We looked at 25 houses in three months and put offers on 5 of them. Getting desperate I dragged my husband to any house that came on the market. Even the cookie cutter development houses (which my husband had no interest in ever living in one). No offense to those who live in them it just wasn't what we were truly looking for.
Finally just when we had laid the idea of buying a house to rest I was online and came across a house I really felt we had to look at. The one thing that was some what deterring was the fact that it was "bank owned." However, the minute my husband and I walked in we both had this overwhelming feeling, "this is it!" This was the house that was meant to be our first home.
We put in our offer the next day and after a long and frustrating six weeks we finally closed on our house. Did we move in the following weekend? Um.... not exactly. I had plans for this house; new floors, paint, kitchen overhaul and taking down "the wall."
When opening the front door you enter the main floor of our split-level home. The family room is to the left, straight ahead is the eating area, to the right is a set of stairs going up and going down as well as a closet. The wall in the picture is also what you see when you walk in. Any guesses what could be hiding behind "The Wall?"
Let's take a peek around the corner...
Viola the Kitchen!
The pantry sits on the side of the wall we were taking down. A small sacrifice in my opinion plus we truly don't eat a lot of pantry foods.
Wow! What a difference right? This demolition happened all within 24 hours of obtaining our keys. Not just the wall but did you notice the floors or lack there of? If you scroll up you will notice that the flooring was a honey bamboo hardwood floor. The main floor and lower level had the bamboo while the upstairs had blue carpet.
Our house was officially under construction and not conducive for a family with two young boys. I mentioned earlier we looked at houses for three months. What I failed to mention is that during that time our rental lease ended. The benefit to being back in Washington was having our family. I called upon them for shelter. We were so lucky to have family open their homes to us. I felt bad enough with how long it took to close on the house but now to ask if we can stay longer while renovating was hard. I really only thought we needed 3 weeks to make the house livable. I was so beyond wrong! We didn't move in for six weeks.
From the picture above it really seems like you could live in it. The ceiling above the kitchen and the sheetrock from the wall that came down all needed to be redone along with removing the soffits above the kitchen cabinets. When the entire ceiling came down I was having a panic attack. Trust me when I say it got a lot worse before it got better. The reason for taking down the entire ceiling was so that way there were no seams and it would be easier to tape and mud. This process has to be done three times before texturing. Removing the soffits made a huge difference in the kitchen and would now allow us to get full length kitchen cabinets for a more up to date look and feel.
Like I said it got worse before it got better.
Sorry the pictures are dark hopefully as this blog evolves so will my ability to take better pictures.
The mess starts to get cleaned up and things are starting to get better. Kitchen cabinets have been ordered too! Can't wait for them to arrive and be installed.
So what do you think so far? I'm so in love with our dark stained bamboo floors. A source list will soon follow after the room is complete. Stay tuned.
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