House Tour (The BEFORE)

We moved in, on schedule, but it's taken me a while to get around to posting a tour.

I took these photos on the day we moved in, before we moved our stuff inside.

This is the mud room:


Another view of the mudroom:


This is the hallway that connects the kitchen, bedroom hallway, and basement to the mudroom.  It's narrow, because there is a wall of built-in cabinet storage.  Cabinets in great need of a fresh coat of paint.


Here is the room in MOST need of help, repair, paint, updating...the kitchen!  The walls used to be wallpapered, but the previous tenants pulled it down, revealing a rough, uneven surface.  We'll probably have to float the walls, or sand them, or some other third thing.


The cabinets are fairly descent, but in need of some scrubbing, or refinishing.  The countertops are mismatched, and...yeah, just lots of stuff needs to be done



Here is the living room.  It has 2 GIANT windows!  

Front door and foyer with arched doorways.  (We'll probably be changing those out eventually to add a little headroom)



Archway to the bedroom hallway


The boys' room.  I will need to remove the wallpaper, and eventually pull up the carpet

The boys' closet.  It could use a nice coat of paint.


Lucy's bedroom


Lucy's bedroom


Why, YES, that IS a laundry chute, and a giant medicine cabinet


Master bedroom


Bathroom.  The only one on the main floor.  Hopefully, that will change with my giant reno plans...we'll see.


Basement bathroom


Basement workroom...SCORE!

Basement


Basement


Basement passthrough from the main area to the laundry area


Laundry area, complete with vintage sears sink and cabinet!  (notice the lack of washing machine and dryer.  The previous tenants had been using their own, and brought it with them.)


Loving those vintage lights!


Well, that completes the BEFORE tour!  So far, in the past 3 months, we've made some improvements, but we've still got loads, and loads, and LOADS to do!

Our first purchase

Right now we are furiously packing and getting ready to move into our new house!  And even though we haven't even moved in yet, I've already made our first purchase and saved a bunch of money doing it!

We were going to wait a bit before we dove into kitchen renovations, because my dream kitchen plans consisted of a gorgeous fridge and stove that would cost many, many, MANY pretty pennies!  But after taking the walk-through a few weeks ago, and mulling it over, we decided it would be very beneficial to get kitchen appliances right away.  So, since we knew we weren't going to be able to afford the appliances I dreamed of, but knowing that we still needed something in the interim, we opted to do something more cost effective.  So, after some research, we landed on Sears Outlet Refurbished/Like New appliances.  This would give us the appliances we need at a very affordable price.

Purchasing all 4 at once definitely made me very anxious, since I chose them online...without physically seeing them in person.  But luckily, the website had photos of each appliance, and all of them are in near perfect condition.  With the exception of the stove which has a small scratch.

We did have to pay for shipping on 2 of the appliances, since they are coming from out-of-state Sears Outlet stores.  But, the fridge and dishwasher are located at stores that are on the way to our new house, so we'll be picking that one up with the moving van.

Based on the online selection and prices, we went with LG and Kenmore appliances.  I really like the sleek look of each of them.

All in all, we saved over $2,300!  And we'll have all of the appliances delivered, (or picked up) and ready to install when we move in!

More move updates to come!


XOXO, Marcia

BIG changes coming soon...

In less than 2 weeks, we will be moving!

It started at the beginning of this year, when we began hearing roomers about the kids' school shutting down.  So I did what most people nowadays do...I facebooked my discontent, and mentioned how this was a sign it was time to move.  The owners of our future home (a.k.a. my aunt-in-law), saw the post, and mentioned how they were looking to sell.  Many emails, phone calls, and conversations later, we'll be moving in to the house we've had our eye on for the past 10 years...AT LAST!!

Yes, we've been waiting for this opportunity for 10 YEARS now!  You see, the house was originally built in the 1930's by my hubby's, great-aunt/great-uncle, on a street where most of the houses are either owned or occupied by family members.  And when my husband's great-uncle died 10 years ago, his uncle purchased the house, so that it could stay in the family.  Over the course of the that time, we've had conversations about our interest in purchasing the house whenever they're ready to sell.  Well, it turns out that they are ready to sell at the same time we are ready to move back!  If I didn't believe in fate or coincidence before, I sure do now!

The only problem with all of this is that...

A) I am SOOOO not packed yet, and we have less than 2 weeks until move-in

2) The house has been in renter's hands for the past 10 years, and it is in desperate need of renovations!

D) And I mean DESPERATE!!!!

Which is where, this blog is going to come in handy again.  I want to document the full transformation of this house!  Because, due to the location, I'm very confident that it could become our forever house.  So, I want to be able to look back at all the hard work that went into this house!

Without further ado, this is our future house:

There is so much potential in this house, and I can wait to dig in and make it OURS!

(more photos as soon as we have the keys!)

XOXO, Marcia

Home Life: Generation O

Ender is 9.5 months, and we're loving the Plum Organics brand food for him!  He started out eating organic food mash made in our baby bullet, but as he got older and I discovered the whole Plum Organics line of food and snacks (with 100% BPA free packaging), they were able to offer a much better food variety and unique combinations that we weren't able to just making in our kitchen at home. (They don't sell organic purple carrots at my grocery store...for example)



I would highly recommend Plum Organics foods!!!  And I order mine from Amazon using Subscribe and Save!  They come right to my door, and I get a better deal than at the grocery store!!

XOXO,
Marcia

Crafting with the Kids: The Fish Game

The kids and I have been doing little crafts here and there every single day since we made their new craft kits. Most of the things we've done have been decorative in nature, and had something to do with letters (for Elliot's sake). But I've been so excited to do some crafts that would also be good games or toys for them to play with! And today, (after picking up the last necessary supply), we were able to make The Fish Game!!!


This is another great inspiration that I found on Pinterest, but I've tweaked it slightly. I started with a blue plastic tub that I found at the dollar store.


I decided to make the fish out of foam, instead of printed cardstock. And, instead of using paperclips at the mouth, I used circle magnets for eyes.


I decided to make 15 fish. To make the shape of each fish, I folded 1 piece of foam in half, and freehand cut out the bottom half of a fish shape. So that when it was unfolded, it would be symmetrical. Then I just used the first fish as a template for the rest. The kids put the magnet eyes on each fish, and I drew on little smiley faces.

For the fishing rods, I had the kids go outside and find their own stick. I cut them each to roughly the same length, and attached another circle magnet with a bit of string. In order to make sure the string didn't fall off, I used a little bit of glue underneath it. Then, in order to differentiate who's fishing poll was who's, and to give a softer handle, I wrapped a couple pipe cleaners around the bottom (also using a little glue to help them from slipping off).


I was a little worried that the foam fish might be too bulky to be picked up by the fishing poll, but low and behold...


The game works, and the kids LOVE playing it!

Here's a breakdown of the supplies I used:
1 plastic blue tub
1 package of 18 circle magnets with self-adhesive backing
Sheets of foam in various colors (as many as you need depending on how many fish you want to make)
2 sticks/twigs or store-bought dowels
Pipe cleaners (if you want to create a soft, colored handle)
String or Twine
Glue

The magnets were somewhere around $3. The blue bin was $1, and the rest of things that were used, I already had around the house or they already had in their craft kits! So, this was definitely a fun and inexpensive craft!! And the fact that I can store it away easily in the blue tub is just a mom-bonus for me!!!

XOXO,
Marcia