner replaced.
8)Multiple endless small projects such as repairing/replacing the leaking kitchen faucet, the kitchen light, the lamp post, the front door lights, the doorbell, gutter guards, changing outlets, hanging blinds, curtain rods, painting and more painting...

Here are some pictures from the past 8 months:

Stairwell wallpaper removal:

The foyer area (in progress):

Bathroom Renovation:

Basement Systems installation:

Playground Installation:

Playground installed, next project (which we started in March and are still working on!!!) is building a retaining wall for holding mulch and making the playground safe. We have also covered the ground with landscape fabric to keep the weeds out and have started a bottom layer of mulch. I'll get a more up to date picture with our next post. Hoping to sod the dirt area that is in front of the swingset.

I have been working on our end tables in the living room to refinish them.

I think I am forgetting a lot...which is why I need to update a heck of a lot more. One upcoming post I think I will do- some pictures of our current projects and what we plan to get done this year. As of right now some of our projects are to finish the staircase/foyer/hallway painting, the mulch area around the playground, and outdoor fencing. I have fencing on the way from Home Depot (may write a whole post on THAT process as well) as well as a crew coming to install some other fencing in the yard in a few weeks. I'm still anxious to tear down the kitchen wall and install some new flooring and spruce it up a little. We are so ready to get started on some NEW projects!

Had a few nursery projects to finish up that have taken the past few weeks. First the general painting had to be completed and that took a long time to cover up such dark and dirty paint! Then, I made 3 blackout shades for the windows using an online tutorial I found here: http://365days2simplicity.blogspot.com/2011/04/easy-no-sew-roman-shades.html


The blackout fabric was an extra step I added before gluing on the mini-blind.

We also had a vinyl decal to apply and we waited 2 weeks after painting per the directions so that it would adhere well.

Then there was the stencil accent wall. Here I am at 35 or 36 weeks finishing it up. It took about 3 days to finish it due to lots of breaks. I used a "stipple" effect where I was dotting the brush lightly on the stencil so it wouldn't bleed as much.

We also figured out what had made or was making these dark greasy spots on the carpet in front of A's room. When we moved in, there were a few and the carpet cleaners thought they were dog spots? and didn't get them removed. However, once I stepped on them and they were sticky! So we avoided stepping on them from there on. Well after the AC was fixed, I noticed NEW ones! Maybe just coincidence but one day we decided to look up at the ceiling above them (not sure why we didn't do that before now). There was an egg crate vent and inside we found an old air purifier box. It hasn't been used in years and it was leaking this gook!! Nice, right? Well, we had it removed this week and then Ken started scrubbing the grease spots with Resolve. They are barely visible now, which is great! We aren't replacing the air purifier- they tend to only last about 3 years anyways per the AC repairman and they aren't needed for the functioning of the AC.

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Now that baby E's nursery is pretty much finished, we are going to start working on removing/replacing the floor from the kids bathroom. When we moved in, the linoleum was covered by carpet and the toilet had leaked for who knows how long and mildew had ruined the carpet. Ken ripped the carpeting out right away but had left the linoleum as we want to take some precautions in case it has asbestos with it. Tried to start the project last night but went to remove the toilet and found that the water shut-off valve was broken. He will have to replace that first. Other projects we will complete with the bathroom: wall-paper removal and wall painting, soffit removal, trim painting, and replace or paint vanity.

3 month update

It's been about 3 months since we closed on the house and we wanted to throw in a little "progress report" about what has been going on. Besides Ken being out of town for close to a month due to work, Mel growing a baby (now around 35 weeks!), and Austin potty training and doing big boy stuff- well, we have actually made a little progress on the house. Sometimes it's more one step forward and two steps back, or at least it feels like it. So first with the fun stuff.
Here is the progression of Evie's room. From move-in (dark chalkboard walls), coat of primer, and now light pink walls with clean white trim. Yes, even the trim was a yucky dingy yellow and had to be painted. The ceiling had well over 100 glow in the dark star stickers. They took about 3 hours to scrape off and unfortunately being stickers, the glue stuck to the ceiling quite a bit. This lead to having to paint the ceiling also. The end result is clean and bright looking so it was worth it! We have quite a few more steps to get her room ready and hopefully in another week we will be there.
*click picture to see larger version*

The living room has also been a beast. In this room, the trim was painted a light lime green and there was ALOT of trim. Once we got the beams primed and painted, we attacked the walls with a neutral gray-blue color. Mel painted the trim work for weeks as it took several coats to cover the green, and the bookcase had to be painted white as well. We still have several things we need to do:
Trim/cabinet for the other built-in book case, find a new rug and end table and install a roman shade. Not sure when these lingering projects will end, but at least the living room is more comfortable for us now.

Ken updated our lamp-post. When he went to change out the light fixture alone, we found that the wood was rotten and the post broke in half. We ended up getting a metal pole for our new light fixture and it looks and works wonderfully.

Our AC repair took around 2 months mainly as we were dealing with the home warranty company and technical difficulties. We managed with 3 window units for a while when it got hot. The AC coil had a huge Freon leak and there was another leak at a connection. That is the one that unfortunately has made a mess of the ceiling below.
Here is a picture of the coil before the repairman cleaned it up.

And after:

So for the past week and a half, we have enjoyed the whole house being cool. However, we are worried about our electric bill since they opted to repair the super old AC instead of giving us a new unit. We'll see. Once the AC was behind us, we went on the the next problem. Our basement. If you remember, when we moved in we had to have a mold remediation company come and we also gutted it. Well, it's gotten VERY humid and nasty down there and sadly the mold came back. Also, we have ground water seepage. You can see how it's damaging the wall down there and the foam Ken put on to "seal" it before we knew what was going on.

The groundwater seepage is basically water coming up from the floor for no reason. It hadn't rained in 2 weeks one of the times we noticed it. So the last week was spent getting quotes for repairing our issues. This is not a DIY project we want to attempt as it involves jack-hammering the entire perimeter of the basement, installing weep holes in the walls and a sump pump. To add to this, we finally caught the three mice in the crawlspace but noticed that there is black mold growing under there as it too has moisture and humidity problems. *BIG SIGH*
We are on the schedule for the basement repair right around the time of Mel's due date!! In the meantime, we moved a window AC unit down there and a dehumidifier to help things out. We are hoping to use the basement for good storage soon as we still can't park in the garage. :)


Now, on to a fun update! The pool repair happened finally a month ago as well. After we had it drained, the liner was not in good condition and we opted for a new liner. We chose a liner that would give the water a Carribean feel (as we both love the tropics!). It took 10 days for the liner to come in and another few days to have it installed. We have been enjoying the pool and learning to balance pool chemicals. Here are some progress pictures from the pool. They placed foam over the steel walls and repaired some areas with concrete.

The pool repairman's son posing for a picture as the water poured into the new liner:

Playtime!

Since we are on the countdown to baby, there is probably not a whole lot more that we will do for a while. We have some wiring/lights to change out and pictures to hang and painting to finish...but that's about it...at least we hope! :)

Under Construction!!

Our new blog is still under construction, just like our house! Mainly because we have been so busy just trying to get the house into what we consider to be "living conditions". Before we could move in, we had to deal with mold remediation in the basement. That took several weeks, and once we got the all-clean test results we could start doing more. We officially moved in 2 weeks ago, but had lots of little trips over to the old house to prepare it for renters and move over all kinds of odds and ends. Thankfully that part is over! We are in the middle of several projects-

1) Resolving our A/C issue. A week after we closed on the house and started running the air conditioner, we developed a ceiling leak over the staircase. The A/C has a large leak that was causing this. We called the home warranty company and have dealt with three different contractors and opinions on how to fix the issue. We are still working out code issues (our indoor unit does not match the outdoor unit and they should). We also have a really dated and unusual system called a SpacePak that contains small ducts and can be quite expensive to replace.

In the meantime, as the temps are now in the low 90's, we have had to buy 3 window units to live comfortably in the house.

2. Living room renovation. Before:

This project is taking quite a while because it involves tons of painting. The first thing we did was sand down the existing brown lacquered beams and apply white paint.

Next we primed over the dark green walls and then followed up with a light gray-blue color from Sherwin-Williams. We are still working on painting the light lime green trim a nice crisp white color.

Other projects that we have planned for the living room include finishing a built-in shelf/cabinet area (it was oddly just a shelf?), updating the fireplace, and covering the textured ceiling with bead board. "After" pictures are hopefully coming soon!

3. Powerwashing the house and swingset.
Moving Day:

Currently:

and the swingset we hope to get to this week. Plans include a powerwashing and staining the rest of the way (previous owner had sort of done some staining).

We plan to use the same stain as is currently on there.

4. The light fixtures that were half broken and we hope to replace this week:

With this:

Some semi-completed projects that we have done include getting the door bell working and the chime replaced, fixing leaky toilets and broken seats, changing outlets out, installing an updated ceiling fan and painting the playroom for Austin, and a new foyer light installed. The foyer light had electrical issues that we had to deal with, but the other projects went fairly well.

Playroom Before:

Currently:

Eventually we will get window treatments and rip out the hideous blue carpeting, but we will let the cats and kids destroy it a bit more first. So there you have a good (and long) update on the house. There is plenty more I could ramble on or show you, but I probably should get back to painting the lime green trim. :)

Pool Cleaning

We are having the pool cleaned out today with a local company. They are draining the water because of how black it is, the leaf and organic debris, and how many tadpoles we see in the water. They also have changed the sand in the filter and found algae in the water check tube. We will be starting with fresh water and chemicals to get it up and running. Also hoping that the existing liner can be repaired at the places where it is blipping out. Here are some before pictures, and the "after" pictures will hopefully be posted soon!!

Our New House

On Tuesday, April 12th, we closed on our Third House. We love the area it is located, the size and layout of the yard, and the basic flow of the house. Inside, however, there are lots of things to be fixed. At this point, I wouldn't call it a fixer upper, but we have a fair amount of projects we want to tackle. Our biggest hope, instead of a money pit, Our Third House Is A Charm!