Our House “As Is”.

This is a post to show exactly how we are living right now.  I like to think of it as “between the before and after shots”.  Every single thing you will see in this post is unfinished.  I will have a “before and after” post when everything is finished.  I just want to share with you what you would see if you came to visit, and also to share that settling into a new house is hard, and I don’t even have any kids or an 8-5 job.  I spend sun-up to sun-down working on something.  I try to do one thing every day, like the porch for example, but I didn’t finish that day so now it’s just unfinished.  I’m finding it very difficult to prioritize.  Do I do the closet so that we can have a functional space for our clothes or do I finish the living room so that we have a place to sit? (Sitting won that battle.) 

This was during painting (nowhere to sit).

This was “before”. I started painting almost immediately upon arrival.

FYI:  Jason refinished these original hardwood floors by himself.  My parents and brother were here for tearing out the carpet and the first couple hours of sanding, but after that he did it all himself.  In the before and after segment that I will eventually do, you will see hideously stained old gray carpet. Now, it is BEAUTIFUL hardwood!

Two days after Jason finished the 5 day floor project I spilled half of a gallon of oil based primer on the new floor. Oops. That’s a story for a different day, but you better believe I called Jason and asked him to never come home. I was literally, like breathe into a paper sack, freaked out about it.  Most of it came up thanks to Bruce’s Flooring, who gave me a solution to get it off, and Jason was really sweet about it.  

Yesterday, I spent the day (when I wasn’t hanging out with my friend, Kate, who is from here but who was my neighbor in Oklahoma and is here visiting her family, or at the law school couples mixer) putting together closet shelves that had come in boxes.  At 8 p.m. I went to hang the rods I had bought and realized that I didn’t have a stud finder.  I quickly grabbed my purse and keys and drove to Lowe’s, which is 30 minutes away, one way.  I got home around 9:30 p.m. and started measuring where to hang the rods.  I wish that I taken a before picture of the closet, but I didn’t.  In fact, I thought about taking a “before” picture but consciously decided that it wasn’t worth stopping what I was doing to go get the camera.  So, I will describe it for you.  It is a large closet that had one bar all the way across it.  That’s it.  TOTAL WASTE OF PERFECTLY GOOD SPACE.  I have been telling Jason, since before we even bought the house, that we were getting a closet system.  He finally convinced me that a closet system wouldn’t work for us because we have too many hanging clothes.  This is why I came up with my own closet system. I bought stackable shoe cubbies for my shoes and stackable shoe shelves for Jason’s.  I also bought shelving for other things.  This is the closet in its present state.  I still need to buy a shelf for across the top and hang my clothes as these are mostly Jason’s, and I need to add his shoes.  (P.S. I did everything myself, measured and hung the rods myself and everything. I was quite proud.)

This is the kitchen in it’s current state.  It was one of my projects.  I got everything put away, displayed and cleaned.  It is however the hub of our house so it will be a never ending battle.  Also, there is nowhere for my utensils, so I bought a large planter that has successfully taken the place of a utensil drawer.

   

This is the utility room.  I did laundry this past weekend, but without a functional closet it all just stayed here.  We have basically been back and forth between the laundry room and unpacked boxes trying to find clothes to wear.  This space has a lot of potential and I am beyond stoked to have my washer and dryer in the house rather than in the garage.

This is the bathroom.  Jason and I both LOATHE the entire thing.  It was perfect for the 3 bachelors who lived here before us, but it is not okay for our tastes.  It is a bright ocean blue (the pictures below are not true to color) with very basic features and no bath tub, only a stand-up shower.  It had blue and brown stripes in it that were driving me crazy.  You know how God does things for you sometimes that seem so small to everyone else, but are actually huge to you.  He did this for me in that before we moved my mom had some extra bathroom things that she gave me to use if I wanted or get rid of if I didn’t.  Well, they coordinate with the color of this bathroom.  Also, I had a white shower curtain that I bought to use when we were selling our house.  Having these things has helped the bathroom immensely, as painting the bathroom is on the bottom of my priority list and I’m not buying anything for the bathroom until it’s painted. 

Working on a unit that will serve as cabinet space and will house a second dirty clothes hamper.

This is the dining room/office.  We have 4’ high bookshelves that will serve as a room divider. (The book shelf shown is not 4’ high. It will be moved.)  This allows us to have a guest room and a gym while still giving Jason a place to work.

This is our gym.

This is our guest room.

This is our room.

This is the porch I haven’t finished painting.

This is the sky while I was taking a picture of the porch.

Well, there you have it.  This is our house exactly “as is”.  We are between the befores and the afters.  Please do not come to visit us right now.  You are not invited.  I’ll let you know when the house is ready for company.  I can assure you that we will be ready for guests by the time the ski slope 30 minutes away opens for business this winter.