Moved in and BUSY

We finally closed on Wednesday, May 23. We didn't think it was going to happen since the guy I do bookkeeping for got a phone call from the mortgage company to verify my employment that morning. But within the hour, we were at the attorney's office signing paperwork. :) We were so happy to get things going!

On Friday, May 25, we got a phone call from a lady who said she loved the pictures of our house that we posted on Craigslist and she'd love to come take a look at it. The only catch was she'd want to move in just one week later. I had packed about 25% of our stuff at that point so we were no where near ready BUT we were excited about the prospect of having renters move in earlier than we expected (extra money). So we shuffled our kids from friend to friend (a HUGE thanks to Carrie, Stacey, Leah, and Lise who made us take them up on their offers to help), worked 18 hour days, and  got the job done. (Another HUGE thanks to Garrison, Jeff, and Steve for helping us move our loads and loads of junk).

And then the ladies--who had looked at the house twice and told us they were coming on Friday, June 1 to sign the lease agreement--never showed. Bleh. I was so irritated. We killed ourselves to get everything out for nothing. But we're here and working hard to get things how we want them.

Which leads us to all of the work we've been doing. Painting, installing light fixtures, cleaning, painting, putting furniture together, and painting! 

We found these light fixtures at Home Depot and loved them!

Dining Room

Foyer and Breakfast Room

Kitchen

They look really great, if I do say so myself. :) We were able to get the pendant lights and larger kitchen light on ebay for much cheaper. (Although after spending about 5 hours getting the large light fixed and ready to hang--it was obviously not "New, In Box" as described by the ebay seller--Aaron probably would've rather paid full price.)

We also went with a different color for the main living areas of the house. We were worried that the Wood Smoke color I picked out before would be too dark. Although there are lots of windows, it can get a little dark in the house. So we went with "Ozark Shadows" by Benjamin Moore. We've painted about a third of the space and it looks great. Like so great I want to sit around and just stare at the paint. I love it! 

 

So here's our updated "To Do" list:

PRIORITY (as soon as possible and before we run out of steam!)

Fill in TV nook in LR

Paint LR/DR/Kitchen/TV Room/ Foyer/Hallway
Paint accent wall in LR

Prime and paint Maddie’s room

Tile above shower and bathtub in Master Bath

Transform pantry into computer nook

Move light fixture in dining room to breakfast room

Fill in arched cut-outs in TV room . (We decided not to do this. It just seems like too much work and the arches are growing on us.)

Make “built-in” entertainment center in TV room

New fan/light fixture in LR (fan from current master bedroom)

Tile above shower in hall bathroom

Strip brown paint off beadboard in hall bathroom/Paint beadboard white

Paint walls above beadboard in hall bathroom

Repaint laundry closet and add more shelving

Add board and batten to boys’ room/Paint walls above

Repaint Maddie’s bedroom furniture (white)

Repaint dining room furniture (black)

Recover kitchen chairs

Repaint Belk table (black)

Make a large ottoman out of small end table 

Upholster ottoman

Make slip covers for plaid couch & loveseat and red Goodwill chair

Make benches for kitchen table

Install new pantry
 

NEAR FUTURE (next 6-12 months)

Find and install new kitchen lights (main light and light over sink)

New light fixture in dining room

New light fixture in foyer

New light fixture in TV room

Paint master bedroom

Paint master bathroom
Paint master closet and redo closet organization

Put backsplash in kitchen