Closets

Yes. This is a topic in and of itself. A topic I very, very much like. So our lovely, little house has 10 closets! They are distributed around the house like this...

• One closet by the front door
• One closet in bedroom #1
• One closet in bedroom #2
• One closet in the downstairs hallway
• Three closets in the upstairs hallway (two full length and one half length... possibly for shoes!!)
• One closet in the master bathroom
• Two closets in the master bedroom (his and hers? perhaps. hers and hers is more like it. just kidding)

At the beginning of our house search, our brother-in-law Eugene advised us not to underestimate the worth of storage space. I have to say, there were points when I deliberately ignored Eugene's advise. Particularly, with one house we saw, and seriously considered, I found myself saying "I can live with one closet..." But now that I see what a blessing storage space is, I know what Eugene was talking about. It is one of the best qualities of our house. Plus, more room for new shoes, right Phil?

More projects: The bathrooms

Bathroom #1

We love the fact that we have TWO full bathrooms... but with two full bathrooms, comes a lot of work. The first floor bathroom is being partially re done. This is the process so far. Notice the DISGUSTING toilet... among other disgusting things you may see.

Before...

Currently...

I especially love the pedestal sink, but the not-so-yellow toilet comes in at a close second. Phil got these on Craigslist for $50!... a great buy that saved us a lot of money. We have really looked around for some of the things we need. Toilets and sinks, for example, would have cost us $200-$300... This set also comes with a porcelain mirror.

Bathroom #2Our second bathroom isn't much of a bathroom right now. Its more like boards and pipes. With the help of a lot of our (guy) friends -- Fran Gallic, Paul Scarfone, Frank Guido, Mike Temple, Phil Margetts, our brother-in-law Eugene-- we gutted the bathroom and now it will be entirely redone. It will eventually have a stand-up shower, off-white toilet and an off-white vanity sink.

Projects so far...

In the two and a half months that we have owned our house we have been very slowly been making progress on the many projects that we have to finish by our dream date of May 3... the day I have to move in.

Removing Wallpaper

Removing wallpaper was our number one goal for the first weekend we had the house. Phil and I spent twelve hours one day taking it down from our living room, kitchen, two first floor bedrooms, and part of the kitchen. Some came off very easily, but some of it was stubborn... especially when there was TWO layers packed on. We decided to never do wallpaper in any of our homes... no matter how pretty it'd look.

Kitchen

My dad came over on the first weekend we had the house and knocked the kitchen cabinets off (yes, the ones behind us in the picture above). The stickers had to go too, sadly. I think the men in our lives have enjoyed the manual labor involved... especially the one involving sledge hammers. There was also a wall between the tiny kitchen and the tiny dining room. Phil (with a sledge hammer) knocked it out so now we have an eat in kitchen.

Our friends have been awesome throughout this entire thing. We are SO lucky to have such great people in our lives!! Phil and our friend Mike took down the kitchen plaster walls one Saturday and our friend Tim, a plumber waiting for his license, was so great and did all of our plumbing on nights and weekends with some help.

Flipping 429

The name of this blog very simply (and I like to think cleverly) states the project which Philip and I have recently undertaken: we are flipping the cutest little house which we own as of last October (the 24th to be exact).

Flipping 429 Brook Court has been quite the ambitious project for Phil and me. It has been the biggest project either one of us has ever been a part of and it is taking place during a very busy time in both of our lives: with Phil's two jobs, my school (now a thing of the past), my job, and our wedding in the planning, among other normal "life things" of course.

Yet despite the constant search for time to do more work, the seemingly endless writing of checks and requesting of estimates, and the filthy work days (of which there have been far too few), Phil and I are so happy to have a little house to call our own and where we can start our lives together.

When you see the pictures of the (lack thereof) walls, holes in the ceiling, paint scraping and wall paper removing, you may, very understandibly so, conclude that Phil and I are lunatics for claiming that this is a very happiness-filled season in our lives. But we'd like to share this with you all just the same.

We hope that in a few months, you, like us, will rejoice in witnessing our finished product.