PROGRESS!

Hip Hip, HURRAH! FINALLY, we closed on the house Friday. All went smoothly, but we were sweating bullits after all the horror stories we had heard about HUD FORECLOSURES. The house we bought has been sitting empty for two years.  It was love at first sight because it was exactly what we were hoping to find - a modest house in a nice country neighborhood with a little land, but not too much. And it had a very open floorplan with lots of windows and two bathrooms.  Even more important, the price was right!  We had to submit a bid, along with many others. When I asked the realtor how to decide on our bid amount, she just said, "How bad do you want it and how high can you go."   THAT was the question. How bad did we want it?  We wanted it BAD!

Three days later, we were notified that we had won the bid. EXCITING DAY!  And then...we waited...and waited...and WAITED SOME MORE! There were problems with getting Title insurance because the property was located in Mongomery County and the city was listed as Conroe, but the mailing address was actually Cleveland, and that is in Liberty County. Very confusing but suffice it to say that approximately 90 days later it is a done deal and we are no longer homeless!

The Well guy was Johnny-on-the-Spot when we arrived at our new home Friday afternoon, and 3 hours and two-thousand dollars later we had  WATER!  Someone had stolen the well pump while the place was empty. Someone had also stolen interior doors, light fixtures, stove and anything else that wasn't tied down. The previous owner? Who knows?

The AC man showed up early Saturday morning to do some basic repairs and maintenance, and man, did that cool air feel GOOD!  I started painting the kitchen. The interior is/was quite colorful. The entire kitchen was lime green. We currently still have a purple master bedroom wall, a hunter green wall in the living room and a barn red wall in the adjoining study.  Each room and color is visible from any of the other rooms, so this was a bit of an issue for me, though Talyn (age 4) was disappointed when we painted over the last of the green. She told us she "wanted me to keep the RAINBOW HOUSE!  

BEFORE:

AFTER:  The kitchen is not decorated yet, but it is painted and ready to receive the stainless steel refrigerator and stove on Tuesday!  I love the new look. So much lighter.

Blue and White always looks so fresh and clean. Nothing but BLUE SKIES ahead!  My daughter-in-love came over yesterday and finished painting the kitchen for me. THAT girl is AMAZING. She did not use tape. Free-handed the edges and it looks beautiful. Wish i could do that! 

As of today, Monday, we have water, air conditioning, and a new aerobic septic system.  But, did I mention that when the water was turned on, the toilet in the Guest bath leaked - A LOT, and there was a big leak under the sink. The well man said he had closed the valve so water would not go to the house, but because the valves weren't operational..well...splish splash! We were taking a bath, long about Saturday night.  And...it wasn't RELAXING!

The plumber came today. And now...we have WATER, and NO LEAKS! We also have indoor plumbing which is a very good thing to have.  Tomorrow?   Choosing a new toilet for the guest bath, as the existing one had a crack in it!  And I don't think I mentioned that the tub must be replaced as well.

We STILL love our house, and are so excited about it...But we are now calling it by a new name  -LAST DOLLAR HOLLER! 

Still waiting to close and making plans.

NEWSFLASH:
 Well, my friends and family, word on the street is that we might actually get to CLOSE on our house this week! FINALLY! We have been waiting for what seems like FOREVER, but has actually been less than 90 days (but not by much!). Now that it seems to actually be happening, I feel like we are NOT READY! Isn't that CRAZY? I guess the truth is, I may not be ready for ALL THAT WORK. Hope we haven't bitten off more than we can chew! It was love at first sight with this place, but you know what they say: LOVE IS BLIND.

 

The outside of our little house is in decent shape. Just needs some TLC and landscaping, but the inside...well...that's another thing!

 

 

Though you may not be able to see it in this small photo, the interior features an art gallery - Crayon on the walls, the window sills, the doors and even the cabinets!

 

If you know of a good way to remove crayon before painting, please let me know.  I've tried WD-40. It worked, but it left a grease spot, which will be worse than the crayon to try to paint over.  I also tried magic erasers. They work pretty good, but disintegrate very quickly, and those things aren't cheap! The VOLUME of crayon would require us to float a loan for magic erasers, so I am looking at other options. So far the  GOOF OFF product purchased at Home Depot seems to work best, and a little goes a long way.

 

 

We will start work in the kitchen. I have decided to paint everything a pure white for now, including the ceilings. Then it will be easy to add accent colors as we have time and energy. I want to sit a spell in my home and get a real feel for it before the real decorating is begun. We just need to get things CLEAN and ready to move furniture in right now. IF we close this week, we will have just over a month to get the place move-in ready! Our house-sitting job in Willis ends on September 1st or thereabouts. Willis is about 20 miles from our new place so it is easy to go over for the day and work.

 

...and speaking of spending time inside the house, as you know, that is not allowed until after closing at least not unless we call our realtor and have her drive 45 miles to the house to unlock it.  So, when she opened up the house for us several weeks back, she asked us to be sure and lock the doors before we left.  I promised to do so, AND I DID. However, She never said a word about making sure all of the windows were locked.  Just so happens, the large window on the front porch was unlocked.  We have been climbing in as needed to measure rooms and windows and arrange newspaper furniture on the floor, etc..  And last week...Paul was out in the back yard walking around and FOUND two keys on a ring. Both keys unlock the front door!  It was meant to be.

 

 

 Does anyone know why realtors always open cabinet doors to take pictures of the kitchen? We have seen that A LOT.  Just curious about why.

My plan - always subject to change - is to replace the apple-green color with white, darken the wood cabinets a few shades. and to remove the upper cabinets on the back wall (shown below) to open up that space.

 

We will put up some open shelves there if all goes as planned to make it feel more like a farm kitchen. Stainless steel appliances are on my shopping list. I got a great deal on natural linen curtains, sort of  like burlap and in a taupe color from Tuesday Morning (love that place). These will go on the big dining room window and the living room window as well, to frame our view of the backyard and the stable further back, which is currently obscured by weeds and brush at the moment.
 

 We bought this beautiful (to us) door table made from reclaimed wood for the dining room, and have completed a collection of old ladder-back chairs with rush-bottom seats. I will stain the cabinets to approximate this shade of wood. We also found a glass top for the table at a resale shop. I hate to cover the wood with glass, BUT - the surface of the old door has large nail heads and there are crevices that would fill with crumbs if we didn't.

 

Below is another view of our dining room, The door on the left goes to the laundry room and out the back door. The purple wall you see is in the master bedroom.  The interior is quite colorful! It is a very open floor plan - exactly what we were looking for.

 

 

I started this blog as a record of our Pine Shadows Farm adventure.  Will try to keep it updated as time allows, and can't wait until I can start posting the AFTER Pics! Thanks for visiting. Your comments are always appreciated.