What's that? Down near the end of the tunnel? Is that a light? Holy @%&$! I think it is!

3 more weeks until our roof is replaced! So excited... I mean... it needs to be done... well, last month, but at least it's in the foreseeable future, now... and... maybe, just maybe... we are finally back on an upswing...

Next up... water proofing the basement. The insurance company has denied the claim on the crack in the foundation... so this is something we have to pay for ourselves... which means... "on the cheap". I've done a little research, and have found that the crack can be plugged with hydraulic concrete. After that gets done... I plan on turning that section by the washer and dryer into a sewing/craft room... or at least storage for my craft stuff, if my plan to heat the area is bust.

DIY tiling...

One of these days... Originally, it was one of the first things we wanted to do.



I even have the tile all picked out... But... like the full bath, it's fully functional, so it will have to wait. :(

Small Victories Part 2

So, we FINALLY got around to putting the jack post in the basement. And already, there is a marked improvement in the stability of the floor. No longer is there that huge sag in the dining room floor! And maybe... just maybe, the cracks can finally be spackled and repaired... and we can FINALLY PAINT!

The starting point is in view... and that gives me hope in finally being able to envision a finish line!

Small Victories Part 1

Sometimes it's the small victories that count, right?

I painted the bathroom. But really... the satisfaction only lasted a little while. Because now, after watching "Don't Sweat It" today... I want to re-tile! I want to straighten that wobbly crooked uneven, badly installed tile, so badly, I can taste it! I want to rip it up from the floor, and down off the walls! I also want to paint the vanity and the medicine cabinet... and distress and antique them, so their crappiness looks deliberate, instead of just, well, crappy. And... I want a new toilet and bathtub. And a linen closet would be nice. In short, I want to gut that mother fucker and make my dream potty. But... unfortunately, other than aesthetics that bathroom is fully functional. And in this house, that means... gonna have to wait. Sigh... There are much bigger fish to fry... and we still don't even have a skillet...

I really think this house is out to get me... the nicest room in the house is the kitchen... a room, I usually avoid like the plague. (Yeah, I still do, anyway.)

My House is a soul sucking, motivation vampire.

I know, I know... there's a whole lot of bitching going on in this blog... and I swear, that at some point, it will be about the victories. At least, I really hope, that at some point there will be some victories... It's just that, sometimes, I get so overwhelmed, it's hard to imagine.

So, the sad truth is... that this house really needed to be gutted. Stripped down to the studs and just basically rebuilt from there. And had we bought it for what (former owner's name here) paid for it, we could afford to do that. But, as it is, we can't afford it... Where do we go from here? That is the real question. And just where is the starting point... because, honestly, just when I think I've found a starting point, I discover 10-15 things I need to do first. It just seems unending... It's hard to get motivated when you have no idea how to begin. I mean how can you find the finish line when you can't even see the starting point?

Why you should never ever, never ever, never ever, never buy a flipped house.

Originally, the plan was to buy one of the many very well priced "handy man specials" here in Covington, and have it fixed exactly to our tastes and live there until we were old, gray and well... probably dead. We had some high hopes. We had a budget for house, meaning what we could finance and still afford to pay the mortgage, and we had some moula on hand, which served as our Budget for renovation.

We picked a Grand Victorian Dream House (of horrors)and began the process. It should have been clear then, that the powers that be, did not want us to buy a house... the clusterfuck that became was EPIC. what ever could go wrong, did. Multiple break ins, wind storm damage, fire... in the end, we bailed because, it was taking too long for the closing, and the seller was getting impatient... and -well... bitchy.

We decided that after all the contractor nightmares, and loan getting headaches... we would pool the budget and get a house that was move in ready... so... we found this place, and fell in love.

It was touted as being "fully rehabbed", a claim I fully and most emphatically refute...

Within the first six months, it was very clear that the guy that we bought the house from, hadn't "fixed' anything. Sure, he hid problems... (so well, that not one, but two inspectors missed, nearly everything!) but he "Fixed" absolutely nothing. And... what he did do, he did so poorly, it has to be ripped out and completely re-done) Small problems began to surface... Things we wanted to repair/replace, took the back seat to emergency repairs and impromptu replacements. Now, a year and a half later... A lot of that guy's quick fixes to big problems are showing up. And you know... sometimes I think he spent more money doing it this way, than he would have, had he done it right... It's become a lot like that movie, Money Pit, only without Tom Hanks, and a whole heck of a lot less funny. We should have stuck with the house that we KNEW needed work... then we wouldn't have gotten surprised, having to re-do everything he did. Where's Mike Holmes when you need him?