Monday, August 4, 2008

This Old House

I dunno what got into us, but our house renovations, on a hiatus for the past couple of years, have been gaining momentum again.
Firstly, there's the upstairs hall bath that Hubby is redoing (and I've been seeing bits of the progress...It's going to be better than ours. And we have a really nice one!). Then there's the new window treatments we're getting. No more cheapo IKEA ones that are mostly broken, faded, stained, and torn. Nope. We're getting lovely custom woven wood shades and I'm getting new drapes. And then there's the need for a gutter-job done and major fence work. And finally, I've started pricing out what we'd need to redo the downstairs bathroom. That's a job I think I can do by myself. It's small and I actually found a kit that's got everything I need for EXACTLY what I wanted to do...except strip and sand the walls and completely redo them. Yeah, bad blobby paint job with cruddy non-covering lumpy paint. I want to change it from bright red to pumpkin anyway.
We're also looking at new front doors (ours is rusting out) and really the only problem is agreeing on something. Otherwise it'd have been fixed already.
And then I know I need to call someone about the front porch next summer. And we need to replace the storeroom door at some point because it's also rusted out in spots.
And the funny thing is, at the same time? I'm looking at vacant lots and modular home floorplans.
It's not that crazy though, because I know we'll have to live in our current house for several more years. But if a decent lot were to come available I could pay cash for that was in a desirable location? I'd do it in a heartbeat and just let it sit while the houseing market turned around. I've found some that are pretty close to what I want, and I don't think the market's hit bottom yet.
If everything works out as hoped, we'll get the best of all worlds.
I know that I have posted before about jonesing for a historic home that'd be a true project, but with Sasha? And considering another in 2-3 years? It'd be biting off more than we can chew. Better to have haste thru extreme efficiency in a new house that has a floorplan we adore.
I think it's a sign we've gotten into a rhythm as parents and now have been able to find time to do all of these things. I also think it's a sign we've been successful finally in getting back to where we had been, financially, when we were single and living separate. We ran into some bad luck, that didn't last long, but seems to have taken a long time to climb out of. And so all the things we thought "not dire, can wait" can be done now. And for some of them....we can HIRE PEOPLE!!! YAY!

2 comments:

La folle maman said...

Double YAY! It's great that you and your hubby have gotten into a rhythm so you can do things. We're slowly getting there but nothing as adventurous as you've got!

I feel obligated to warn you about a pumpkin colored bathroom. Make sure it's pumpkin and not neon, construction vest orange. I wanted a pumpkin-ish powder room and well, I chose poorly. Let's just say it's a real shocker for guests when they go into that small bathroom and turn on the lights (ask Caramama). It's SUCH a bright orange that guests have even said they see things in green after leaving it because their rods and cones can't adjust quickly enough. So I guess what I'm saying is be careful in choosing the right orange. :)

caramama said...

Ha! la folle maman's bathroom is CRAZY! I really think it's because it's such a small room.

Good luck with your reconstruction! Awesome that you will be able to hire people.