House – Page 4 – Moision Madness

Building a New House …

February 3, 2011 by Christy

… or at least that’s what it feels like. Bruce and I have never done as much major work to a house all at once. When we renovated our first house, we took it slow and Bruce did most of the work himself. But, since we’re trying to move into our new house in just over a week, we’ve got roofers, plumbers, painters, drywallers, wrought iron workers and electricians working at the same time. The house is a hub of activity. It’s exciting and a bit unsettling. It reminds me of one of my favorite Richard Scarry stories.

Let the Cleanup Begin

January 26, 2011 by Christy

This has been a crazy week of home ownership. In addition to removing the seller’s left-over junk, we’ve had three painters, four contractors, a roofer, a plumber, and a gardener come to have a look around and give bids on work that needs to be done. There is a lot of deferred maintenance. It’s exciting to be in the process of bringing the house back to life, but frustrating due to the waiting involved.

Yesterday our plumber came to fix some problems in the upstairs bathroom. One of them (a leak) had caused the kitchen ceiling below to bubble up so that it looked like a blister. Here’s Bruce popping it to let the water out.

We were expecting a huge gush of water, but instead got a trickle. Not very dramatic, but probably a good thing. It turned out it was a simple problem to fix in the bathroom, too, so that’s a relief.

While we were waiting for appointments, we all did a little gardening. There was at least a year’s worth of oak leaves on the ground so Finn, Bruce and I started sweeping. Finn liked the shoveling the best.

Dumpster Madness

January 23, 2011 by Christy

Friday afternoon brought some excitement to our new house — a giant dumpster. The boys were stunned and fascinated to watch how the truck dropped the dumpster in the driveway.

Bruce and I were thrilled to know that the previous owner’s junk would be hauled away quickly. The next day, the seller came back with some hired help to load it up. Believe it or not, they filled it.

The driveway, garage and backyard are now debris-free. The dumpster will be gone tomorrow. Things are moving right along.

New House

January 20, 2011 by Christy

After four months of drama, we closed escrow yesterday on our dream house. It’s a bit of a wreck at the moment — lots of deferred maintenance, overgrown landscaping, and, irritatingly, trash left by the previous owner. But we will plug away. Here’s a shot of the exterior that I took a few weeks ago.

And here is my favorite picture of the house. It was taken in the 1930s (the house was built in 1927) and was featured in the brochure for the Historic Highlands home tour in 2003. We hope to restore the house to its former beauty.

Kids and Treasures

January 15, 2011 by Christy

We went to the [hopefully] new house on Tuesday for the much-delayed City Occupancy Inspection and the boys had fun running around in the front yard. The landscaping is a bit of a mess right now with lots of overgrown plants and debris from the last storm that blew through. The two palm trees dropped lots of fronds, some of which are piled up near the street for the City to pick up. Ezra found two small fronds, though, and used them as a horse and sword, making him a knight. Finn found a rubber band and was in heaven. They do enjoy the simple pleasures.

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