Out with the Old, in with Our Stuff

After we moved into the house, everything seemed pretty surreal. I've seen so many stages and so much progress, and I had often forgotten that we would be living there someday. With so much more work to do, we were worried we wouldn't be in, even by the end of summer. One night after returning from a long night of work we talked about moving early.

So what if we didn't have the cabinets and the bar done?

So what if the basement would continue to be a construction zone?

So what if there was still a huge pile of carpet in the garage?

So what if we didn't have appliances? 

...Wait, what?

Yeah, we didn't have any kitchen appliances when we moved in. That is, unless you counted the dishwasher we found. We never hooked that dishwasher up, and it was sitting on top of the pile of carpet, so I didn't.

But, we decided to set an early moving date anyway. We would buy appliances, and they would be there soon enough. And the work that could get done during the time we were usually traveling between houses would make it worth it. That's it. That's all. Moving no matter what. 

The next day I bought Cody a mini fridge for his birthday. In addition to my classroom fridge, we could live. It was something.

When we moved, we did everything ourselves, which means skinny-armed me picked up half of all of our heavy furniture. YES! GO ME! I also moved all of the food from the old house, hoping it would fit somewhere to stay edible.

...Also hoping this would last across town.

It was funny to see things start coming together. Even though we had no doors inside the house (like, anywhere), seeing furniture in rooms was definitely a good feeling. 

Our first projects were: 1. Get appliances. 2. Get a dumpster.

The dumpster was a necessity. We had so much trash! Like I said before, we had all the carpet piled in the garage, and the basement needed to be completely gutted. While the basement wasn't ever finished, the walls that were there were in terrible shape. Unfortunately our Waste Management-issued trash can couldn't hold all of that. 

Problem.

We had both been looking forward to gutting the basement. Yes, we wanted to get rid of the walls that had water damage, and yes we wanted the space more open before we finish it ourselves. But mostly, I couldn't wait to get rid of these colors! The first (above), was a terrible pistachio green...or mint (sans chocolate chip) ice cream. 

The second, I think, must have been called "Peeps Yellow."

Multiple levels of Yikes.

I think the theme here was either Easter-colored snacks or gender-neutral nursery. Regardless, this is me getting rid of that:

Muscles!

Obviously, I'm not proficient in using a sledge hammer. That didn't stop me from trying! We spent an entire Friday night getting rid of the walls in the basement, and it was awesome. If you're looking for a fun date night, I'd highly recommend it :)

Beautiful!

The whole "out with the old" theme continued with landscaping. We were pretty tired of seeing the shrubs in front of the living room window. Although we're not sure what we want to put there yet, we wanted to get rid of those suckers while we had the dumpster. But, how could we do it?

You can take him out of the country...

This was hilarious, because a group of teenagers was walking down the sidewalk while this was going on. They were probably all adolescent and judge-y, but hopefully they got a laugh out of it!

More exciting, we actually did get appliances. At first, I was thinking, "These are huge! They don't belong here!" but I've gotten used to them. 

Whaaat?! 

We're working on the dishwasher situation. There will be more on that later. But for right now, this is awesome! It's been really nice to work on the house and just stop to say, "Hey, wanna cook dinner?"

First meal in the house: Pizza!

We both love and have missed cooking, and were sick of frozen pizza from the late dinners at the old house. So, it's ironic and ridiculous that this was the first thing we made in the new kitchen. Turns out, frozen pizza is just convenient (and delicious) no matter where you are. Also, does anyone need a knife set?

We've had many other projects that I'm looking forward to including in the blog. But before this post ends, I want to assure you...we did eventually get doors.

They work, too!

Maegan and Cody vs. the Floors: Episode 3 (Series Finale)

So, I took an extended, unintentional blog-cation. I wrote this months ago, saved it as a draft, and never added pictures. Today (now that we have internet in the house!), I decided to revisit, revise, and post! Here goes...

Last time on Maegan and Cody vs. the Floors:

• There was a push-sander.
• Maegan was hesitant about the stain.
• It worked out fine.

In this episode, we tackle polyurethane and baseboards. What could possibly go wrong? 

Well...many things. Especially for two people that have never worked with polyurethane before. We bought two brand new paint rollers, some trays, and three gallons of the shiny stuff. We had a strategic plan of how to get across the whole house and trap ourselves in the kitchen.

Oh, and I had to buy some of those hospital shoe covers. You know, the kind surgeons wear? So, we were obviously stylin'.

Also, he's using a Swiffer. Attractive, right?

We started in the master bedroom and worked our way to the front of the house. Everything seemed to be going fine, until we noticed these weird bubbles...

Now, if you've read this blog from the beginning, you know that we have had trouble with paint bubbles before. We knew better this time. Leave it alone. Walk away. See what it looks like tomorrow.

Weeellllll...these bubbles stayed. When we ran our hands across our should-be-smooth floor, it felt like a hotel room floor after coming back from the beach. It was rough, bumpy, foggy in some spots, and it looked terrible. Apparently polyurethane likes to bubble up on the first coat. It has something to do with getting into the uneven parts of the floor. Google reassured us that this happens to most people on the first coat.

Google also told us to sand the floors and apply another coat. So, we sanded the entire floor (again), and it sucked. We knew we would have to be very particular with the second coat, so that we wouldn't have to do a third. 

As we contemplated this, we started on the baseboards. I'm extra proud of our system for painting baseboards. Here's a picture:

Finally! Photographic proof that I did stuff, too!

After placing the baseboard pieces on the trailer, I came across with a roller. We used oil-based paint, so it was really smelly. I was glad to be outside. 

Then, Cody came back across with a trim brush to smooth out the paint. The end result looked awesome. This is probably the most successful and efficient we've ever been on this house.

Putting in the baseboards, though not as simple, went just as smoothly. We also put up door trim and jambs. These finishing projects are pretty awesome; I love seeing things come together and actually look like a house 

I've never really appreciated baseboards before. They add so much of a finished look, though! I guess there are some things you grow up seeing, never really paying attention to. Then, you become an adult/homeowner, and you think, "Huh. Those things are really nice. Who thought of those? They must have hated painting down to the floor, and said, 'To heck with it! I'll just put up boards that go all the way around the floor!' What a good idea." 

(Okay, okay...That thought can probably only come from thinking about baseboards. Still, they're very practical.)

Like I said before, I wrote this post quite a while ago. I'm glad I kept it, however, because now I remember doing all of that stuff! Since that time, we have gone to Florida for a wedding, moved in, ended our old lease, celebrated Father's Day with our Fathers, and done lots of work on the house. 

Stay tuned for an update on the bathroom and kitchen! I won't wait so long to post for those :)