First Phase of Home Improvements

As soon as we moved into our house, home improvements began... Closing on the 13th to moving in on the 17th does not leave much time for house preparation for family visitors arriving on the 23rd. Thus, we began the cleaning and improvements in the areas that would be the most immediate and quickest to complete.

Our walls were filthy. It was almost as if someone took their dirty feet and rubbed them against the wall to clean them. Gross! Then the previous residents had an artist amongst them, so the drawings had to be cleaned off the walls too. And last, but not least, dried snot could be found on the walls as well. Yea, I didn't take the last part off but delegated the task to Michael. You might ask, why not just paint over all of this? Well, paint doesn't stick very well to dirty walls; therefore, we had to clean before painting.

We have also done lots and lots of yard work. The fallen foliage from autumn littered the ground which meant raking for us. Leaves cannot be left on the ground in the winter because they kill the grass, and if it snows, the grass gets killed even faster as there would be two layers on top of it. Our next big steps are weeding and trimming back our trees which appear to be taking over the yard!

One thing we did which really helped the look of the home was to replace several light fixtures. Many of them were originals from when it was built in 1979. My favorite replacement was the hall light at the top of the stairs. The original looked like a lazy-susan with 3 bulbs attached to it. For those who do not know what a lazy-susan is, it is a corner cabinet with 2 turny things inside to be able to get to everything in the cabinet. I personally think they are really cool, but not as a light fixture. No, the light did not turn, but it may as well have. Needless to say, it was replaced as well as the kitchen, guest bath, front door, and foyers lights to something much prettier and modern.

Our biggest purchase for the home thus far has been a new HVAC. The week between closing and moving I had many work men come out to fix things up while the house was empty. We cleaned the air ducts and had the old HAVC's coils cleaned to help everything run better. However, the coil cleaning led to something bigger the complete demise of the heater. So, what did we have to do 3 days after moving in? You got it, replace the HVAC which is a couple thousand dollars. We could have just replaced the old part, but would have cost a third of a new one. Plus, there could have been more things wrong since it was not properly taken care of by the previous owners. As my mother says, "The joys of homeownership!"

Well, I'll take it because we love our house!