Minor Improvements

Ok, so we haven't done tooooo much yet, but here's what I have pics of to share so far.

First off, this is what the brick wall in our living room looked like before...

...then I painted it!

Much whiter now, and we like it that way!

Next, I've added a few decorative items to our guest bath. That means it's for YOU! :) Once we get furniture for the guest rooms, you can all come stay :)

I've been waiting to use this shower curtain for over a year and a half! I love it :)

Thoughts?

We've also fixed our door bell button, Dad and Henry cleaned up the backside of our house clearing it of unnecessary wiring, we replaced the light fixture in our hallway, aaaaand that's all the non picture stuff I can think of right now.

A larger and more tedious task was the ceiling in our office. OMG! I started scraping and quickly determined that scraping is an insane task. I turned to a power tool :) I got the sander and heavy grit paper and went to town. Then I painted the ceiling, and this is the after result!

I'm in the process of painting the office right now, so that should be a new update soon. Plus, our living room and bedroom are painted, but they still need a little cleaning before pics are taken ;)

So what do you think so far?!

Workin' on the House

Man, we have been going and going like the Energizer bunny! We've been able to take a little rest this evening. We started working on the house on October 27th, and we've already made some good progress, I think :)

First off, I bought some paint samples and painted posterboard for Henry to see the colors on any wall we wanted to see them on. Well, turns out we are only using 2 of those 4 colors. I then bought 2 more paints samples, and we aren't using either of those. Haha!

We did determine that we wanted to paint our bedroom Warm Stone from Sherwin Williams. You can click here to click on the color to see it. We thought it would go very well with our Espresso furniture and some good white accents. Not to mention, my hubby likes darkness when he sleeps, so that should help him sleep a little better ;) For the living room, Henry was a big help in helping me choose the color Hopsack. I originally was thinking about Chateau Brown, but, after painting the bedroom, I knew that would just be too dark. I then thought Mocha would be a terrific color, but, on our living room walls with our lighting, it just looked so 1980's Mauve! I know, I know; how can Mocha look Mauve?! I'm serious, it did. Henry was able to head to Sherwin-Williams for me and ask for something with the same color combination but with less Maroon in it :) Thus, we have Hopsack! Thanks Mom for helping me paint the living room!

Though I haven't painted the dining room yet, I'm pretty sure I want to paint that room a little differently than the other 2 rooms. I'd like to do an accent wall and then paint the other 3 walls a different color. Here's what I'm thinking about currently:

Arresting Auburn for the accent wall-this color looks muck more wine-like on the swatch
Glamour for the other 3 walls

Now, this next room color is going to be shocking I'm sure, but don't jump too far out of your chair with shock :) Our office is going to be color matched to be Aggie Maroon. Oh yes...it's true. For the entryway, hallway, and 2 extra bedrooms, we made an easy and quick decision to paint the color Latte.

We also have a huge brick wall in our living room that I primed first, then painted it Extra White in oil-based paint. It shines now :)

As for our kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room, I have no idea! I'm thinking about just leaving them as they are. I know for sure that our hall bathroom will have black and white accents (shocker, I know), but I don't want to paint the whole bathroom red! I dunno. Any advice?

On the outside of the house, Dad and Henry cleaned up the backside where the meter, breaker box, and telephone box where as there were soooo many wires that had been installed from various providers over many many years. Now, the clutter is gone and is not such a huge eyesore :) Thanks boys!

I also got some exciting new shiny things for the house! I know it sounds crazy that I would be this excited, but look....

Yes, it's true. Now my truck, phone, laptop, washer and dryer all match! How dorky, right?

Oh, I can't believe I haven't bragged more on Henry! Sorry hunny :/ He also installed a new light fixture for our hallway! We found a steal of a deal at Ikea for this new fixture :) He also got to mow our lawn for the first time yesterday; it was really cute.

Ok, well, I hope that provides a good update for the house so far! I'm sure there will be more to come later :)

We're Homeowners!

There's not much more to say than that at this point, LOL! We closed today, and everything went smoothly...er, as smoothly as signing 100 pieces of paper can go. No pictures yet. Once we get everything set up, I can post pictures.

Whoop!

Closing Tomorrow and What's Been Going On?

I know I'm not updating as often as I should be, but I'm just so scared to jinx anything! Maybe I'm a little too superstitious.

We are officially closing tomorrow! Crazy to think that we two crazy people are going to own a house...yikes. For your entertainment, perhaps I should film a lot of our 'homeowner firsts.'

Other than waiting on closing to occur on our house, we celebrated Henry's birthday, helped move some friends, and I did some job stuff. For Henry's birthday, we celebrated on his birthday with friends down here in Webster at BJ's Brewery; thanks David, Christine, Laura Beth, David, Kevin, Melissa, Nicole and Isaac for coming to dinner! That Friday night, we joined Mom, Dad, Teresa and Ashlee for dinner Pappasitto's! Yey for Fajita's....and Sangria ;) This past weekend, we got to celebrate a long 7 month remodel with our friends Kevin and Melissa by finally being able to move them in to their newly refurbished and renewed home!!!! A fire tragedy occurred on March 15th, but all is totally better now with their beautiful home! Henry and I helped move in and setup their new home, though I know they still have a lot of boxes to sort through from the restoration company. We know it's been such a long and trying 7 months, so we are so happy to see them happy. This week, I've had 2 job interviews that will hopefully be fruitful; please pray that they are! I know my husband would love to have me back at work :) My time of relaxation is over in his book, haha!

This weekend we are heading to the Valley for a friend's wedding and to see the Borchards!

Happy Birthday Henry!

A great husband, son, and brother! Happy Birthday Hunny!!!

Henry's so funny!

Ok, so this was a video from last December, but I found it while browsing through our computer files. Once again, I laughed hysterically! You have to watch...it's just too funny...especially if you know the silly side of my sweet husband! HAHAHAHAH!

Breast Cancer Project

Ok, I'm working on a project for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I need your help. I'm looking for names of people you know, or even if it's you, that have had or currently have breast cancer. I know that might sound a little odd, but trust me, it's going to be cool. So, if you have any names, can you share them with me? You can either leave a comment here or send me and email at kristabrod@hotmail.com. The sooner you send them the better!!! Thanks!

House Repairs are in Progress

Yesterday, Henry and I went by the house during Henry's lunch break, and found that the repairs are in full swing! They had dug out a LOT of dirt underneath the house, and, from what we could tell, they were working on the plumbing. We weren't there long, but here's a couple of pics of the crazy mess!

These are only on one side of the house. There was even more dug up around the back of the house.

While we were there, I took a picture of the sold sign, too!

Can't wait! October is going to be a big month!

Happy Birthday Pearl!

Can you believe it?! We've already had Black Pearl for a whole year! Want to know if we had made good use of her? Well, does 27,000 miles answer that question? Yep, that's right! 27,000 miles!!! Imagine if we were doing that in Fred (Henry's old truck) or Stella. We'd be out of a lot more money. We definitely think this purchase was well worth it and fully suggest a Hybrid purchase for anyone else who might be considering it. We only have experience with Toyota obviously, but we are believers!

Oh, and no...Stella is not going ANYWHERE! Her birthday is coming up soon, too, and we are actually closing on our house on her birthday!

Where have ya'll been?!

Ok, I know it's been a while since I last posted, but there has been a pretty big thing going on in our household. I was scared to post anything because I was scared I'd let the cat out of the bag and potentially jinx us. That said, I think everything is official today, so, in mid-October, we should be...

HOMEOWNERS!

Now, there's a long story to this process, so, if you are interested, I will share below.

First off, we went to look at homes (officially) on September 4th. We only saw three, and this house was on our list for a while. We were really excited to see it. By the way, Henry and I have been looking online since like November of 2007. This isn't just like we decided to go look at houses one day.

Anyway, Henry was really loving this house (as was I), so we decided very quickly that day that we wanted to make an offer. We submitted an offer on September 5th. On September 7th, we received a counter offer. We countered back the same day, and the sellers again countered back one last time. We settled on that 4th offer.

Thus began the tedious option period. We did a structural/mechanical inspection, pest inspection, and plumbing inspection. Well, guess what? In addition to many other repairs, Henry and I were facing around $20K in foundation and plumbing repairs. Shocking! Well, after negotiating, the sellers actually agreed to make the repairs prior to closing through a very reputable company complete with warranty and all!

All that said, repairs begin soon on the home, and we anticipate being able to move in mid-October!

We are very excited about the potential for this home, and we have already started thinking about how we will remodel the master suite and kitchen. No, it won't be any time soon, but it's fun to think about for the times when we are financially able to update the home :)

Can't wait til moving day!