Before & After

We closed on the MD house on July 12th, had a beer to celebrate, and then got to work bright and early the next morning. Some of the things we did aren't pretty or obvious, but since they were expensive and necessary, I'm going to include them.

Like the new hot water heater.

The termite treatment was also fairly pricey, but I do feel some peace of mind knowing that those awful little insects are no longer chewing the house out from under us.

Some things weren't expensive, but did involve a lot of work and sweat, like tearing up the grubby white sculptural carpeting and rotting padding. This took us a day and a half, including pulling out thousands of staples and tack strips, but the hardwood floors that were underneath were well worth it. They are one of my favorite things about the house.

Living room before

Living room after

We shopped for new furniture, and made multiple daily trips to Walmart, Lowes, and Home Depot. We had an appointment to have new carpeting installed in the bedrooms and that went well. We hit our first big glitch with the team that was supposed to install luxury vinyl plank flooring in the bathroom and kitchen. After some slapstick maneuvers and conversations with supervisors, they ended up leaving with the flooring materials but nothing installed. After six phone calls and no resolution, we decided to do the flooring ourselves - later. John cut a piece of leftover carpeting to fit the bathroom for now, and I currently have only underlayment on the kitchen floor.

Kitchen before

Kitchen after - not an improvement

You can see the lack of flooring a bit better here, with John lying on the underlayment, after we fixed the
 frozen refrigerator drain tube. At least the refrigerator didn't leak all over a real floor.

No improvement whatsoever

The biggest changes happened when furniture was delivered. 

These guys were fast, efficient, friendly, and real pros. 

Living room before

Living room after

Dining room before

Dining room after - that leftover piece of carpet was so my beloved
hardwood floor didn't get scratched during the new furniture delivery. 

My photos are dark because it was incredibly hot and we had all the blinds down to keep the house a little cooler, but most of the "afters" are really improvements even if they don't exactly look like it. Some day when the house is really done, I'll go around and take good after photos from the same viewpoint as the before listing photos. Our goals last week were to get all the big things taken care of, enough to make the house liveable, and I think it is. 

This is kind of a staged photo as I haven't actually sat and knitted here yet, but it's a big part of making the house liveable for me - my knitting chair! I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for for less than $1500, but I think this one will do. I'll need a floor lamp, but all things in good time.

We came home to NJ last Friday because we ran out of big things to do and, to be honest, the motivation and energy to do any more. I cracked a molar on Wednesday evening and couldn't find a dentist in MD or DE, so I had to come home to see my dentist today. My father's apartment has also sold, so I have a lot to do here to begin the final audit of his estate. John left at 5:00 am this morning to drive down for a week of meetings, so he'll be staying at the house for the first time. He took a load of stuff from here (including the post hole digger), so there is a possibility I'll have a clothesline when I go down next week. It's not a bad house now, and it might even be a great house when I have internet, a kitchen floor, and a clothesline!