Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Closing Day

We closed on the house on November 24th, 2009.  Originally we were supposed to be closing on December 1st, but the sellers agreed to push the closing day up a week for us to facilitate an easier move on our end.

As our lawyers office was just down the street from where my mom works, she was kind enough to pick up the keys for us once all of the closing tasks were completed.  By 3:30pm she had the keys in hand.

That evening Derek and I headed out to take a look around our new house.

As tradition demands Derek carried me over the threshold the first time we came into the house.  Since we were the first ones in the house, we had to reenact this in order to my mom and step-dad to get a picture.


What a goof.
The first thing I'm going to do is share with you the layout of the house.  From there I'll highlight which area we're talking about.  I figure you'd like to be aware of just what we'll be talking about.

Main Floor

So, that's the main floor layout.  By the time we're done with this place, it will look significantly different.  The main door to the house is down there in the Living Room but as the driveway is at the back of the house, the back door is the one most used, so, we'll start the tour of the house there.



At the top of the stairs if you turn to your right is the less than huge kitchen.  It's rather long and narrow, but there are a ton of cabinets and a decent amount of counter space, I just have to figure out how best to use it.





After that we turn into the living room.  This is where we've got the TV set up for now since our sectional couch goes the wrong way for the back room.



Aren't those curtains fantastic?  It's hard to see in that picture, but the ceilings are coved.  I'm still not sure what I think about the coving.  Maybe I'll like it more with a better paint job.

Continuing on our tour we now go into the dining room.  Before the second floor was added to the house this room was a bedroom.  Hence the fantastic closets.  Right now, they are my "curio cabinet" housing the boxes with the nice wine glasses, serving dished and china.




Yes, that pile on the floor in the first picture is some of the incredibly lovely boarder that's going on there with the peach walls.  Just so you know, you won't be seeing that boarder anymore.  It has all come down (and so very easily too *phew*). 

Across from the dining room is the half bathroom.  It's got some awesome paneling.  Awesome.


Next we move into the den.  Ah the den.  Faux wood paneling and faux brick floor tiles on the wall.  The previous owners had a computer desk in this room.  We still don't know what will be going in there.  Right now?  Boxes.



The last room on the main floor is the family room.  This is eventually where we went to be putting the TV.  But that probably won't be until we start the reno's on the main floor.





Yup, that's a gas fireplace.  My brother slept on the couch in the room the night we moved with the fireplace on low.  It was easily 10° warmer in there than in the rest of the house.  It's fantastic.

Well, that's all of the main floor.  Derek plans on ripping down walls and moving everything around.  We're thinking right now that the half bath will be our first reno project in the new year, but we'll see.

Stay tuned for next time, when we tour the second floor and I explain to you what we had to do in order to get the box springs up the stairs.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Our First Home

Derek and I were married on August 29th, 2009.  A month later we put in an offer on a house we'd seen twice.  A few days later our offer was accepted and the house passed inspection.

On November 24th we closed on our first house.



Not even three months after our wedding we are the proud owners of the blue house on the corner.  From the very first time we walked through this house, we could both see the incredible potential that it had.

The previous owners moved into the house in 1958, and to the best of our knowledge, they were the original owners.  At that time the hosue was a single story two bedroom house with grey stucco and a white picket fence.  In 1973 a family room was added on to the back of the house.  It wasn't until 1996 that the second story was added on to the house, adding a third bedroom and a second bathroom. 

 

The kitchen was renovated by the previous owners in 2006.  At the same time laminate flooring was installed throughout the majority of the main floor.

Derek and I have some really grand plans for this place.  Since the month of December is notoriously busy, and because we want to live in the house for a bit before we decide what exactly we want to change, no walls will be coming down until January.

For now I'll spend my blogging going through what's here now and what we think we might do to that area.