A Walk Down Memory Lane: Our First Home Reno

One of the best things about keeping up a blog is that it becomes a history of us. The ups and downs. The accomplishments. The growth. 

This is my 10th year of keeping an account of our life together and it can be such a blessing to look back on where we've been as we also look ahead to where we are going.

Recently Daniel got curious about the first house we ever owned. He was not in Charlotte for the final weeks of getting a new roof, siding and windows, and he also missed out on the actual closing. So he has always felt he didn't get closure when we left Charlotte.

To quench his curiousity, he decided to google our old house to see if he could find photos of the siding updates. It's been 6 years and he was surprised to discover that it is currently on the market. 

We checked out the interior photos online and were pleasantly surprised to learn that very few changes had been made. All of the updates we had worked so hard on have withstood the test of time. 

Which makes us feel good about all of those decisions we haggled so much over!

We have updates we need to make to our current home (some minor, some not so minor), but every once in a while I get the itch to work on a big renovation again (I just don't want to live in it while we do it!). You can click here to read about our renovation process and see finished photos.

Before & After

The siding and roof are finished. It was quite the process to get this work completed. It can be a hassle working with contractors. The up side is that the work generally gets finished quickly {once they start}.

We are sad to be leaving our little house on Morganford Road. We learned a lot through renovating this home and our skill sets have grown tremendously.

I will miss drinking my morning coffee on the deck; sitting in our red rocking chairs on the front porch and chatting with the neighbors; laying in our hammock under the starry sky; taking showers in our AMAZING custom shower {I am always going to compare future showers to this one}; my kitchen {it was small, but I loved the openness and connectivity it had with the great room}; the huge garage made Daniel a happy man...

We really poured our hearts into this home and we are sad to leave. I am sure we will find new projects to take on in the future... maybe our next project will be to actually build a house...

The exterior BEFORE:

It was light yellow siding with red/brown brick, a red/brown roof and white trim.

The exterior AFTER:

I couldn't get great pictures since it is summer and the trees are full of leaves... The house now has dark gray siding with red/brown brick, a slate gray roof and white trim. I think the white trim really stands out against the gray siding.

How I Met My House

We met our house almost 5 years ago. We had been in Charlotte for about 6 months and decided that we were ready to start looking for our first home. We knew that we wanted to renovate, so we were looking for something with good bones. I thought we would flip it and Daniel wanted something we could stay in for a while.

We started out searching the internet and agreed to go to an open house. We were the only viewers and didn't particularly care for the house. But we did sit down with the realtor, Mike, and honestly discussed what we were looking for. Mike was a veteran realtor and lifetime Charlotte native {a rare find}. He didn't pressure us and offered to take us to look at some houses.

We viewed one fixer upper and then Mike called us about Morganford. We drove through the neighborhood and loved it. It was in South Charlotte, not too expensive and had no Home Owner's Association {a plus for us}. We were able to look at it the next day. It seriously needed work, but we were sold. We immediately began dreaming of all the things we could do to it.

The day after our first viewing, we found out that other offers had been made, so we decided to throw our offer in as well. There were a total of three offers on the table and we were allowed the opportunity to rebid. This was a tough decision and we were sad to find out that our offer came in second.

So we went back to the drawing board. We scoured the internet for our perfect fixer upper. And Mike kindly took us to look at potential homes. But we couldn't finding anything that felt right. Not like Morganford did.

A month later, we got a call from Mike asking if we were still interested in the Morganford house. Are you kidding!?!?! YES. We. Still. Wanted. It. The buyer's financing had fallen through AND the seller was willing to sell us the home at our ORIGINAL offer price. We were ecstatic.

We immediately started dreaming again. We have spent the last 4.5 years perfecting those dreams. Through blood {several trips to the ER, including one for a chainsaw accident}, sweat {tons and tons of sweat}, and tears {arguing over paint colors or tile patterns or wanting to be DONE with this never-ending project}, we have finally achieved a home that we adore.

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And now we are moving. 

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It is bittersweet. Daniel was unemployed for one year, before landing a job based out of Chattanooga, TN. He moved March 1 and I am in Charlotte trying to sell our beloved house. We are sad to go. But also looking forward to meeting our next house and all that it has to offer.

The next house has a lot to live up to... 
But God is good and we are trusting that everything will work out.

Join the How I Met My House Party at SuburbanCottage.

What To Do...

Today we met with two very different realtors regarding selling our house. I knew both from my years at Allen Tate and I also freelanced for both of them.

That being said, it was an interesting presentation. It is going to be a hard decision. Both would be excellent choices. It is hard to know which to pick in order to 1) sell our house quickly and 2) get a good price for all of the work we have done.

Thankfully Sophie was relatively calm while these {percieved} strangers came into our home. It is going to be a bit of a pain showing the house since I will have to make sure Sophie is not here when realtors come by. I feel sorry for anyone who attempts to come into the house if she happens to still be here. Both realtors promised me that we would have warning and confirmation of visits ahead of time so that I could remove her from the house... we shall see.

This morning's realtor was extremely prepared. She really knows our target market and our neighborhood. She has a license in appraisals and had pulled a lot of comps to give us a fair assessment of what to expect. It is very important to her that we be up front with any problems with the house.  She is of the opinion that we should go ahead and have estimates on hand of possible repairs that we might have to do {before these things come up}. We are generally in agreement with this approach, but this is a 30 year old house we are talking about.

This afternoon's realtor was more lackadaisical {but not necessarily in a negative way}. He was definitely more relaxed and not quite as researched. We are on the lower end of what he normally sells and he was very upfront about this. He seemed to have higher expectations for pricing and was more inclined to let buyers point out problems and use that as a negotiating tool. This realtor was also flexible with commission - which appeals to the side of us that is about the bottom line and walking away with the most money.

Positives about our home: The bathroom renovations, the openness and the basement "entertainment" area. 

Negatives about our home: Some of our darker choices of paint color {though not necessarily a deal breaker}, and clutter {we plan to clear out the clutter and simplify within reason}. 

Backhanded compliment of the day: "If your house was in another neighborhood, you would get a lot more for it."

There are other positives and negatives about both realtors, it is going to be a tough decision. We hope to decide by next weekend and have the house listed shortly thereafter. Our main goal is to price our home competitively to move it as quickly as possible.

Last Days Together...

Today was our last big push to get the house finished. There are still some minor things to wrap up (mostly touching up paint and lots of cleaning). Since Daniel leaves tomorrow, this means the brunt of this work is now on my shoulders.

Hopefully I will have time to photograph the house and get it posted on Craigslist so we can gauge interest this week. I will also get the responsibility of talking to potential realtors. That should be interesting.

In the past month, Daniel and I have had almost no time to devote to being together. We have been doing what needs to be done, but now that we are at the point where he is leaving, I am feeling very anxious about everything.

I know that we are not the first couple in the history of the world to have to be separated for a job. And we won't be the last. But somehow, that doesn't make it any easier.

We spent the entire day working on house stuff. And now we are both exhausted and sore. Daniel is getting cleaned up and then we will grab a bite to eat. There is laundry to be done before he leaves and we still need to determine what he needs to take with him since he will be driving back and forth every weekend. In general I don't think that we feel very prepared for this ordeal. 

Weekend Stuff

Old pic of Daniel and I playing DDR.

This weekend has been gorgeous . Thankfully we were able to take advantage of the sunshine and get some much needed yard work done. We are trying not to be the neighbors that everyone hates. Anyways, branches from spring storms have been picked up and the grass has been mowed. One of these days we will hopefully have time to start thinking about landscaping.

Today we were also able to get the master bathroom tiling wrapped up. All that is left is grouting and then installation of baseboard, plumbing, toilet and vanity.

I had really wanted to go mountain biking this weekend, but unfortunately we ran out of time. I did manage to spend some time being lazy in my hammock in the sunshine. I am definitely looking forward to more time in the hammock.

Saturday night we went to a cook out with friends. An evening of Dance Dance Revolution, Wii and other video games ensued. The highlight for me was watching uncoordinated engineers trying to do DDR. I can't make fun too much since my Wii bowling skills are as bad as ever (I can't throw the ball straight for the life of me).

House Progress

Friday nights we try to keep open to do fun things. This way our life doesn't consist of only work (at work and at home on our house). So last night we headed out to hang out with my friends from work for an evening of home-made pizza, wii, old-school Nintendo and YouTube videos. It was a good way to kick off the weekend.

This morning we woke up to a wet, dreary day, but tried to motivate ourselves to get stuff done on the house. We succeeded in sealing the basement floor. We should be able to wax it Monday night and then I can start painting it (and we can move our washer/dryer back into the laundry room to do some much needed laundry). Hopefully the following weekend we can install all of the baseboards and then we can check the basement renovation off of the list.

Due to the wet weather, we didn't get a whole lot done with the bathroom tiling - all of the final tiles are prepped for cutting. We just need some warmer days to do it. We may suck it up and try to tile some tomorrow, but we are not holding our breaths as snow is in the forecast which = cold.

We feel pretty good about our dreary-day accomplishments and are going to go see Valkyrie at the dollar theater. We may try to grab paint at Lowes if we have time. Everything is really starting to come together and I can't wait for it to all be done... a party may be in order to celebrate our 3+ years of hard work.

In The Dog House

Yesterday afternoon Daniel went by the Home Depot Design Center to see if there were any good deals as it is closing and everything is supposedly on sale.

While there he found the shower door that we have been planning to buy for 15% off. He called me to make sure we wanted to go ahead and buy it and then proceeded with the purchase. This took a little while since the cashier had to look it up in the computer and confirm that it was in stock. During this time, something along the lines of the following discussion occurred between Daniel and the cashier (as it was relayed to me later).

Cashier: What day would you like to pick this up?

Daniel: Tomorrow.

Cashier (as keys in the date): Hmm... February 14th. Valentine's Day. Are you sure about that?

Daniel: Absolutely. She'll be thrilled. There's nothing she'd like more.

Cashier (with a smile): Well, okay then.....

(Insert long pause here)

Daniel (only half way joking): So if your significant other brought you home a shower door for Valentine's day, you wouldn't be thrilled?

Cashier (laughing): Um no. You have GOT to buy her something besides a shower door.

Daniel: Why? How bad is it to buy a shower door for Valentines? Does that fall into the same category as getting her a toaster?

Cashier: Worse. Much worse. A toaster could be kind of cool. Bringing home a shower door is more like bringing home a vacuum cleaner. Actually, it may be even worse than a vacuum cleaner for Valentine's day, if that is even possible.

Daniel (smiling at this point): So I'm hearing then that tomorrow while I'm out running errands picking this up I should stop and pick up something else for Valentine's day in addition to the expensive shower door that she wants?

Cashier(still trying to figure out if Daniel is joking or serious): At least buy her flowers and a card.

Daniel: Oh. Gotcha.

What the cashier does not understand, and that Daniel did not waste time explaining, is that we don't really participate in the commercialism of Valentine's Day (or any other holiday for that matter). Granted, he did surprise me with dinner of 131 Main last night. But we do not generally buy cards, flowers or gifts and we are fine with that. Also finishing our house is an extremely HUGE present that we have been working on giving ourselves for the past 3 years and it is almost done. The shower door actually contributes to this and we managed to get it on sale... so even though the cashier at the Hope Depot thinks Daniel will be in the dog house today, I can assure you he isn't.

Foot through Vent

So today is a two-for-one in the world of notes for me.

We at the Moore house seem to have bad luck at least a couple of times of year, or maybe we are just plain klutzy. Maybe neither... sometimes things just happen.

We are on Day 2 of some major projects - almost done with tiling the master bathroom and almost done with the basement floor. It has been a heck of a lot of work. To be honest, things just seem to go wrong when we do too much and get tired.

Tonight we were almost finished with our tiling for the evening and Daniel asked me to hand him something. I walked toward him, not paying attention to the floor, and managed to stick my foot through an uncovered vent. I must have placed my foot "just so" because I found myself falling forward with my leg all the way up to my knee hanging through the vent and my arm hitting a bucket of water.

Thankfully it didn't hurt me too bad, mostly just scraped me up. Thanks to the medicine I am taking for my blood clot (back in October), I also experienced some pretty big bruises.

Note to self, don't work when you are getting tired. Too bad you can't just stop tiling when you feel tired... there is always stuff to be cleaned.

Tiling in Wintertime

For some reason our major tiling projects have fallen during the coldest times in the year. Not that Charlotte is a very cold place, it just seems to be extra cold when we tackle a tiling project.

Two years ago, right before Thanksgiving, we tiled our kitchen. Tiling when it is cold outside is actually a plus because while you are working inside you aren't sweating profusely. However the clean up is a real pain, especially because it is normally late in the day and you are dead tired and having to clean tools outside in frigid temps with little light (thank goodness for headlamps).

So here we are, the first day in 2009 and we are tiling our master bathroom. Today feels like one of the coldest days we have had this winter. This morning the water in the hose was frozen and we had to mix thin set in our bathroom. Then tonight, after ten hours of working, we found ourselves outside cleaning tools and hoping we wouldn't get frost bite or pneumonia.

The good news is that we have made really good progress on our bathroom project. The bad news is we still have a lot of work to do.

When we tiled our kitchen I remember that we had the discussion that tiling must be similar to giving birth... the process is extremely hard on your body (painful) but when you finish and get to enjoy the final result, you forget all of the pain you endured.

As soon as the bathroom is complete, I will post more pics... it will probably be a while though.

 

Shower progress so far...

Laboring on Labor Day

So who labors on Labor Day? We do, of course. On the national holiday from taking a break from labor, if you visited us we would probably put you to work as well... you may think I am kidding, but Daniel's dad is visiting and replacing our fence for us.

This particular weekend, you would find us: replacing a squeaky floor... installing sound proofing between two walls... installing fresh drywall to finish a room... tearing out part of an old fence and installing a new one... There were probably other things, I just don't remember them all. So much for a reprieve from labor.

 

Me cutting styrofoam insulation for sound insulation between the two bathrooms. If you look at the next pic, you will see that I am standing over the section that we replaced - the one where Daniel is sticking his head through the floor.

Daniel below the bathroom floor, reinforcing beams before replacing the floor.

Daniel's dad, Wesley, tearing out the privacy fence (behind him). We are going to put in a split-rail fence in this section to match the rest of our fence around our yard.

First Day of Teaching Fall 08

It is almost midnight and I am just finally slowing down. Where did the day go? 8:30am - 5:30pm was work. Then home for a quick dinner with Daniel. Then off to York Tech in Rock Hill to teach my 8:00pm Art Fundamentals class. Then back home.

When I came inside, I found Daniel in the process of trying to finish the kerdi in the shower - our goal is to start tiling this weekend. He was having some trouble so from 9:30-11:00pm I helped with the kerdi installation followed by 30 minutes of clean up.

The frustrating thing is that we have at least one more night of installation. Now I have an aching back and I am REALLY tired. I can't begin to express how happy I will be to have the bathroom finally finished. I am trying not to think about how long the whole process has taken.

Class went really well tonight. One thing I realized is that I talk really fast - I ended up letting class out after 45 minutes. I don't think anyone was complaining.

Would You Do It Again?

This is the question that Daniel just posed to me. Actually, the entirety of the question was, "You know, when we drove to Mark & Carolina's wedding in Mexico? Would you do it again?"

This led into a conversation about tiling our shower (which we are still in progress with). Well, we really had a interesting/fun experience driving to Durango, Mexico, but due to the length of time we took to drive there (72 hours round trip) we probably would not do it again (especially with gas prices where they are now).

We have come to the conclusion that tiling a shower pan and stall (mostly the pan) may be in this same category. While we are glad we are doing it, it has become such a time consuming hassle, that we probably wouldn't do it again.

Whenever we finish the bathroom, I will post pics of the entire process... don't hold your breath for it to be any time soon though. We have several weekends left of work and the last 2 weekends in June we will be gone.

Deal Of The Day

Last Friday, Daniel and I went to a local tile shop to pick up some materials we needed for our bathroom renovation project. While we were there, we checked out their selection of tile because we were still looking for the perfect 2x2 inch tile for our shower floor.

The sales person showed us their tiles and happened to mention that one type was actually on sale. We are always up for a bargain, so we took a look at the sale tile. Out of all of the tiles in the showroom, this particular tile was pretty much what we had been looking for. However, we wanted to take a sample home to make sure before we spent any money.

The sales person said they had about 100 square feet of the tile in stock and that we should have no problem coming by and picking up the 30 sq ft that we needed. We went home and sure enough it was the perfect tile.

So fast forward through the weekend to today. Today, during lunch, we ran out to the tile store again to make sure we got our tile - we were nervous that it might sell out.

After ringing us up, the total for our 30 sq ft came to $200 (and this was the sale price). We went around back to pick up our order. When we made it to the back, Daniel noticed that there was a pallet of our particular tile sitting outside with a sign that said "Verona - 180 pieces for $150."

We thought it was strange that we had just spent $200 for 30 pieces when we could get 180 pieces for $50 cheaper. So we went back to the sales desk to see what was up. The clerk who rang up the order told us that he didn't know what we were talking about and sent us back to the back.

We were a bit annoyed that we had spent extra money and there seemed to be this great deal just sitting there. So Daniel asked the guy that would be loading the tile for us what the deal was. It eventually came out that the guys in the back had been told to throw out the tile and that they had decided to sell it on the sly (to possible contractors) and pocket the money without the employer's knowledge... Let's just say that the three guys responsible for loading the tile are probably in a lot of trouble.

Finally Daniel went inside to talk to a manager, who was nice enough to refund our money and give us the cheaper price as well as give us ALL 180 pieces of tile. On a side note, while Daniel was inside talking to the manager, the guy he was talking to about the sign went and threw the sign away in a dumpster and then went and got a forklift to move the pallet of tile inside. I guess he didn't notice me sitting there watching him do this. I suppose it was his way of trying to cover up his mistake.

We figured out that if the tile was selling at its full price, it would have cost someone over $3000 to purchase it. We got the entire lot for $150 - a 95% off discout.

Daniel unloaded all of the tile tonight while I cooked dinner - all 700 pounds of it (just a tad more than we need, right?). We are thinking about altering our tile design somewhat to incorporate more of this kind of tile. We are also considering selling some of it... who knows.

It was a great deal - not only did we get an extra 150 pieces of tile, we saved an extra $40 that we originally spent!

Odds and Ends

So I haven't written in a while... not much time, but what else is new? We are slowly continuing to make progress on the house. This weekend, Daniel cleaned the gutters... it is amazing what new uses we can find for our large shopvac - I will post pics later.

The shower floor has now been leveled and the framing is almost done - including an inset for bottles and shower stuff as well as a corner bench. It feels good to make progress of any kind.

This past week, Daniel and I spent some time doing things we enjoy: On Tuesday night, I skipped out on preparing for my Wednesday class so that we could go to the movies - it felt great to do something besides work and I still managed to get my stuff done for class.

Then Thursday night and Saturday night, we stayed up watching 2 discs of season 3 of 24... this meant close to 8 hours in front of the TV, but I don't feel bad... we rarely watch TV anymore so it was kind of a treat.

Thursday was the last day of a co-worker of mine. We celebrated by cooking chocolate chips pancakes on a griddle in the office for breakfast. Following this was lunch at a local bowling alley where I proved just how terrible I am at bowling (Wii and real life). It was a nice way to send someone off. Our creative director even got us matching bowling shirts with our names embroidered on it. I know that the person leaving will be missed, but from experience, sometimes you just have to move on... even if you love your co-workers and your job. Personally I think we are blessed to live in a time and place where it is ok to venture out and try new things.

Remodelling...

Well, we are back at it. Sort of. We are finally starting to make some progress on the master bathroom. I think the last time that we worked on it was when my parents were here in August.

This weekend the goal is to get the backer board installed in the shower and the cement for the custom shower tub poured (with the drain installed).

If all goes well this weekend, next weekend we will install the liner that will go over the concrete. Then we have a weekend off to take a gun safety class (this is Daniel's idea)... Then the following weekend I will be in Chicago... And then maybe the last weekend in April we will actually have the bathroom tiled...

Generally things RARELY turn out as planned, but that is the tentative schedule for the master bathroom renovation. I am ready for it to be done already. We will see if we are able to stick to this schedule or not.

No More Racoons In Our Chimney

So last weekend we (meaning my sister, Angela, and I) rearranged our basement so that we were able to use our fireplace for the first time in 2 years! When Daniel went to open the flume to the chimney so that he could start a fire, he saw a gray and black tail and two beady eyes.

Unsure of how to remove the raccoon from the chimney, we decided that if Daniel beat on the metal flume door with the iron poker that the raccoon would get scared or annoyed at the noise and leave. This worked beautifully and we were able to have our first fire last weekend while Angela was visiting.

This week Daniel decided that we should cap our chimney to prevent future inhabitants. So we went through the drill with me banging on the metal door with the poker while Daniel went up on the roof to put the cap on. So now we can have fires and not worry about strange little animals being in the chimney.

 

Current view of the basement. Whenever we get around to the renovation, 

we will make this area into our game/media room. It is 600 sf shaped like an L.

New Compound Miter Saw

Daniel is ecstatic. Today the new compound miter saw arrived via UPS. I would say our new saw, but that would be like saying our new china hutch. While technically that is true and both of us will in some way use both of these items, in reality, the hutch is mine and the saw is Daniel's.

Daniel is like a kid who just received a favorite new toy. He could not wait to take it out of its packaging and put it together in order to start "playing" with it. But first things first, we had to spend several hours cleaning and organizing the garage so that we would have a place for the gargantuan saw and stand (the stand is about 6 feet long).

Anyways Daniel is very happy with the new purchase and cannot wait to be able to start using it on house projects! For those who are concerned... this saw is a very safe saw (unlike chain saws and table saws).

Weekend Update

We have managed to accomplish quite a bit this weekend. I am happy to report that door casings for our coat closet and pantry have FINALLY been installed and doors hung. We also managed to install all of the baseboard in the great room/dining area - this is a major accomplishment and it looks fantastic. It is truly beginning to feel like a home instead of this insane, never-ending renovation project.

We also went out and purchased a china cabinet for me with my birthday money. I am really excited to finally be able to put away my china (which has been stored in 2 rubbermaid containers for the past 5 years).

I am really looking forward to seeing family for Thanksgiving - we will be headed to Searcy on Tuesday and I can't wait to see my family!!!

Trip To The ER Part II

Daniel's bandaged thumb.

 

We had our second trip to the ER today when Daniel cut his right thumb on a saw blade.

I was out running some errands and received a call from Daniel at 2:45 saying I need to get home as fast as I could. 15 minutes later, the house was locked up and we were on our way to the ER.

The ER was pretty busy - we had to wait almost an hour before we were actually called in. We spent a total of 4 hours at the hospital - a lovely October day wasted waiting on people to see us.

Daniel is doing fine - he had three stitches put in his right thumb. He is worried about how to do the following things with his left hand:

1) Shave
2) Take care of business
3) Brush his teeth
4) Use a keyboard and mouse
5) Write