Thursday, November 19, 2009

Say a Little Prayer

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If you're reading this, then please, please, PLEASE say a little prayer for us tomorrow (friday). It's closing time... sorry. Too many songs going through my head.

We're very excited to have the bank make out our check, take a final walk-through and head to the settlement table. Ok - and a little nervous, too.

Next time you hear from us, we will be jingling the keys to our new house (fingers crossed - knocked on wood). And that means some new pictures with some paint on the walls!

See you on the flip side!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Awkward Yard Sale

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Yesterday after church, Rob and I decided we would drive by our house, since it wasn't too far out of the way and we had our friend Barry visiting and wanted to show him at least the outside of our VERY soon-to-be new place. It was a gorgeous day, after all. As we approached the house, we saw a huge rental dumpster outside, and a yard sale in the driveway. Rob decided we should stop... AWKWARD is the only way I can describe how I felt.

So for a few minutes, we nonchalantly browsed around as typical yard salers would. And then we noticed that the upright freezer was for sale... too good of an offer that we couldn't pass up on. So Rob approached the sellers (daughters of the woman who owned the house and passed away) and told them we'd like to purchase the freezer and a few other things. They said, "Do you have a truck?", to which Rob shared that we were the buyers, to which their response was "Well, why didn't you say something?!" (in a nice way). My shy self was looking at an assembly of baskets far from where Rob was striking the deal, but the awkwardness in the air soon cleared and we all introduced ourselves to each other. So for $50 (in addition to all the money we're already shelling out to them to buy their house) we got an upright freezer and 1940s upright refrigerator (think Mad Men) that we will keep in the garage and use to stock up on bulk deals and frozen soup and beverages for parties, a four-drawer filing cabinet, a large sturdy basket, garden hose, lawn seed spreader, metal trash can, set of fireplace tools, and ember glass table lamp (which I think will look great with a new shade!). And the REALLY great thing was that we were able to just keep it all there.

As Rob was toting some of our bargains out to the shed, two of the women were asking me where we lived now, etc. and I shared that we had just gotten married in April and this would be our first house. One of them said, "Well, I think Mother would be very pleased", and another said "We hope that you will have a very happy life here." I know they are still grieving the loss of their mom, and I'm sure it was nice for them to be able to feel more assured that a nice young couple who will take care of the place are the ones moving in. So what started as a pretty awkward situation turned into something very positive, and not only for us.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Top 10 List

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In an attempt to help myself remember all the things I am "wanting" at certain points in time during our house renovations/redecoration, I hope to post one of these collages every once and a while, with links below the collage to remind myself what store has what, and (more importantly) how much it all might end up costing us... what room we plan to use it in, etc. Maybe it will help give you an idea, too! A blog, after all, is for the reader, right? :)
(click on the image to view a larger version)

1. A GORM storage unit from IKEA similar to this one will hopefully provide some useful organization space in our HUGE unfinished basement. Maybe next to the laundry center we hope to create?
2. There's currently a pretty outdated glass prism chandelier above the space where our kitchen table will go, so we'd like to install this brushed steel pendant light from Lowe's.
3. 2 or 3 pendant lights from Lowe's for above our sink, to coordinate with the larger pendant light and fit in with the stainless steel appliances we're also hoping to get some day.
4. Also on our shopping list for our next IKEA trip is this NORBO drop-leaf table in beech, which will get mounted to the basement wall and be a great place to fold laundry or use for other projects in which a table would be helpful!
5. We recently purchased this great 3-piece rug set at Bed Bath & Beyond for just $80 (after our 20% of coupon) and actually had a GC, so it was virtually free! The set - sorry, couldn't find a link - consisted of an 8x10 area rug, a runner for the hallway, and a 2x3 entryway rug. We're planning to use this set in the living room, hallway and at the front door for a consistent look in the living area.
6. A few months ago, we purchased a black canopy bed at The Dump for just $195, but are still using our mish-mash of dressers and nightstands from college apartment life. The clean lines of this HEMNES nightstand from IKEA will look great next to our new bed!
7. To accompany our nightstand, and a dresser we currently have that is teal (which we plan to paint black eventually - stay tuned for a before & after project!) is this modestly-priced HEMNES chest of drawers.
8. We're looking for a set of chairs to use in the living room to complement our mink-colored soft leather reclining sofa. We don't have our heart set on these armless tan velvet accent chairs from Target, but it's a start.
9. I love this simple waffle-weave white shower curtain from Target. White goes well with a pink bath tub, right?
10. Last but not least, there's a little nook in our kitchen where I'd like to put this hutch of sorts - SMADAL bookcase from IKEA with doors. I plan to store all my cookbooks in here, as well as use it as more storage for the kitchen. Can't wait for our Christmas Break trip to IKEA-ville!

Preparing to Paint

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With one week until closing, we're gearing up to get our paint on next weekend, as soon as they hand the keys to our new place over to us! Our front porch is currently home to 16 gallons (6 for the ceiling, 10 for the rest of the house) of paint and a bag full of painting supplies. Next weekend, we plan to tackle the master and guest bedrooms, our home office, and the living room/hallway. Here's a sneak peak at our paint colors...


Friday, November 6, 2009

Ode to the Phils

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Now that the baseball season is officially over, we are glad we have the soon-to-be new house to keep us occupied until spring training begins. The Phillies were the second best team in baseball this year, and that's nothing to mope over. We're proud of them for making it into the World Series for the second year in a row. Good fans support their team through wins AND losses, and so we'll continue our love affair with the Phillies despite their heartbreaking loss. I'm sure they feel worse than their fans.

We both got to enjoy a National League Championship Series game shutout win, and Rob and his brother went to Game 3 of the World Series on Halloween. So we had a pretty lucky postseason getting to see our team live.

Maybe sometime in the future we'll be able to afford season tickets so we don't have to base our attendance on luck, but who knows when that will be... too many home improvement projects loom ahead, I'm afraid.

A picture from the past, in honor of our fightin Phils...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Tape, Newspapers and {Empty} Boxes

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Two and a half weeks until closing on our house, and I have less than 3 boxes packed. And so far, I've only packed books. I've searched the web for "moving tips", thinking that would put me into the mood to begin the process that I am all-too-familiar with. I have been collecting boxes from work for weeks now, and we've been saving the Sunday paper (sans coupons) and got tape and some Sharpies with a $10 Target GC that we got when we got the newspaper subscription. So I've got the goods. The problem is the lack of desire to actually PUT things IN the empty boxes. I don't know what it is about starting to pack that makes me so unmotivated. I am usually ready for a big change like this, and although I can enthusiastically say that I am MORE than ready to move, I just feel overwhelmed (?) about packing.

Maybe when the Phils win the World Series, Rob will want to help.

Most likely, the day before the truck gets here, we will be tossing things in boxes randomly.

This past Saturday, we purchased 16 gallons of paint that will get us started on getting the house ready to move into before we actually move on Thanksgiving weekend. 6 gallons of s ceiling paint, 2 gallons of Dusty Gold, 2 gallons of Harvest Brown (a tan tone), 2 gallons of Tate Olive, and 2 gallons of Bradford Brown (think brown and eggplant, mixed). We tried to choose natural colors so that we could bring the view from the outside in, since we have such great natural light and wonderful views of fields out of most of our windows.

In preparation for pulling out the old, nasty carpets, we have been purchasing, collecting, and searching for area rugs... a sometimes arduous task.

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