Journey to Our New Home

Hello strangers!  I feel like it has been forever since I updated, and I sincerely apologize.  You may recall that way back in March I posted that I had purchased a house.  Well, in ordered to get a decent sized house in the school district I wanted, I ended up choosing a repossessed house.  Needless to say, it definitely wasn't move in ready.  My incredibly generous dad donated most of his evenings and weekends the last few months to helping me get it livable (which is why I haven't been posting lately).  We finally moved in last week.  Xander loves his new room and I am elated to be able to provide him with his own home and yard (not to mention, no longer living with my father as an adult!!!).

While ALL of the details of the things we had to do would be long and boring, I thought I'd share a few highlights.

So we got off to an exciting start.  Because it was a HUD house, they wouldn't give me the keys when I bought the house.  The realtor let me in long enough to start changing the locks.  Because it was a weeknight close, I only did the doorknob of the front door, figuring I would change ALL of the locks that weekend.  Well, when I showed up the next weekend, my deadbolt was locked.  There are only two ways that could have happened; from the inside or with a key (that neither of the realtors had).  Therefore, I got to have the exciting adventure of calling the police, who in turn, called the fire department to break in.  Then the police swept the place (much more exciting on tv than on the placing you're hoping to live).  All in all, it turned out ok.  The police, who were very familiar with the previous owners, decided that they'd probably come back looking for something.  I haven't had any trouble since.

The next big obstacle was the huge above ground pool.  It needed a new liner and pump, plus a lot of maintenance I didn't have time or money for, so I got rid of it.  It is a little more cleaned up now, but the deck and sand still have to go (anyone needing sand or landscaping stone, feel free to come get some!).

Next, the NASTY, stained, smelly carpet had to go.  BEST workout of my life!  I definitely couldn't lift my arms after.

My dad and Xander installed some laminate flooring.

For some reason, the previous owners liked a lot of crap decoration on the walls.  Unfortunately, the glued it all on.  I don't even want to think about all of the hours we spent scraping, sanding, peeling and fixing drywall.  Here's an example of just Xander's room.

 

Even Xander got in on the scraping action.

Here's his room after.  Such a HUGE difference!

The trim and doors may have needed some slight touching up.

Instead of doing some early learning work with me, this is how Xander spent most of his time during the process.  Reading or watching movies.

Here's the last before and after I'll show for now.  I'm sure eventually I'll post pictures of Xander's new room.  Anyway, the picture truly doesn't do the change justice.  Nasty, smelly, pee-stained carpet is gone. 3 colored walls are now a solid color. Window is refinished, all the trim has been repainted. No more holes in the walls. It smells much much better. Incredibly happy with how it turned out.  Can't wait to make many memories in our new home!