Newlywed update :)

These are a couple of picture I took of the house right before the wedding on May 2. Things have come together a little more since then. We are still doing lots of work during our free time, but it is definitely a little easier now that we live here. It is also easy to recognize our needs as opposed to our wants during our every day life. Another update to come soon!

Master Bedroom
This is our bedroom now. I to have a color that would pop (!) so I went and picked Sahara Desert at Home Depot. I was worried that our room looked like a school bus, but everything has been coming together.

Our bed was a Craiglist find. Phil wanted a wood bed, I wanted a metal/iron rod one. We both got what we wanted :)
This was a little last minute project Phil undertook. He bought our mattress and box spring, and soon found that the box spring wouldn't fit up the stairs. The only solution was to rip apart the wall going up the stairs.
I really wanted a chandelier in our bedroom and found the perfect one (at a good price) at Home Depot. Phil put it up for me before the wedding. Its my favorite part in our bedroom.

Kitchen
Phil and Rich Stein put in our kitchen cabinets (finally!) the week before the wedding.

Bathroom

Bedroom #1 (TV Room)
Bedroom #2 (Guest Room)

Update! Update! Massive Update!

Whoa! Its been over a month since my last update. I am a terrible blogger-- what a lousy journalist! In any case, here are some pictures to update you on how our little house is going.

Phil and I are getting married in just two and a half weeks, which means we need a house to move in. We are confident that the house will be in move in shape by our wedding but some other repairs will inevitably have to be done after we new tenants move in.

Lets start with the master bedroom:

These pictures are from the beginnning of March. We had still yet to put the last piece of sheetrock up, the "cathouse" was still there, and the floor still had some sort of film on it which had been used to keep the tile down. At this point, all of the tile had been pulled up.

We got to work on the upstairs and made some progress, thanks to my dad (once again!). I came by one day and my dad said to me that, since he likes Phil, he doesn't want me to have a "doghouse" for him. He proceeded to cover the little closet/storage area that was in the upstairs bedroom (the green square you can see in the picture below). The funny story is that the man from whom we bough the house said that when he was younger he used that space as a place for his cat. I told my dad it wasn't a doghouse, it was a cathouse. Regardless, he closed it up.

You can see the patch more close up below...

My dad also put down plywood on our floors to prepare for the carpet people to come install. This gives them a flat surface to work on and it cuts the cost of having them level the floor prior to installation.

Pops also decided that he didn't like the light that was in our room so he pulled the cables and bulb down and took the light fixture out.

Now onto the kitchen:

We have installed insulation. By "we" I mean Phil and a couple of really wonderful friends who spend nights working with Phil at our house.

Phil and Dad spent a Sunday putting sheetrock up.

What a difference it makes, right?!

And our two other bedrooms:

As I have mentioned before, we have two bedrooms downstairs. For now, Phil and I have decided to keep one as a guest room and one as a TV room.

Our guest room is the smaller of the two and we painted it Behr Pensive Sky. We love that it is a subtle tint of blue (it is even lighter in person).

The TV room is now light yellow.

This is the fabric that I picked out for our shades against the light yellow.

Our living room:

The living room is now an oatmeal color. I just keep thinking back to the wallpaper that was up just a couple of months ago. I am definiely not missing the floral print.

The downstairs hallway:

I love the color chocolate brown and thought it was a perfect color for our hallway. Phil thinks its the perfect "transitional color," whatever that means.

The downstairs bathroom:

After about four hours of scrubbing, our bathroom is now looking more usable than it was before. Some industrial strength cleaning supplies (and an open window to keep me from passing out) did the job... for now. It is definitely calling for a second scrubbing before move in day.

Finally, the house with the red door:

I went to Maryland to visit family sometime in March and came back to find our house with a red door and black shutters-- just like Phil and I had planned. I really love it! It is looking more like home already.

a very much so overdue update

I have been such a slacker in keeping up with the things we've been doing at the house, and for that, I apologize.

Our little house is slowly but surely progressing along. With just two months until Phil's and my wedding, we are in a time crunch to get everything done and ready for move in day. Nonetheless, we are confident that we can do it.

Here is an update from 429 Brook Court, the little house that could:

General

Plumbing

• We passed the plumbing inspection! Hooray! This means (most importantly) that all the wonderful people who have been helping us out for the past two or so months will finally be able to come to our house and freely tend to their bodily needs as they so please. Yes, in fact, we now have a working toilet and sink in the downstairs bathroom.
  

Electric

• We passed our electric inspection on the first try! Now onto insulating the kitchen… after we pass an insulation inspection we can sheetrock, paint, put cabinets up, floors down, and install our appliances.

Painting

Finally got a picture of Dad hard at work. Isn't he just great?!




Phil while sanding the ceilings to prep them for paint.

• Our walls and ceilings are now white! My dad primed the first floor for us and it makes such difference. The white paint alone has brought so much light into the house. It feels like we're walking into a new one!
  
• After Phil's sister Jaclyn helped me clean some of the filth off of the window frames, doors, and door frames, I was able to putty and spackle them. These are currently being painted (Behr Polar Bear White) white by Phil's brother John.
  
• We picked our actual paint colors last week and bought the paint. My dad is already working on getting those on the walls.

Room-by-Room

Kitchen

The final result after Fo and Dad took the floors out of the kitchen.

• My dad and brother, Adolfo, removed the wood and laminate flooring in the kitchen. My dad then repaired the floor boards underneath and put down plywood flooring.
  
• We purchased some of our major appliances at the Morris Habitat for Humanity Restore. Habitat Restores are a sort of building materials outlet. Donated and surplus materials are sold for prices lower than those that can be found at regular retail stores. The proceeds from these stores help the local Habitat for Humanity efforts. According to their website, some Restores fund the building of as many as ten local houses per year. Things donated to Habitat are usually given by supply stores, contractors, and individuals in support of the organization. Needless to say, our stove/oven and dishwasher were a bargain! We are fortunate to have a refrigerator that was left by the previous owner, purchased in 2005.
  
  
  
  

Our cabinets which are obviously serving as really great storage space and coat hangers.

My favorite cabinets are the top glass ones.

• We purchased kitchen cabinets from Craigslist. There are many more than we have a need for which means that we can pick and choose which ones we'd like to incorporate into our kitchen layout and have enough left over for a basement workshop or laundry room. Amazingly, Phil was able to lay them out in a way that will allow us to avoid purchasing any extra "special ones." These too, were a bargain. After getting an estimate for nearly $5000 from Home Depot for cabinets, we were happy to pay $800 to the woman who was selling them on Craigslist. She had never even installed them in her own kitchen and had them sitting in her basement.

Downstairs Bathroom

• Like I said, this is our working bathroom now. It has a toilet and a beautiful small pedestal sink installed and ready to be used. The final touches that we still need to work on are the crown molding and painting the ceiling. And, definitely a very good scrubbing. Clorox anyone?

Bedroom #1

• This is our current storage room. In there you can find anything from a toilet to a book on soap making. It is currently primed but will soon be painted… if we ever pick a color! This room also needs a new window which is yet to be ordered.

Bedroom #2

• This bedroom is almost (!!) done. I was there today and my dad has painted it a Behr "Pensive Sky" color. It is such a subtle light moss green and I just couldn't stop smiling when I walked in. I love it, and the white trim just added to the beauty (thanks, Dad & John!!)

Upstairs Bathroom

Please make note of the flooring and ignore the dust.

• Our friend Phil Markets put in the plywood floor in the upstairs bathroom and the shower frame. The previous shower frame had rotted and definitely needed to be replaced. It is such a treat not to look up in our kitchen and see the (lack thereof) bathroom.
  
• Another thing we purchased at the restore was a Kohler pedestal sink for $55. Phil and I are not often cognizant of the brands on anything we buy, but this time I noticed the Kohler writing on it and, when I looked it up, I found out it retails for around$300! Talk about a good deal.

Upstairs Hallway & Master Bedroom

Christian



Damian

• These two areas have been primed thanks to Phil and Fran Rutz. Oh, and of course, I cannot forget to thank Christian and Damian Juth (our nephews) for their fine workmanship while priming our upstairs hallway. Let's just say that we are thankful that the carpet is coming out after they got their hands on paint rolls and brushes.
  
• The carpet has been ripped out of the bedroom. Yay!
  
• White primer paint has made a world of difference upstairs also.

There are still lots of things to do in our little Cape Cod but everything is being done with love and care. We are happy to have taken this project on. None of the headaches that it has caused have ever amounted to the joy that we feel to own a house that we can make a home together. We so look forward to having the people we love over for a bite and a laugh. The day will come. Sooner than later.

We also can't forget to express our millions of thanks to our great friends and family. Without you guys, this project would not be possible at all. Thank you thank you thank you!

then comes a house

After finding out that the title of this blog was creating some confusion as to Phil's and my intention with our house, I consulted the source of all knowledge (Google) to find out just why. I ran into this little definition:

flipping: v.tr. practice of buying an asset and quickly reselling it for profit

And, ta-da! There lies the reason! I'm at fault for my poor researching habits (aka laziness). I guess I wasn't so clever after all.

To answer the question: No Phil and I are not, by definition, flipping the house. We plan on moving in and living there for 1-25 or 50 years. Just kidding, we just actually don't know how long we'll be there for.

So now I am faced with the task (can I say burden?) of naming this little blog once again. I (we) have decided to call our little blog:

then comes a house

"Why?" you may wonder. To answer THIS question, I will leave you with proof of our first-grade-level kind of humor:

Phil and Esther,
sitting in a tree,
k-i-s-s-i-n-g
first comes love,
then comes a house,
then comes marriage,
then comes a baby in a golden carriage!

And just in case this inspires yet another question about a baby in Phil's and my baby carriage, I'd like to point out that the "then" in this little children's verse implies the unknown future of which we are not yet aware. A baby in a baby carriage will undeniably call for its own blog post when the time comes.

Congrats, John!... not so congrats house.

Congratulations to Phil's brother John who graduated high school this weekend! We are so proud of you. Yet this also explains why there was no work done on the house in the past few days. We'll pick back up in the coming week.

Oh and by the way: the plumbing failed inspection. Wah-wah-wahhhhh. But the needed repairs are little and already being done. The second inspection has been scheduled once again for early this week. Let's pray, pray, pray!

Progress thus far...

We have been making pretty steady progress on the house lately and I have pictures to prove it!

Garbage Removal

My dad is a truck driver and was able to borrow this humon-go (!) dumpster from the company he works for. They use these dumpsters for demolition jobs. We saved ourselves a pretty penny for the rental fee and are only going to have to pay for the disposal charges. We cannot be more thankful for this! It is so great to have these things available to us. We also cannot forget to be grateful for the great friends and family that we can count on. Our friends Mike Giegerich, John Harmon, Phil's brother Andrew, and our brother-in-law Steve came to help us on Saturday 1/10 even amidst the snow storm. Mike, John, and Andrew were able to get all of our garbage into the dumpster including tile, plaster, toilets, pipes, etc. It did not seem like an easy task since I can only imagine how much all of it weighed and we cannot sufficiently express our gratitude.

MORE Wallpaper Removal

Meanwhile, Steve helped me get some more wallpaper down in the master bedroom. Doing wallpaper removal is like dying a slow death, or at least like living in a temporary purgatory. Its dreadful! On the bright side, we got to have some good conversations. This picture is of the area that we worked on. The wallpaper up there is really stuck on! If it wasn't of cacti, cowboys, and Indians I would really consider keeping it to avoid all of this work. We still have some more to take down but as Phil put it "Removing wallpaper in our house is so depressing that we can't have our friends and family do it for us anymore." So now its up to Phil and I to get it down so... I'm taking suggestions on how to incorporate a caricature desert scene into classy bedroom decor.

Bathroom #1

This is the exact light I envisioned in this bathroom. Phil got it without me even showing him what I was thinking about.

Now that I think about it, I notice that it's pretty dark in there. Perhaps we'll have to upgrade the wattage on the lightbulb.

While Steve helped me and the guys worked on filling the dumpster, Phil was able to work in the downstairs bathroom. It is really coming together. Phil has primed the walls and the ceilings are going to be done eventually (we're counting on my Pops for this-- he used to work for a painting company and I hear he is super fast at painting ceilings and windows so we're going to put him up for a test). Our friend Greg Allen put in our light on Wednesday and it looks great! Thanks, Greg!

Indoor Painting

On Wednesday and Thursday Phil was able to take an hour or two in the morning before work to paint a couple of our walls. I walked into the house and felt pure joy at seeing the difference that a coat of (WHITE!) primer paint can make. It is really obvious in the second picture. I still smile when I see it! Just close your eyes for a minute and envision what all of our walls are going to look like eventually.

Now, don't you agree that we might not be in over our heads.

Attempts at a plumbing inspection!

The inspection of the plumbing was scheduled for yesterday, but due to icy steps it was postponed until today, or so we thought! Ends up there was a miscommunication between the muni workers and my beloved. The inspector did not have it on his schedule. What a bummer!! Tomorrow is our next attempt at this. When it is done we can start putting our kitchen's walls up and we can start rebuilding our master bathroom!!

A couple that ... goes to the bathroom together... stays together.

Isn't that how the saying goes?

You can tell we were delirious by the end of the day. It must be all of the fumes we ingested.

We've concluded that moving in together before the wedding is out of the question.

Thank God for Moms and Dads :)

Another wall came down in the house... a first floor bathroom wall. There was too much to patch up... so Phil went at it with (what else) a sledge hammer. He spent a while after that trimming the wires so that we could put in sheet rock. My wonderful dad came over on Sunday and assessed the damage. Not too much. Within two hours he had a wall, insulation, and a ceiling up. He's such a quick worker when you give him a project. It looks great too! It was so nice to see a wall going up instead of down. Like a light at the end of the tunnel!

Phil taking down the wall.

After Poppa Arrieta put the wall and ceiling up.

Our moms have also been helping with cleaning the walls. Its been quite a task. We've vowed never to put wallpaper up... for the sake of whomever purchases our home next. We've used some sort of chemical (DIF?) mixed with water to scrub the wall and then wiped them down with water. We're almost done!! Just one more wall to go in the living room and the master bedroom.

Clean wall... now just imagine it with a coat of primer.