It’s Official…WE’RE HOME OWNERS!

David and I signed at the lawyers and got the keys yesterday! There’s a lot of work to be done, but we feel confident that we can handle it. We spent our first night scraping the popcorn ceilings in the guest bath and master bedroom. It came off really easy, thankfully, but made such a mess. Thank goodness that everythign needs to be replaced anyway. Lowes comes on Tuesday to measure and give us estimates fro the carpet and hardwoods. We probably will not do hardwoods all at once, but we will at least get the living room done (plus they are 20% off right now). David also started to fix the latch on the fence that didn’t work, but had to cut that project short after he drilled the holes because it started downpouring.

Our neighbors across the street have been fantastic too! They are about our age, have a baby and a pooch, and they have been letting us borrow stuff left and right! They are letting us borrow their Power Painter so we don’t have to spend $100 on one and get painting done quicker,  and they let us borrow their scraping tool for the ceilings. We were just using drop cloths, 10-inch putty scrapers, and a bug sprayer filled with 1 part vinegar to 10 parts water. Comes off easy but gets all over. Our neighbors tool is a scraper with an attachment for a bag so all the crapola goes into it instead of on a drop cloth. Can’t wait to try that out!

All of our tools have been getting great use (thanks Uncle Bo for such a wonderful Christmas present so many years ago) and we will surely add to the collection. Luckily, our wonderful real eastate agent and mortgage guy chipped in and gave us a $200 gift card to Lowes, so that will certainly help out!

We will keep everyone updated on our progress as we continue to make changes… there will be many. If you want to see pictures of all the work we have to do, go here. Keep in mind that this was a foreclosure, which is why we got the house for $34,000 less than what it appraised for. Most of the work is cosmetic and we can do ourselves. When we are done, it should appraise for more than the $220,000 it is quoted at.

We hope to move in sometime in September and will stay at the apartment for the time being. But we are thrilled to have a place that’s own own (and in both our names, for those concerned – 50/50 all the way). And Brenner loves his new fenced-in backyard!