Home Sweet Home

We have done a lot to our house (I need to update our house tour page...it looks different)

Care for a list of what we have done?

Inside:

Hardwoods

Tile floors in entry and guest bath

Full kitchen remodel including all appliances (but fridge), cabinets, counters, sink, faucet ect. 

Full guest bath remodel including sheetrock, bath, fixtures, toilet, floor, sink, hardware, paint, electrical

Paint on all walls in the house

A ton of demolition of old stuff

Back wood french doors

Conversion to gas stove in fireplace

All new outlets and switches in the house

Outside

Level and change slope of backyard

Build gate, arbor

Build Garden

Change out front light fixtures

Demolish front yard (still demolished)

Remove most landscaping plants

Plant some new landscaping plants

Get rid of tons and tons and tons and tons (and tons) of blackberries

Prepare pad in the back of the property for a shop

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There are probably more projects that I cant think of at the moment, but is is safe to say, we have done a ton of stuff to our house. 

Then I was thinking about the things that I would like to complete before I would consider our house "done"

Inside

Finish Baseboard trim, new door trim

Change all interior doors to wood and get a wood door for the front door

Wool carpets in bedrooms

New linoleum for the laundry room, stacked Washer and dryer, floor to ceiling storage system

Backsplash in kitchen

Wine fridge/small sink/coffee area in kitchen

Hide wires for the TV

Complete master bath redo

Double french door to deck in master

Tankless hot water heater

Exterior

New siding (ours is recalled), new exterior paint

Carriage style garage doors

Repaved driveway

Blacktop asphalt anywhere we currently have gravel

Paver path around front of house to paver patio in back

Larger deck with covered screened in area

Landscaping trees and plants

So basically, there is still a lot to do. 

But that really wasn't the point of this post, I let the list get away from me. The point of this post is this. 

I always kind of had my eyes on this being a "starter home" - granted, it really isn't a starter home in the true sense of the word - it's in a great neighborhood, most of the people who live here are middle aged and well established, it is really a nice house and was even before we pretty much demolished and re-did everything and it is on acreage which is super nice. But again, I found myself always dreaming about our "future house." I would even look on the internet for it. And here's the thing - we may well end up moving someday if we end up moving to a different city like say Bend or McCall in the future. 

But here is the realization I had the other day. I really love our house. I love how much like home it has become. I love how "us" it is becoming. I love all the memories we have here from living in it without a kitchen, living on subfloor, one bathroom, being newlyweds, professionals, being pregnant, getting a dog, having a baby. This house really holds so many memories.

In addition, if you notice the list of things we have done and will do, many of them are kind of specialty things. Things that are less about increasing the value of the house for resale and more about making the house a great house for us. Things like wood doors inside and out, wool carpets, tankless hot water heater. These are things that we value but may or may not be viewed of a a value item for potential buyers even though they are "premium" items. 

And for the first time the other day I realized

I can't imagine moving away from here. I really love this house and what is has become and is becoming. 

Craigslist

I (mostly) like craigslist. Nick and I have filled our home with amazing things from CL that would have cost an arm and a leg  had we purchased them new.

Those Natuzzi leather couches (over 4k new), 400 on CL
The microsuede chair and couch (who knows new), 400 on CL
Selling the clawfoot tub, sink and toilet from the guest bath!

But Craigslist has a not so fun side. Coordinating schedules, getting stood up when someone says they are going to come and look at something you are selling, not wanting people in my house or knowing where I live because you have no idea who is responding, etc.

Today, I had a new one. I feel like CL has kind of a code of ethics of its own. You contact a seller, they accept your offer (in the case of my story, full list price), they get other offers which they turn down because you have a time and place set out to meet and you have mutually agreed on a price. Yesterday, that code was broken - here's the story.

I didn't really want a rocker for the baby - but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I did. So, I went to the Goodnight room, a local baby store here in Portland. At GNR, you find the rocker you want, you pick out the material you want and they special order your rocker. I went in on Monday to buy one and found out that the lead time to get one is 8-10 weeks. Yikes! I don't have that! Even if I went 2 weeks over, I would be rocker free for more than 5 weeks which is a long time when you have an infant.

So, I checked CL. There was one that just so happened to come from the GNR in a blue. Not what I would have chosen since we are going to put it in our living room, but you know what? It was going to work! I call the guy, ask if he still has it, yes he does! It is listed at $375. I want it so I don't haggle over the price, $375 it is. We agree to meet at his house at 9am Wednesday (today). I go to the bank, pick up the dough and happily await the next day when I can go get the rocker.

11:30pm rolls around (11:30!!! Hello?? people sleep?) and my phone dings. It's an email from Steve, the chair guy. He is sorry but he received an offer for $400 for the chair and feels like he needs to consider it and would I be willing to match this new price?

Um. OK, call me stubborn or stupid or whatever - it's only $25 - but there is a freakin' code of ethics to CL in my mind. We had an agreement, we had a time set, we were good to go - and then he tells some caller that he has it sold and the person says, $400! And he says yes...not cool.

So I write back "Sell it to the other guy. I am willing to pay list price but not willing to engage in a price war over the rocker." And if you can't tell, I'm annoyed over the whole thing. I mean seriously - you had the rocker sold, then you sell it to someone else and ask me if I would pay more for the rocker when we had an agreed upon price and time to pick up.

So that's my craigslist story for the day. And I am still without a rocker.

Dilemmas

The grass is growing, duh, it's springtime! We have had 3 dry days since February 11, that's right, 3. Our mower battery ran out of juice. Our grass is growing like crazy and we look like that horrible family on the block that hasn't mowed. I sure hope that it is actually dry this weekend like the weatherman says it is supposed to be!

We have a canopy bed in our guest room and an oak and brass bed in the garage that is smaller. I am thinking about replacing the canopy bed with the brass and oak one because we only have 8 foot ceilings  and the canopy bed makes the room look really small, even though I love it. I haven't done the switch yet because I feel like oak and brass is a little geezerly and not really my style but the bed would definitely add dimension to the room. What do you think? 

No, that is not my actual bedding. 

We have some high quality Montana built oak furniture and I am not in love with the oak look, but again, they are super high quality and really nice. Do I just leave them the way they are and just deal with it or do I, gasp, paint them?

And because I want to be able to remember current events, I just wanted to say, my heart goes out to all of the people of Japan who have endured the Earthquake and following Tsunami that killed thousands and destroyed many cities.