My First Home

A Few Before & Afters

2011-06-17T05:49:00.000-07:00

We are still finishing a lot of projects but here it what we have so far....

BEFORE:

AFTER: (Still deciding on a backsplash...)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Still working

2011-03-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

It has been almost 1 year since I moved into my house. It has taken some getting used to not having as much spendable income as I am used to. Still am not awesome at budgeting. Having a place all your own is pretty neat though. You design everything. If you want a room neon green then you can paint it neon green, although i don't recommend that. I am very happy with the way things are turning out. I think when my house is done it will be absolutely gorgeous! Major todos are turning a spare side room into a first floor laundry, stair railing, reverse osmosis, upstairs bedroom, master bathroom, & kitchen backsplash. Of course there is more but that is what we are trying to tackle first. My fireplace has been remodeled and now my dad it working on the water and the stair railing. He is completely AWESOME!!

Indecisons, some help please!!

2010-11-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

As anyone remodeling will tell you, you have to pick & choose what to splurge on and what to save on. Unfortunately I splurged on a lot and have to save some more $$$$ for the bathroom & first floor laundry renos. But everything else pretty much has been purchased and it is just a matter of putting it all together. Kitchen is almost complete. Crown molding is up & shoe has to be finished and I am clueless about what backsplash to put up, so if you have ideas please help me out and leave a comment below!! Also have no idea what to replace the light fixture above the sink with so again IDEAS PLEASE!

The below tiles I liked because they fit in with my more modern kitchen and the gray makes them neutral colored. The entire backsplash with be planks in the gray color staggered.

The tile above the stove is glass tile. I was not sure about glass because I don't like the gray so I'd have to pick a color and that might be a little too much commitment for me. I like sticking with neutrals....but the colors i liked was olive green & slate blue.

Ugh there is that ugly light above the sink!! Help me out guys!! and I did not know what to do with the space above the curtain. Hand a wood sign that possibly says "Cocina" or "Bon Appettit"

Slow Progress

2010-08-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

We have slowed down a lot since I moved in and summer started. This hot humid weather is not helping anything! I'm now living in my bedroom and it is almost does except for the trim wood work and my new doors being painted. :-) My dad is AWESOME!! We still need to do ALOT though. We have to trim the entire house, tile and trim fireplace mantle, tile the new first floor laundry, plumb for the first floor laundry, paint 2 bedroom & laundry, assemble stair railing, install more doors and bifolds, and then we'd move onto the more "wish" like list of things we want to do. We are going to drylock the basement, build a slightly bigger deck and patio, insulate & drywall the garage and maybe put a door in the new first floor laundry like I want :-)

AND I was crazy enough to get another dog. She is a 7 month old chocolate lab.

COCO

Yay for Drywall

2010-07-16T10:20:00.001-07:00

Drywall seems to be the pitt fall. We are stuck on it. Here is just a peek of some of the drywall my dad has taken care of and we still have to finish the two back bedrooms.

Still In The Works

2010-06-22T05:44:00.000-07:00

It has now been 8 months since I bought my house. I am finally living in it, but living in my living room. I wake up pretty early due to the light from the 7 windows down stairs...including the side lights on the front door. That is not so fun, but I do have my own house.

My dad is currently working on my dry wall upstairs. He thought there was water damage but I guess it was really just a bad job putting the roof back on. The wooden beams were slopping. We hired someone to do some drywall and my dad put up the beams. I think that was a few months ago now, but anything in life is worth waiting for right??

I just can't complain because my dad is awesome for helping me and for being able to teach himself how to do all house stuff. On top of that he tries to do it right unlike so many of these do-it-yourselfers.

I am hoping to have the upstairs bedroom painting in the coming weeks. My upstairs bathroom will have to be put on hold because there are so many other things to do and not enough $ to do them all.

This is probably about the time mouse dropping kept raining on him. Then something fell out of the ceiling and my mom screamed...we thought it was a mouse but learned it was a live bat....it was guano (bat poop).

You knew this would happen

2010-05-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

It is the 3rd week in May and I am sleeping at my house, in the living room that is. The house is not done of course. We hired someone to try to fix the drywall upstairs so it is a mess up there. There is carpet protectors on all the floors and drywall dust everywhere. It even made its way down stairs!! My kitchen turns out has a leak in the wall so i can't really use the water yet. So I feel like i can't do much here and on top of that I am coming down with a cold when i never get sick! Geeze!! So we still have to fix leak, install trim, tile fireplace, make stair case, install moulding on cabinets, hide the sides of the cabinets where my dad had to use splints of wood to make the wall even behind them, prime upstairs, paint upstairs, and i am sure there is more. Phew!

It's Been Awhile

2010-05-03T05:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've been slacking on my duties as a blogger. The last month flew by and since my sister will be here in 2 weeks we are hustling like mad dogs trying to finish up my first floor. So far most things have been taken care of. Kitchen is almost done and just need finishing touch ie crown moulding up, hardware put on and back splash. The living room needs the fireplace tiled and mantle constructed. The foyer needs the spindles and hand rail put up and landing wooded. Oh man!! and i mowed my grass for the first time. You get used to a riding mower when you have to mow 1 acre! Hoping soon to have a bonfire!

Paint Colors for Bedrooms, bathroom & laundry room:
We went to Sherwin Williams Grand Opening May 1st and got 40% off all paints!

My new induction slide-in Range from Craigslist

The cabinet hardware we are thinking of putting on

Uh Ohh

2010-03-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

Stopped by my house today to check and make sure no one busted in and stole all my cabinets, appliances, etc. I was just about ready to go when something told me to check the basement, so I walked down the steps to find to my horror the basement had 2-3 inches of standing water. That is right. That stupid sump pump stopped working. My dad ending up having to walk me through the process of taking apart the old one then buying a new one and installing it. Oh geeze! At least I feel I am slowly becoming more handy around my own house.

More Progress

2010-03-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

My Dad is sooooo awesome. All the cabinets he pretty much put in himself with a little help from my brother Michael. I was not crazy about the cabinet color when i picked it out but limited budget = limited colors. I wanted to go with a cream color but somehow white painted cabinets made the more go up 20%. My dad also installed that microwave and of course all the beautiful floor you see! I can't wait, my dad is AWESOME

Flooring

2010-03-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

It is nice to finally see something going into the house rather than being pulled out. I do have to say the part of the floor that is in now looks amazing. I love my wood floor!! Brazilian walnut is awesome! And although I did not like the stain of cabinets I picked up I love them in the kitchen. Everything is coming together in there awesomely (if that is a word). I have a good feeling about this. Once my house is done I think I will absolutely love it.

DAD LAYING PAPER FOR WOOD FLOOR:

BEFORE:

IN CONSTRUCTION:

Excitment in the Sticks

2010-02-09T05:57:00.000-08:00

My mom and I were getting ready to go to my house and do some painting and my dad was already there. A few hours after my dad had been at my house I get a call on my cell phone. It is my dad and he sounds distraught. He says "Jenny, call 911." He continues and tells me there is a car on my pond that has been smashed up and there is a person inside screaming. I call dispatch on the non-emergency line and with my dad on one ear and dispatch on the other tell them what the deal is at my house. I tell them there is injuries and to send rescue. Mom and I then jump into the caddy and race to my house just in time to beat the ambulance there. We waived them all back to behind my house. I think at one point there was 12 rescue vehicles there.

*In the above picture: the tire tracks to the left are those of the the car that crashed. She had gone off the road through my neighbor's front yard missing several trees head on but did hit one of the side of her car jumped their fence and kept going until she went onto the frozen pond. She had passed out while driving.

It gets worse before it gets better, right?

2010-01-31T18:57:00.000-08:00

Alright, so the kitchen is officially M.I.A. Dad and Michael tore them out. ::Sigh:: So I have no kitchen now. But that means my new one is coming!! Tomorrow actually...the cabinets are being delivered! Yay! and I have no floor on the main part of the house. The wood will be getting installed in the next coming weeks. I can't wait to see them. I love my brazilian walnut! Can't wait to see my kitchen all put together, i am hoping it is gorgeous.

My Kitchen- empty

Half Bathroom -empty

Longer than I thought

2010-01-20T06:44:00.000-08:00

So I have not updated in awhile. As can be expected with Christmas and my sister and her husband just visiting for a baby shower for my new nephaew. Progress has been slow on the house. Seems like everything that is done uncovers another project and with me not knowing how to do anything without my dad makes for even slower progress. But we did get my water system put in so my water no longer is orange and smelling like sulfur. Yay! And the living room, hallway & kitchen are ready for paint. It is now just up to my sister to pick out my colors...since i am terrible with picking things that flow together.

Bye Bye Stair Case Wall

2009-12-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

So my stair case does not have spindles rather it is a wall. My mom did not like it that way and said it looked stupid. She said we should tear it down and put spindles in it's place which would open up the area. Sounded like a good idea, but i thought we would do that project later. Well if anyone knows my mom she gets a little ambitious. In any event she decided she wanted to do demo and there it went...

House work is never done

2009-11-29T07:44:00.000-08:00

I am learning you are never done with fixing up your house. I thought i would be in my house in 1 month. That is so not the case. My cabinets are going to take 8 weeks to get in stock. So much for being in for Christmas! Dang it! But here are a few more pictures of the work we are doing!

And that piece of molding is to show you how great the previous owners were at painting...needless to say I am replacing all the molding thru-out the house.

It's Coming Along...slowly

2009-11-17T06:59:00.001-08:00

It's been approximately 2 weeks since I became a home owner and I am starting to come to realization with what that means. I can no longer afford anything. I had a good chunk of money saved up, so I thought, for renovations. Turns out it was not enough, would have been enough if it was just the kitchen though, but I need a variety of things. I need water softner, iron extractor, water heater, paint, new moldings, new floor, new cabinets, counter top, fireplace mantel, and possibly a bathtub. It would be really nice to remodel the bathrooms too, but I am still working on the first list...sheesh! But here are some pictures of what we have been up to.

What do you think of my purple door?

Fix Up

2009-11-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

Fixing up the house has begun and I am now rethinking my whole "be in a month" plan. I don't think that is going to happen with everything we have to do. The ceilings have to be repaired with the dry wall because because the previous occupants did a horrific patch job. We are also now replacing the floor too. I guess we are really good at adding work to our already packed to do list.

My mother being totally disgusted with the paint on the moldings

My mom and dad tearing apart the ceiling with the terrible patch job.

Work Begins

2009-11-03T06:48:00.001-08:00

We are passed our first weekend of having/working on the house. Although I am currently off on Thursday & Friday so i was not very helpful. We cleaned a little and scrapped the walls. My mom and dad also weeded my yard. But here is the starting point:

New Homeowner

2009-11-01T06:11:00.000-08:00

I closed on the house 0ctober 28th, 2009. Everything in this family seems to happen on the 28th! Shortly after signing the million papers, or 20 pages, we went to the house because mom wanted a picture of me in front of it. I was annoyed with the idea, but you can plainly see that in the picture. So it is offical, I am a homeowner. One huge step towards responsibility and growing up. Now onto the remodeling/cleaning the house. I am hoping to move in in 1 month.

PS. anyone else think I look like Aunt Barbie here?

Now what?

2009-10-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

Day before closing I am getting a little excited but mostly anxious and scared. My mortgage broker called and said "We have a problem." My reply "Of course we do." Since that has been the theme of this real estate transaction is problems. Apparently the mortgage holder said they never received the paperwork for my down payment assistance program. So there are two options...go ahead with the closing tomorrow or have everything resubmitted which will take another 3 weeks. Well come to find out I was getting an extra large check from work I was not expecting and that would've blow the deal so I had to close the next day which meant pay more tomorrow and each month. Damn the man!! He wins again!!

That is broke too, huh?

2009-10-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

After learning that my hot water heater was broken due to the flooded basement at one time. My realtor decided to write an addendum to the bank asking for them to fix the broken items at the home which included hot water heater, pump under the laundry basin and the sump pump. It took I think 3 weeks, tons of emails, and phone calls later, but finally got an answer on the addendum. It was no, since I had had an appraisal done and it came back less than the house price I offered they reduced it to the appraised price and felt that was good enough. What a nice little bank!

A few weeks later my mortgage was being sent to rural development for approval and I found out I needed a water sample, which was after the bank decided to winterize the house; awesome! So after talking with the bank AGAIN we got one and dropped it off at the lab. 3 days later it came back with bacteria...so we had to retest...another 3 days later it was clean. During the the chloranation of the water is when we discovered a problem with my well pump. Only the well guy said he wouldn't know the exact problem or how much the fix was until they took the actual pump out. The price could be 200-900$ fix. Guess who did not care....the bank!

Inspection

2009-10-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

Inspection day was August 25th. Had a company called Regal come out. They said my roof was a 30yr roof and had only been used for 4yr and that my siding was above code. Although my garage is not insulated and the fuse box is in it, so I will freeze when I have to go reset that guy. They also found my water heater to be broken along with a pump underneath my laundry basin. They told me that was probably due to the basement being flooded at one point. Yea, flooded....awesome! Other than that the house was in fine condition, and I would hope so too being built in 94.

Below would be my awesome kitchen that my mother and grandfather adore...those cabinets are partical board and the knobs are little apples...Needless to say I have plenty of people telling me to ripe those babies out!

What happens now?

2009-10-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

After finding out I was the winner so to speak of the house I found out the bank wanted $3,000 EMD rather than the normal $1,000 and since I really liked this house I willingly gave it up. My mortgage broker was worried we may be in for a long hall and frustrating ride because of the power network behind the house. She thought maybe the insurance company would not cover me. Fortunitaly there were no problems there.

Upon acceptance of the offer my realtor felt we needed more time to get my mortgage underwritten because it had been taking 30 days or more. We wrote an addendum to the bank asking for an extension because it ate up 1.5 weeks just trying to hear back if I got the house. Closing was scheduled for Oct. 9th.

A few weeks into the process my mortgage broker suggested I sign up for a class through Lighthouse Community Development. They had a new program for first time home buyers, they were helping with down payments giving $5,000 to those who qualified and had $1667 of their own money to put down on the house. As it were I qualified and had the money, only catch was you need to attend 3 money saving/budgeting classes and a one on one budget session. And so I embarked on my home-buying journey.

The Find

2009-08-31T07:34:00.000-07:00

After loosing several houses that I liked, most of which my Dad hated, I stumbled upon one in Springfield twp that was everything I wanted. Well, except it was located by railroad tracks and by the consumers energy land. Being a new home buyer I guessed I had to compromise one something for my price range.

My mom and I looked at the house 2 hours after I received an email notification of the listing. It was on 1 acre, 1600square feet, basement, 2 car attached garage, fireplace,built in 1994, 3 bed rooms and 1.5 baths...Everything I wanted, but it was very dirty and needed a few updates. Even needing these things made it better than most of the other houses I'd looked at for the last 8-9 months.

I placed an offer on the house. 5 days later got word back that the bank wanted last best offers because there was many offers on the house. I consulted with both mortgage broker and Realtor and sent in the last offer. Another 4 days later got the news that the house was mine.

The Hunt

2009-08-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for 8-9 months now. Lost about 6 houses to either another bidder or I was unable to bid due to a major problem with the home. I lost a few houses I liked and didn't want to compromise on what I wanted in a home. Was 1300+ square feet, basement, 3 bed rooms, 1.5 baths, 2 car garage, and a large yard so out of reach in Clarkston? Guess so.

I learned through this process that if you don't have a ton of money you are probably going to have to compromise on something so when I bid on this current house I went all in. I bid over the asking at the highest and best call. The house was everything I wanted, except next to train tracks and a power plant area owned by consumers energy. Turns out I got the place. Some days I am very excited, some days I have scared. Today is a scared day. I have yet to get my mortgage to under writing and the closing date keeps changing.

The Beginning...

2009-08-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Was not even thinking about getting a home, let alone moving out, until I convinced my mom to drive down to Jackson County Animal Control. There she was cuddle into the corner on her mat. Such a sad face surrounded by her own feces. We had the attendant open the door and out she came putting both paws on my moms legs as she knelt to the ground to peer into her glowing eyes. This was followed by many licks to the face. From then on my mother couldn't bear the thought of her being put to sleep any day.

Upon arrival at home we shortly discovered my dog, Phoenix, hated the new girl. This led the the statement about getting a house. I brushed off the topic. Awhile later I found myself looking online at houses for sale in the area. I found some for $34,000. This is when I decided maybe I should check into this a little more seriously. This is where it started...