Distractions......Distractions........

Posted by Mark:

I had a little free time at work today so I thought it was time to give you a little peek into our latest distraction that we’ve acquired in our lives.

Kimmi and I are once again proud home owners! As most of you know we bought a home in Bountiful, Utah. To put it mildly it was kind of a nerve racking experience and because of which we hope we don’t have to buy another house in a long, long time. If it wasn’t the stress of trying to weigh out our likes and dislikes, wants and needs with the ever impending budget, it was the fact that the sellers of the home were acting like children whose favorite toy was about to be taken away. Difficult to work with to say the least. In the end we are happy to own a home again and are excited to start our new lives there.

I say start because we have yet to move in. Believe it or not, we bought another fixer-upper (we’re gluttons for punishment I guess). And before we move in we decided to do a few updates that would be a whole lot easier without us and all our stuff hanging around to get in the way (you’ll understand by the photos).

The Decision Process: At first Kimmi and I were dead set on not buying another older home. In our minds we had decided that we’ve done the whole home remodel thing, and were ready to buy a home that’s already been updated and is move in ready. During our home search, we walked through an older home that was COMPLETELY remodeled, but made us think twice. It was a very nice, very fancy home but Kimmi and I looked at each other and realized that it just wasn’t 'us'. So our search direction changed. We wanted to make another house OUR own.

Unfortunately, for our saintly real estate agent, the only thing we weren’t picky on was location. We would have bought a place anywhere in the SLC valley as long as it was within a 30 minute radius of work. So, the sky was the limit as to where we’d move. Our pickiness finally started kicking in when we started seeing a countless number of homes with dinky little yards. I LOVE a nice big yard. The more yard work the better. I wanted someplace that I could really sink my teeth into and of course a place where Beatrice would have room to run and roam to her hearts content. Thus Salt Lake was striking out. We couldn’t find one that suited our needs.

Then we started searching in Bountiful and found a great older home with a huge back yard. It’s only draw-back was that it was an estate sale. At first I didn’t see it as a draw-back. I saw it as a bonus! In my mind I thought the kids would want to off load that house ASAP!! I was dead wrong. They had this attachment to the place that reminded me of bickering children. None of the siblings could agree on anything. After placing an offer on the house, we didn’t hear back from them officially for a WEEK!!! I have never had a more stressful, sleepless week in my life. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. Ridiculously, we found out that they were disputing over the littlest stuff! For example they were unhappy about the fact that I had asked for them to leave one of the TWO lawn mowers that were just chilling in the shed (since mine died in Twin Falls I needed another one). They rudely said no and to be honest I didn’t care at all! As long as I got the freaking house. In the end they came to their senses and left me one...the non working one that I have yet to figure out how to fix. Anyway to wrap up this little home search saga, we FINALLY got the home and ever since the keys were placed in my anxious little hands, I’ve been driving up every day after work to put a few hours of manual labor into the rejuvenation process. Also every Saturday since that day has been entirely devoted to my projects. Thanks to all of you that have also selflessly offered your services to assist me in the process. You’ve been very helpful!

The Remodel Process: So, there's the story. Now let’s get on to a few photos. You’ll probably see some of these pictures again in some later posts, labeled as the “Before” and "during" photos, but at least you can see what we are working with at the moment.

Weirdly, I haven't taken a picture of the front of the house yet so you get a screen shot of googlemaps. This is our pretty house.



This is the front room (before). Yes, that is a pink marble fireplace. As for what we've done and plan to do to this room: I've taken the popcorn off the ceilings and plan on painting the sheetrock underneath (this was also done to the 3 bedrooms upstairs), taken down the horrible curtains, and pulled up all carpet on main floor (there's nice hardwood underneath that we're getting refinished next week). We also plan to cover up that fireplace with a stone face.



(During) Pretty hard wood floors!


This is the Master bedroom (Before). As I mentioned the carpet is out and the lovely wall paper boarder is off the wall now.



(During)


This is the family room downstairs. eventually we'll take all the wood paneling down and change the color of the carpet, but as of now it will stay the same. We're trying to just focus on the upstairs.



This was the kitchen (Before). I say "was" because its all gone now. We ripped it out last Saturday. A new kitchen is in store.... We just need to decide who's going to build it for us. That should be decided this week



(During)


This is my garage packed with all the cabinets and carpet ready for the dump.


This is the awesome upstairs bathroom. we're pretty much keeping it the same. Just tiling the floor instead of carpet, replacing the pink toilet, and getting the pink sink and tub painted white.



The last three pictures are of the back yard. It's pretty overgrown but it will be a nice project when we get to it.

Right outside the back door.



Looking down towards the property line fence



This is looking back at the house after just turning around 180 degrees from the last picture. Someday down the line with a little blood, sweat, and tears it will be a nice little oasis.