Showing posts with label simplyhome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simplyhome. Show all posts
Sunday, April 8, 2012
House renovation pictures
For some reason the post below wouldn't let me post pictures from the house renovations and I completely forgot about it until today. Here's the slideshow I promised in the first post
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Dear Google can I get an update please?
I recently searched our address on Google maps.When the street view picture came up I could not believe the picture they showed for our house. I was so shocked by the difference I couldn't help but take a picture of our house now and compare the two.
How many differences can you find in these pictures?
Google Street View picture from 2007:
Now:
What's a girl gotta do to get Google to update their picture???
How many differences can you find in these pictures?
Google Street View picture from 2007:
Now:
What's a girl gotta do to get Google to update their picture???
Saturday, February 11, 2012
We've come so far!
I've realized, as I started this little blog project, that I've had numerous blogs throughout the years through various websites. I started thinking about it and figured it made sense to compile them all into one blog here at 'Simple Pleasures'.
When Mike and I bought our house, we didn't realize how big of a project it truly was going to be. We have family members who looked at us like we were crazy when we showed them the property and it seemed that Mike and I were the only ones who could see our "vision" for the finished project. When we first purchased the house, I started an online photo blog through Shutterfly as a way for our family to keep track of the progress. I started reading the blog posts recently and I couldn't help but think how far we've come. And I actually got a kick out of reading these.
We were supposed to close on the house today, however, the deed was mailed to the wrong office (last time I checked we didn't live in FL!) and it needs to be re-routed ... So we've signed an extension giving them until the end of the week, however, we're not happy about it. We are hoping to close tomorrow, but come at this point tomorrow all of that may change and nothing would surprise us.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2009
We finally closed on the house tonight... it's been a long week, but it only took an hour to sign all the paperwork and the renovations can officially begin tomorrow! First things first, the house is going to get some color... Luckily we had already picked out all the paint colors and just had to go buy them... painting commences first thing in the morning! Check back soon because the renovations will be coming quickly!!!
SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
I need to start by saying that I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am for mine and Mike's families... without them, there is no doubt in my mind ... this would not be happening.
I have to say, Mike's sister, Theora (who drove 4 hours to help us out this weekend), Mike's parents and my Mom came over to the house yesterday and worked their TAILS off.
Theora and Mel worked on tearing the stain filled carpet out of the living room, dining room and hallway and hauled it out to the curb. Mike's mom took down all the wall plate covers and then helped Mel and Theora pull staples and tacks out of the floors from the carpet (not to mention, she also made sure we were well fed!!!) and my Mom and I started working on covering up the ugly school bus yellow paint that filled the bedrooms. While all of us were doing that, Mike started patching the cracks in the ceiling (and believe me there were a lot of them).
At the end of the day, all of the yellow paint was gone, the small bedroom wall was painted green, the bathroom was taped off so we could begin painting that and the nasty carpet was out at the curb ready for pick up!!! We're off to a good start!!!
When Mike and I bought our house, we didn't realize how big of a project it truly was going to be. We have family members who looked at us like we were crazy when we showed them the property and it seemed that Mike and I were the only ones who could see our "vision" for the finished project. When we first purchased the house, I started an online photo blog through Shutterfly as a way for our family to keep track of the progress. I started reading the blog posts recently and I couldn't help but think how far we've come. And I actually got a kick out of reading these.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2009
This process has been ridiculous! I know everyone has always said buying a house is an experience. Let's be honest, nothing should be this difficult! We were supposed to close on the house today, however, the deed was mailed to the wrong office (last time I checked we didn't live in FL!) and it needs to be re-routed ... So we've signed an extension giving them until the end of the week, however, we're not happy about it. We are hoping to close tomorrow, but come at this point tomorrow all of that may change and nothing would surprise us.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
A battle is brewing over the paperwork for our house and for those of you who are keeping score it's the real estate industry: 15 - Mike & Jamie: 0.
It's now 2 days after we were supposed to close on the house and we STILL haven't heard anything. Basically what we've found out is the deed paperwork has finally been delivered to our closing attorney's office, BUT now there is a question about the person who signed the deed on the seller's behalf and whether they were able to sign the documentation or not. SOOO... we're still in a holding pattern.
As of yesterday, our closing attorney has finally made contact with the settlement company (which is evidently a good sign) but there's no idea of when we can move forward with closing. To make matters worse, we called to find out what was going on and we were told that the seller can prolong this process as long as they want. It's also interesting to note that we signed the contract for the house on July 19, 2009... it's now been OVER 2 months and we still don't have keys... and to think our agent and broker were trying to get us to close before September 21st (HA!) I guess it's a good thing we didn't try to move this up or everyone would've gone into a tailspin... How do these people still have a jobs ?!?!?!
Mike and I are really trying to not let this get us down, but understandably, we're a little frustrated with the entire process. In the meantime, we're continuing to pack the house and try to get everything done we can in order for the move to go smooth!
We finally closed on the house tonight... it's been a long week, but it only took an hour to sign all the paperwork and the renovations can officially begin tomorrow! First things first, the house is going to get some color... Luckily we had already picked out all the paint colors and just had to go buy them... painting commences first thing in the morning! Check back soon because the renovations will be coming quickly!!!
SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
I need to start by saying that I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am for mine and Mike's families... without them, there is no doubt in my mind ... this would not be happening.
I have to say, Mike's sister, Theora (who drove 4 hours to help us out this weekend), Mike's parents and my Mom came over to the house yesterday and worked their TAILS off.
Theora and Mel worked on tearing the stain filled carpet out of the living room, dining room and hallway and hauled it out to the curb. Mike's mom took down all the wall plate covers and then helped Mel and Theora pull staples and tacks out of the floors from the carpet (not to mention, she also made sure we were well fed!!!) and my Mom and I started working on covering up the ugly school bus yellow paint that filled the bedrooms. While all of us were doing that, Mike started patching the cracks in the ceiling (and believe me there were a lot of them).
At the end of the day, all of the yellow paint was gone, the small bedroom wall was painted green, the bathroom was taped off so we could begin painting that and the nasty carpet was out at the curb ready for pick up!!! We're off to a good start!!!
OCTOBER 1, 2009
Well week 1 is over and we are mental and physically exhausted. Everyday this week, Mike, my Mom and I worked (at our actual jobs) and then headed over to the house to work there until at least 11pm each night. Needless to say, our bodies are worn out, but we are in a race against time.
Moving day is one week away and the progress is noticeable, but slow. This week we have finished painting the spare room, the living room and the dining room. We have to put another coat of paint on the hallway and the bathroom. The master bedroom/bathroom has barely been touched.
Early this week, Mike moved the wood stove out of the dining room and began patching the hole in the wall. It's turned out to be a good thing he did...when he pulled the front of the wall off to move the stove he find out the the hole in the back of the house wasn't sealed tight and the insulation in the wall was rotted and covered in mildew. Mike went straight to work and it looks wonderful... he even was creative and used some wood from the garage to re-do the wall in the dining room. The wall looks great and just has to be primed and painted at some point this week.
Mom and I have officially been banned from painting anything for the next couple of days all in an effort to get the floors done. Mike rented a sander and started sanding the wood floors last night. He worked on the floors until 3:30am and then finally came home and got about 5 sleep. This morning he is back over there and we're hoping to get the floors sanded today and actually be able to stain them tonight. The process takes a long time, so painting won't resume until at least the middle of the week... So for now, Mom and I are cleaning up the yard. Hopefully we'll make some headway on that today and our "diamond in the rough" will no longer be the eyesore of the neighborhood.
PS- The city of Virginia Beach does NOT let you put carpet on the curb... we've had at least 3 neighbors stop and tell us and received 2 violation warnings from the city... Man, these people are serious about their neighborhood! We're making a trip to the city landfill today so we won't be looked at as "those new people who don't know the rules"!!!
OCTOBER 8, 2009
Moving day is one week away and the progress is noticeable, but slow. This week we have finished painting the spare room, the living room and the dining room. We have to put another coat of paint on the hallway and the bathroom. The master bedroom/bathroom has barely been touched.
Early this week, Mike moved the wood stove out of the dining room and began patching the hole in the wall. It's turned out to be a good thing he did...when he pulled the front of the wall off to move the stove he find out the the hole in the back of the house wasn't sealed tight and the insulation in the wall was rotted and covered in mildew. Mike went straight to work and it looks wonderful... he even was creative and used some wood from the garage to re-do the wall in the dining room. The wall looks great and just has to be primed and painted at some point this week.
Mom and I have officially been banned from painting anything for the next couple of days all in an effort to get the floors done. Mike rented a sander and started sanding the wood floors last night. He worked on the floors until 3:30am and then finally came home and got about 5 sleep. This morning he is back over there and we're hoping to get the floors sanded today and actually be able to stain them tonight. The process takes a long time, so painting won't resume until at least the middle of the week... So for now, Mom and I are cleaning up the yard. Hopefully we'll make some headway on that today and our "diamond in the rough" will no longer be the eyesore of the neighborhood.
PS- The city of Virginia Beach does NOT let you put carpet on the curb... we've had at least 3 neighbors stop and tell us and received 2 violation warnings from the city... Man, these people are serious about their neighborhood! We're making a trip to the city landfill today so we won't be looked at as "those new people who don't know the rules"!!!
OCTOBER 8, 2009
We decided when we started this project that we wanted to strip the hardwood floors and refinish them... if only we knew then, what we know now...
Mike rented an industrial sander on Friday afternoon on his way home from work. Friday night, he stayed at the house until 3am (Saturday morning) sanding the floors and didn't even finish the living room/dining room area. He decided to throw in the towel for the night and head home.
On Saturday, Mike started again at 9am and worked until 1am (Sunday morning). During the day, Mom and I made a couple of trips to the City landfill (to discard of that carpet everyone complained about) and we started taking down a fence and disposed of that. I knocked off early and took Sadie to Newport News (to see Grandma and Grandpa) and headed back to VB to help sand floors. While Mike worked with the industrial sander, I used the elliptical sander and the tazmanian devil (aka the edging sander) and started on the living room.
On Sunday, we took a MUCH NEEDED BREAK and headed up to Pittsburgh for the Steeler vs. Chargers game. We caught up on a little bit of sleep, but came back home to a big mess.
We started sanding immediately when we returned home on Monday and worked until we were done sanding about 11:30p and then finally returned the sander on Tuesday (what we thought would take us 2 days, ended up taking us 4 days--not to mention, double the cost!) We started staining on Wednesday and started polyurethane-ing on Thursday...
Moving day is this coming Sunday and at this point, it doesn't look like the floors are going to be finished. (The poly takes 3 days to cure) so it looks like we'll have to move everything into the garage on Sunday until the floors have a chance to dry... Sounds like fun, doesn't it?!?!?
Last Sunday, we moved into the house, putting all of our stuff in huge piles in the garage because our floors weren't ready for us to move in and they wouldn't be ready until Tuesday night. So we moved everything in except our bed and a loveseat and continued staying at the townhouse, until we realized the new tenants were moving in on Thursday (which we had originally paid to stay through Thursday) and we had to be completely out of there, have the place clean, etc. So the next couple days were spent cleaning, painting, cleaning carpets, scrubbing bathrooms, etc. And with that, we officially began to call our new house, "home" on Wednesday.
As you can imagine, living in an empty house, with all of your belongings packed in boxes in the garage, is a little unsettling. By Friday we were about to go crazy and decided to unpack the kitchen so we could, at the very least, make food and stop eating fast food for every meal. So, with that, we started moving in.
As we've begun the process of living in the new house, we've hit a couple of hiccups along the way. 1. our water pressure in the shower is screwy and 2. with all the rain we've gotten, the yard is saturated. But there has been a lot of good things come out of this week:
1. Mom and I (mainly Mom) got all of the flowers transplanted from the townhouse and planted in the flowerbeds at the new house.
2. We got all of the mini-blinds in the house hung up, so it "doesn't feel like we live in a shelter anymore"! (Mike's quote of the week)
3. We did some more painting and are closer to being done than we were before!
4. We ate our first home-cooked meal (cooked at Mom's house) in about 3 weeks.
5. The "yard sale" pile is growing more and more everyday, so hopefully I'll make some money when we have the yard sale
6. So far, my commute hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be
7. our electrical (which we thought was awful) isn't as bad as we thought it would be
8. we bought new french doors and a pedestal sink!!!!
Thank you all for your continued support and for the well wishes! Now that we have internet, I'll do better about updating the site...
HA! and strangely enough, that was my last post about the house (and I never did have that yard sale!). I can't believe we've been living in this house 2+ years already. Looking back at these posts, I realize we've come so far. We, however, are the same as most homeowners and are CONSTANTLY working on the house...adding new things, tearing things out, changing paint colors, etc. I guess a homeowner's work is NEVER done! Hopefully I'll get the chance to post before and after pictures soon!
Mike rented an industrial sander on Friday afternoon on his way home from work. Friday night, he stayed at the house until 3am (Saturday morning) sanding the floors and didn't even finish the living room/dining room area. He decided to throw in the towel for the night and head home.
On Saturday, Mike started again at 9am and worked until 1am (Sunday morning). During the day, Mom and I made a couple of trips to the City landfill (to discard of that carpet everyone complained about) and we started taking down a fence and disposed of that. I knocked off early and took Sadie to Newport News (to see Grandma and Grandpa) and headed back to VB to help sand floors. While Mike worked with the industrial sander, I used the elliptical sander and the tazmanian devil (aka the edging sander) and started on the living room.
On Sunday, we took a MUCH NEEDED BREAK and headed up to Pittsburgh for the Steeler vs. Chargers game. We caught up on a little bit of sleep, but came back home to a big mess.
We started sanding immediately when we returned home on Monday and worked until we were done sanding about 11:30p and then finally returned the sander on Tuesday (what we thought would take us 2 days, ended up taking us 4 days--not to mention, double the cost!) We started staining on Wednesday and started polyurethane-ing on Thursday...
Moving day is this coming Sunday and at this point, it doesn't look like the floors are going to be finished. (The poly takes 3 days to cure) so it looks like we'll have to move everything into the garage on Sunday until the floors have a chance to dry... Sounds like fun, doesn't it?!?!?
OCTOBER 19, 2009
Early last week, we knew that the week was going to be grueling. Having to be out of our townhouse, move into the house and still continue to get work done is never easy, but this past week was especially difficult. Last Sunday, we moved into the house, putting all of our stuff in huge piles in the garage because our floors weren't ready for us to move in and they wouldn't be ready until Tuesday night. So we moved everything in except our bed and a loveseat and continued staying at the townhouse, until we realized the new tenants were moving in on Thursday (which we had originally paid to stay through Thursday) and we had to be completely out of there, have the place clean, etc. So the next couple days were spent cleaning, painting, cleaning carpets, scrubbing bathrooms, etc. And with that, we officially began to call our new house, "home" on Wednesday.
As you can imagine, living in an empty house, with all of your belongings packed in boxes in the garage, is a little unsettling. By Friday we were about to go crazy and decided to unpack the kitchen so we could, at the very least, make food and stop eating fast food for every meal. So, with that, we started moving in.
As we've begun the process of living in the new house, we've hit a couple of hiccups along the way. 1. our water pressure in the shower is screwy and 2. with all the rain we've gotten, the yard is saturated. But there has been a lot of good things come out of this week:
1. Mom and I (mainly Mom) got all of the flowers transplanted from the townhouse and planted in the flowerbeds at the new house.
2. We got all of the mini-blinds in the house hung up, so it "doesn't feel like we live in a shelter anymore"! (Mike's quote of the week)
3. We did some more painting and are closer to being done than we were before!
4. We ate our first home-cooked meal (cooked at Mom's house) in about 3 weeks.
5. The "yard sale" pile is growing more and more everyday, so hopefully I'll make some money when we have the yard sale
6. So far, my commute hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be
7. our electrical (which we thought was awful) isn't as bad as we thought it would be
8. we bought new french doors and a pedestal sink!!!!
Thank you all for your continued support and for the well wishes! Now that we have internet, I'll do better about updating the site...
HA! and strangely enough, that was my last post about the house (and I never did have that yard sale!). I can't believe we've been living in this house 2+ years already. Looking back at these posts, I realize we've come so far. We, however, are the same as most homeowners and are CONSTANTLY working on the house...adding new things, tearing things out, changing paint colors, etc. I guess a homeowner's work is NEVER done! Hopefully I'll get the chance to post before and after pictures soon!
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