That 70's House

Timber!!!!

I had gone back to work during this time and Amanda was still attending school during all of this.  My work schedule is pretty tight the weeks that I work. I do little else.  I commute and work 80 hours in 7 days so that leaves little time for anything besides sleep.  I spent a lot of time (at work) that week researching the projects that we were facing such as wallpaper removal and laying floating laminate flooring.   I watched a lot of DIY episodes just trying to learn, if nothing else, what not to do.

Amanda would spend her days at school and some of the time studying and doing homework.  But when she didn't have her kids and had a few free minutes she would head over to the house to doing the single person jobs, such as cleaning toilets, bathtubs, kitchen cabinets, etc.  At this point I will remind you that the hot water heater was not working nor the heat.  It is January and cold.  Amanda is so determined to work on this house that she brings her microwave from her house over to warm the water that she is using to clean so that her fingers didn't literally freeze. I'm telling you this woman is one determined person.  If she says it can be done when you are saying it can't, I would suggest that you just move out of her way and start preparing yourself to say, "Perhaps I was mistaken.  It can be done." 

Every week when I would get off we had talked all week about what we were going to do first that we could hardly wait to get over there and tackle the jobs.  The next job on our list was to to tear down the cyprus logs in the dining room and living room. 

The contractor that came by gave us a little warning about a second beam that was in place above most of the logs.  He said that it was not structural and therefore may have settled throughout the years.  No problem.  If it is not structural then we can work around that. 

We decided to start in the dining room since, a) there were fewer logs and b) the beams on top were shorter.  Also, there was the hideous wall paper that would have to come down in there and we would probably have to patch some dry wall after that, so no worries if we happen to do a little damage to the wall during the removal.

So, we have a few pry bars and a whole lot of excitement.  We set to work on the first log.  We start prying and prying and what do you know it we are able to get it loose with little to no damage to the wall and the beam seems to be still in place.  A little victory dance was done and a few celebrity pictures taken.  The first log is out the door and on the front lawn.  Yay us!!  

This wasn't going to be so bad.  We would be tired because it didn't just pop off the wall but it was doable, and we were doing it.  The wall behind them was plain sheetrock which didn't come as a surprise to us because when we took the wainscoating down in the bedroom it has already shown us that they probably didn't finish any drywall that wouldn't be showing.  Makes sense, as a builder.  As a renovator a little disappointing but we would just have to learn to do that before we paint.

We were ready to tackle the next log.  We pulled and we pushed.  We were prying it loose with all we had when it finally came free from the wall.  Yay, again.  We started pulling it out from under the beam and suddenly I realize that it isn't getting lighter.  I look up and see that the beam is coming down with it.  Yikes!!!  "Put it back! Put it back!" I screamed.  We shoved it back under the beam wedging the beam back to it resting place on top of the log.   

This was one of the first of many times that we stopped and stared at the situation.  At first, I kept thinking of how bad it could have been.  But then I thought, but it wasn't.  We saw it as it happened, made adjustments and averted danger.  We can still do this.  We just have to figure out what to do with those beams. 

We had two choices.  They stay and we figure out how to make them stay.  Or they come down and we figure out how to deal with the hole behind them.  We walked around the dining room and decided that they could come down and we would just patch the dry wall and it would be fine.  We may need some help getting them down safely but it would be fine.  Then we walked into the living room following the second beam all the way around the dining room into the living room.  Taking them down seemed great until we saw this area.

We quickly realized that it would leave a gap above the brick on the fireplace as well as on the brick wall on the other side.  Well, that was it.  They would be more trouble coming down than it would be to figure out how to make them stay.  Decision made, now how to do keep them up there.  And I mean KEEP them up there.  They would be there with no previous support with our kids walking under these 6x4 beams, slamming the doors and shooting nerf bullets "accidentally" into them.  You never know there may even me a child hanging from them while one of us had her back turned.  I wouldn't put it past these five kids.  

After much scratching of heads and debating, we decided that they would have to be bolted to the beams above them.  You know the ones that were structural and would not come down unless the house came down as well.  So once again we were off to Lowe's to see if they had the right bolts and a drill bit.  I had already decided that we probably would not find bolts large enough or long enough to work without countersinking the bolts.  I was not too happy with the thought of having to try my drilling/countersinking skills for the first time on something that would be permanently in our house, but I would if it had to be done.

We actually found the perfect bolt for the job and they had just enough.  Actually, they had two extra so we bought them too.  Just in case.  We could always bring them back if we didn't use them, or put them in as extras on the beam that we thought looked most tempting for hanging in the kids eyes. 

Now to find a drill bit.  I am sure that the contractor turned Lowe's employee had a great laugh at us when we explained what we were doing.  Then we asked exactly how do you pick out a bit.  He was VERY helpful with a little bit of concern in his eye.  He even gave us the tip to measure how far we wanted to drill into the beams and put a piece of tape on the bit at that point so that we knew when to stop. 

See, it's little things like that we NEEDED to know.  And those types of trick only come with doing things like this a lot.  I know things like that only they don't have anything to do with construction.  They are more along the lines of: if you are baking a cake that will not be iced, such a bundt cake, powder your greased pan with powdered sugar instead of flour.  The little bit that is left over on your cake will taste good instead of bland.

We headed home and for the next couple of hours we drilled and bolted our hearts out.  The beams were now bolted in place so that the logs could come out.  Back to work on the logs.  We finished a few more but ran into a snag or two.  As with most things, I skip the snags and keep moving if possible.  So we left the one on the corner that had two HUGE nails into the beam above and came back later. 



After thinking about it while removing a couple of other logs I decided I would tackle the saws all or reciprocating saw.  No other tool, makes me quite as nervous, still.  Well, no other tool that I will use....a chain saw scares the heck out of me but you will never see this little girl with one in her hands.  I am strong but I don't pretend to be anywhere close to "man" strong.  Men can control things with their hand strength that it takes my whole upper body strength to accomplish.  And I would consider controlling a blade that is moving back and forth at a rapid pace an important thing to control.  That being said I carefully, cut the nails free and got that log down as well.

And just in case you were thinking of building something using these type of cyprus logs as decor.  I will just say that there were wrappers etc. in the back of more than one of these logs that had been hollowed out by little visitors.  They make perfect little hiding places, so don't say I didn't warn you.

We were not quite finished when it was time for school to get out so we went to pick up the boys.  (Amanda's were back with their dad.)  We thought we would just toss out the idea that we could go over and let them see what we had done and maybe we could get another one or two down.  They said yes and we did.  With just one more hours work we had all of the logs down in one day, even with the beam falling set back. 

I will say out of all of the renovation accomplishments this one ranks high on my list.  It was challenging for just two women to take down and move all of the logs in one day.  I think God knew we needed to gain some confidence because he knew what else was ahead. 

A Little Justification Goes a Long Way

That first day of renovation was on a Saturday and like any good Southern Baptist...we took Sunday off.  Okay, okay, truthfully, we took Sunday off not because of our religious beliefs, but because we had all five kids and they were out of school.  There were very few projects left that they could help with and we knew that if we involved them too much right out of the gate, they would begin to hate the new house.  So we made a pact between to each other not to "drag" the kids over to the house unless they wanted to go, or we REALLY needed to be there.  We had the days while they were in school to work on it.  So even though we really wanted to work on the house that Sunday after church, we decided to wait until Monday. 

After a day of rest we headed back for demo work.  We weren't sure where to start so we decided to  survey the floors to see what if anything we would need to do to get them ready for the laminate flooring we would be laying eventually.  We had already decided to leave the carpet in the boys' room for a while longer because the kids were having a blast playing in there when they were here.  We would remove it last.  As we walked around we realized that we could not lay the floor until we made the other changes first, such as removing the trees from the wall, taking down the desk and shelving in the moms' room, and removing the half walls in the living room. There was no way to lay the floor around them and then take them down.  So everything that was going was going to have to go before the floor went down. Would that still fall into the category of cleaning a bit?

It wouldn't cost us much money to do these things.  That was our only goal.  We just didn't want to put too much money into the house before we actually owned it.  But it doesn't cost any money to tear things down.  Just some elbow grease and a few tools. 

Just like any other women, Amanda and I can justify anything if need be.  So we did just that. 

Amanda:"Anyone moving in would take these trees down, right?"

Me: " Anyone with any sense in their heads.  They separating from the walls and gross."

Amanda: "Exactly! They are halfway down already!"

Me:  "That they are...let's help them out!"

There you have it.  Four of five sentences was all it took to convince ourselves that we were doing anyone who actually owned this house a favor by tearing down walls and trees.  Technically, we knew that we would get this house it was just a waiting game, and we had no other options.

Instead of biting off the biggest project first, we decided to get our feet wet with the shelves in our room first.  It was not that bad but it was a not our taste.  We looked at them and decided that they were nailed together.  What was hammered together must be hammered apart.  That is exactly what we did.  We each got a hammer and beat them until they broke loose. 

 

(We were so into doing the demo that we forgot to get pictures often.  We did get better at that later.  You'll see.)

A little while later, there was a pile of shelving under our carport and we were two happy women.  We had tackled our first job and succeeded.  We didn't even tear up the boards too much so if we decided to use them later we could.  We were proud.  So proud that we decided to tear down the wainscoting in that room.  It couldn't be that hard.  Turns out it wasn't.  Just a little prying and it popped right off.  We piled it on the already gross pile of flooring in the yard.  

We were ready to start taking town the logs in the dining and living rooms.  Or were we?

 

And So It Begins

If you are still around to read this, you are: a) really patient because it seems to be longer between posts, b) really bored and are on my facebook wall or c) you happen to be traveling down the wonderful road to DIY renovations are are searching for help (and bless your heart, you ended up here).  Never the less, I am glad you are back!  

Without further ado, I will pick up where I left off in this story.  The very first thing we did was to pull up the playroom floor.  Work from the floor up. Honestly, we can't really even count that as demolition because about a third of it was up already. There was a leak in the sink and hot water heater in the playroom, that the previous owners thought the appropriate fix would be to turn off the water to these two areas, throw down a rug over the damaged floor, and close the door.  Nice.

The kids were with us that Saturday and they really wanted to help.  Since it was pulling up so easily, we gave them the pry bars and set them to work.  After all, it is demolition and I have always said that my two boys could tear up an anvil.  They had it up in no time. 

 Our next decision was where to put it.  We decided this as four children with arms full of floor were asking, "Where do we put it?"  Ah, probably should have considered this BEFORE tearing it up but the brilliant decision we made on the spot was just pile it right there in the yard until we figure it out.  Not one of our better decisions, because that pile still haunts us today.  I still find little pieces of wood, flooring, etc in the edge of the yard.  A better decision would have been to get a dumpster, but remember that we were first time DIY'ers.  Also, we were on a tight budget.  We are not in the city limits so there are not as many regulations on things like burning and piling half of the unwanted stuff from your house on your lawn.

The playroom floor made such a difference that we decided to tackle the carpet in the back bedroom next.  The best advice I can give anyone pulling up 35 year old carpet is think small.  Really small.  You would not believe how heavy all that dirt trapped in old carpet can be.  Thank goodness I had read that somewhere in my endless research and we started cutting the carpet into small strips.  We started by cutting it into strips about four feet wide and the length of the room.  It was much more manageable to take the rolls of carpet outside to the aforementioned pile in the yard.  My other advise for newbie DIY carpet removal is have plenty of replacement blades for your utility knife.  I had always heard that dirt would dull a blade...well, turns out it that was the case.  We would make it the length of the room and the blade would be dull.  These rooms are not tiny but we aren't talking about a mansion either.  This particular room is about 19'x12'.  The amount of dirt was unbelievable.  It was enough to cure my wishes to reinstall carpet ANYWHERE in this house. 

This was also the day that we would show the house to our parents and hope that they could see the potential that we saw in it.  They came by and pretty much said, "We see the potential.  Great job finding this house.  Please don't put too much into it until it is yours and good luck."  Plus they brought tools and pressure washers, so it was a pretty good day.

After day one of demolition we were excited beyond belief and of course tired.  For the first time, we were able to get in there and accomplish something.  Our reasoning at this point was, even if the deal did fall through, nothing we have done made this house any worse off.  It was all an improvement.  The key was to make sure we didn't sink too much money into those improvements.  That would prove to be the test.

Patience...it's a virtue, or so I've heard.

I can be patient at times.  I have been known to endure long lines without much grumbling.  I can even shop in the craziness of the Black Friday Sales and not complain.  I can be really patient for food at a restaurant, mainly because I'm not having to cook.  I can even listen my boys rambling about nothing without asking, "Does this story have a point?"  The little things are easy; it's the big ones with which I lose my ability to wait.

The renovations on this house definitely falls into the big category.  We started off by just going by (after all we could get in anytime we wanted because the front door didn't lock) and measuring the rooms so that we could figure up a budget for the renovation.  Not impatience, just planning.  Planning is good right?

While measuring the rooms, my old tape measure kept wanting to not roll up so I just pulled it loose and we measured away.  After getting our measurements, I folded up the broken tape measure and left it in the laundry room in case we needed it again.  (Remember this for later...you never know there may be a test.)

At this point in the story, I must take you on a little aside to tell you some information will be important later.  The government agency that repossessed the house hired a company to clean the house.  They came in and cleaned it, winterized it and cut the grass.  There were signs everywhere that announced that they had winterized and there were dated air fresheners in every bathroom and the kitchen.  I don't remember the guidance counselor offering this as career option.  I'm surprised that I haven't seen it on the million and one episodes that Britt and I have watched of Dirty Jobs.  I can't imagine what these people have seen cleaning repossessed houses.

Now back to the story.  We mapped out how much it would cost to paint and floor each room.  Things were looking good.  It was looking like we would be able to afford to accomplish both if we could do the work ourselves.  If...did I say if?  I meant to say BECAUSE we can do the work ourselves.  Money is a great motivator.  We could do the work ourselves because we were not paying someone else to do it.  We couldn't afford it, not and accomplish everything that we wanted done.  It would be necessary for us to do the work ourselves.  Thus necessity is not the mother of invention, it is the creator of Home Renovators.

Next decision was could we pull it all off before moving in.  And if not where to start? 

 The more we talked about it the more excited we were to get started.  Then the thought occurred to us that we could start the "cleaning" aka demolition without sinking a lot of money into it.  After all, the demolition would include pulling up the horrible pea-green carpet, taking down wallpaper, pulling up the molding wood floor that was already half up, and patching holes in the sheet rock.  So we called the Realtor and he said that he was not planning on coming back by and that he didn't see any harm in us "cleaning".  His only advise was not to put any money into it. 

No money; no problem.  We can do that. Demolition is very cheap.  We can just start on it and we get as far as we can before they free up the deed.  That will determine what we will do before we move in.  

We had a contractor meet us at the house to give us some advise.  After all, we actually knew NOTHING about what we were about to get in to.  He agreed with our plans and gave us some much appreciated tidbits of advise. 

While we were there, we needed a tape measure.   I go to get the broken one out of the laundry room and it wasn't there.  We had had the house appraised in between me putting it there and that day.  Surely the appraiser did not steal the tape measure.  Or perhaps he threw it away...it was broken.  Who knows, but it wasn't there anymore.  Oh well.  A new tape measure was already on the list of tools need for the renovations.

We begin to amass the tools needed for the jobs.  After the first of THOUSANDS of trips to Lowe's, we came away with a new tape measure and two pry bars.  We would be borrowing most of the tools and as for the small stuff, we would buy it as needed so that we wouldn't buy more than we had to buy.  We didn't OWN the house yet.  There would just be a little pre-renovation cleaning going on.

 

 

Realtors, Agencies, and Shaq...oh my!

With the money issues solved, I began to actually believe that we could make it into this house.  We were going to be in the land of the home owners again.  It felt good to know that throwing money away was soon to be a thing of the past.  (Will, if you are reading this, I am not calling you a garbage can, but I think you would agree with me in saying renting is a lucrative business. It just depends on which side of the check exchange you're on.)

We met with the Realtor and he said that everything was set, just waiting on the government since they held the title.  As anyone who has waited on the government knows...they get in no rush.  They said a couple of weeks and we would be clear to close.  Being a Federal employee, I know that in government work that would mean at least a month.  I was in no hurry.  We could just relax and get ready for the upcoming weeks of renovation. Besides, that gave me plenty of time to research the projects.  All was well. 

Then we get the phone call...a closing date?  No.  A call saying that there was a lean on the title.  Oh, a lean.  No big deal right.  A couple of thousand in back taxes?  We could handle that if it meant getting this house.  Excuse me?  What did you say?  A $64,000 lean on the house.  WHAM!!!  There's that shoe that we knew would fall.  Except it wasn't just the normal shoe.  It may as well been Shaquille O'Neal's size 22 sneakers. 

What does this mean?  Would we be responsible?  Would they have to get their money from the former owners?  Would they not release the title until they had their money?  So many questions and no one had the answers.  The best answer we got was that it would eventually be cleared but that the two government agencies that were involved would have to agree on who would take the loss.  That's like asking the Republicans and Democrats to agree on who is responsible for the National Debt.  We would be waiting awhile.  The official estimate was around four or five weeks.  That would be more like three months to you and me.  Okay, so I would have plenty of time to thoroughly research the renovations.

We were disappointed to say the least but it was not the worst news that it could have been.  We would still get the house if we could be patient.  Well, we didn't any other options so patient we would have to be.  Or not.... 

Look, up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, It's a shoestring??

I was raised to be polite and it isn't polite to talk money with strangers.  I will not get into the figures on this house because, well, it ain't nice.  And not that you are a stranger, but this is the internet, and well you see where I'm going with this. 

I will, however, give you an hint at it because it is important information on the next chapter of this story.  The price of this house was close to the price of a new car.  Very feasible, if you have credit and a job.  Which is something that neither of us had.  I have a job with no credit. (Don't ask, because I am not going there, but I am working on it and should be back to the land of credit within two years.)  Amanda has great credit, but no job.  (She is currently going to school to remedy that situation.)  We can afford the house and would cut our expenses in half, if not more, by getting this house, but could we find someone willing to give us the money based on her credit and my income?

We both checked into loans, Amanda from banks and me, well, from family.  No one was able to loan us the money.  At this point, I would like to welcome to the story the shoe that I just knew would fall. 

We soon realized as all the doors were being shut in our face that this house may be a great opportunity but one that we apparently weren't meant to have.  But we WANTED this house.  I even started thinking like I did when I was in college and broke.  "I wonder if I could borrow 100 bucks from everyone I know could I get enough people to float this house?"  Crazy schemes; none of which we acted on.  But that is how desperate we were to get this house. There had to be a way. 

Finally, I remember being on my way to work and thinking we are not going to get this house and I am done.  I will be renting for the next few years, get over it and move on.  I even told Amanda that day, not to bring me any other houses because if we couldn't get this house we couldn't do anything but rent.  I was so disappointed and not wanting to go through this again. 

Amanda, with her endless faith, wasn't quite finished yet.  She mustered up the courage after my I'm done speech to hit me with our last few options.  I listened, half-way, and said something along the lines of, "Whatever."  (I told you I was done.)

One of those was to approach a local bank, together, explain our situation and hope for the best.  I agreed that all they could say was no and we were getting used to that.  So the next week we went in and met with the banker.  He heard us out and said, "Hmmm.  I could run it.  It will be a stretch but it may be possible."  Long story short, he made it work for us.  There is something to be said for small towns, where we still have local bankers who are willing to take a chance on the little people of their community.

So technically, the shoe didn't fall, yet, but I think maybe it was falling and I got hit with a shoe string.  Amanda, however, refused to accept no.  That's the kind of person she is.  So I guess the old adage is true, "Where there's a will, there's a way."  (I'm just glad she is on my side!)

 

 

 

Here's Your Sign

I approach most decisions the same way...gather information, do a "gut check" and then weigh how it will effect overall the situation.  I was approaching this much the same way...but I just needed to feel that this house was the right move.

We discussed the living situation while looking at the bedrooms and decided that the three boys would need the room of the master.  I was contimplating how we would fit all of their clothes and toys in one room.  After all Britt and Rusten, together, own almost every nerf gun made and owning such a nerf arrsenal takes up space.  The only benefit is that they don't have to worry about storage of the nerf bullets because, as always, they would be stored under every piece of furniture in the rest of the house.  Three boys and two closets.  I suppose it could be done.  We can add some storage bins and it could be quite nice. 

Then we get to the master bath.  We realized that there was a third closet in the vanity area along with a linen closet in the bathroom itself.  Who built this house, Imedla Marcos?

Let me take you on a little aside here to remind you of the time period of the birth of this house.  The year was 1976. 

• The average cost of new house was $43,400.00. 
• The average income per year was $16,000.00. 
• The average monthly rent was $220.00. 
• A gallon of gas costed $0.59. 
• Best Picture went to Rocky.
• Time's Man of the Year was Jimmy Carter.
• Son of Sam was on the loose.
• Popular songs included:  Hotel California (The Eagles), Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac), More Than a Feeling (Boston) and Dancing Queen (ABBA)

Among the births and firsts for this year:

• Apple Computer Company was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
• NASA unveils the first Space Shuttle, The Enterprise.
• Concorde first flight cuts transatlantic flying time to 3 1/2 hours.
• Matsushita introduces the VHS home video cassette recorder to compete with Sony's Beta max system.
• The Ink Jet Printer was born.
• Celebrities born in 1976: Reece Witherspoon, Taylor Hicks, Fred Savage, Jennifer Capriati and Peyton Manning
• Our House

Now that you are in the mindset of the birth of this house...four closets in one room???  All I can say is wow, just, wow.

So we move to the next room which has no hideous wallpaper and no carpet...so far so good. The bathroom had some wallpaper, but hey, that's better than the whole room, right?  I wouldn't want to give up a bathroom in my room for the kids but this one had one and Heidi, with her medical problems, needs one.  And it didn't have carpet, which Alleigh can hardly stand.  So, it looks like this would be their room.  We open the TWO closets in it, and it seals the deal.  One is made with a toddler height clothes rod, perfect for Heidi.  This would be the girls' room.

In true mother's fashion...I guess we will take what it left.  We walk into the last bedroom.  You've got to be kidding me?  Two closets in there and a bathroom as well.  Wow, it's perfect.  Well, except for the fact that I will now not only have a housemate, but a roommate.  It'll be like college all over again, with the replacement of coffee for the beer and the homework will actually be done (by the kids of course).  The room is nice sized. If you can look past the bookshelf that had to go, the uneven 80's wallpaper (the only thing that was updated in the whole house), and the lovely border (that someone was either smoking crack or allowed their toddler to help while installing), it was not that bad.  Once again, all cosmetic changes that we could do ourselves. 

We walk around the rest of the house and it has a HUGE laundry room complete with a sink, a wall of deep cabinets and a linen closet.  A bonus room, that will become the playroom (we thought about making it another bedroom, but the pocket doors are stuck in the pockets, so that was out) is centrally located between the hallways, complete with a wet bar (it was the 70s) and what would have been beautiful hard wood except for the leak from the wet bar.  There is a desk area with loads of storage for books and general stuff.  There is also a half bath that has the same "beautiful" red formica that was used in the kitchen.  There is a two car garage and a large attic for storage. I began to realize that this house has more square footage of storage than my previous houses did in total square footage.  (sign #4)

I left for work and Amanda...well, I can't remember what she was up to that night.  I just kept thinking....we can so do this.  But there still was the issue of that shoe floating overhead.

 

Love at first sight...

Love may be a little strong...I'm gonna revise that title to read Like at first sight.

So we drive up and this is what I saw... execpt it was dark and I could barely see it.

 

"Not exactly my choice in exteriors but I will not judge this book by its cover," I think.  We enter through the front door which is technically locked with both a lock box from the Realtor and the front door knob.  This is just a facade, because to open it, you just shake the loose knob and vuala, the door is open.  Pretty convenient until you consider moving anything of value inside, much less kids.  Although, considering make up of this house...I may feel sorry for the thief who tries to break in.  He could, however, take whatever that was laying in the floor, because it NEVER belongs to any of the kids. 

We walk inside and Amanda is unusually quiet.  (Anyone who knows Amanda, and I will include myself, knows that we are not quiet.  We often interrupt each other just because we have something that we HAVE to say before we forget it.)  The silence is deafening.  Quiet is not good.  But then I finally figure out that she is trying not to influence my first opinion of it.  

My first opinion? This is what I walked in to....

My first opinion was something close to Bass Pro Shops 

 

meets the Brady Bunch. 

  

After taking a few minutes to comprehend that the TREES that were everywhere in the living and dining rooms were not growing there, I calmed down and looked past it. 

 

 Looked right past it, to the kitchen where I found RED counter tops and quilt like wallpaper. What were they thinking???  (a phrase that will be uttered, screamed, used in place of curse words, and as a true question many times in the months to come.)

 

I managed to divert my eyes from the boldness of the red counter tops and the dining wall paper long enough to actually notice the potential in the kitchen.  It was large with a not-so-bad layout, including a connecting dining room; a very workable area. 

Walking back to the living room I managed, "It's not THAT bad.  At least it's roomy." 

That was all Amanda needed, "We can take down the trees and tear down the wallpaper, etc. etc. etc.  Wait till you see the rest of it."

We toured the rest, complete with horrid carpet and equally terrible wallpaper in every room. (This blog's banner is a sample of the master bedroom wallpaper...nice,huh?)  You can see the before pictures on the sidebar if you dare.

 

 

All of the problems seemed to be costmetic.  All fixable.  We could even do it ourselves.  Could this be too good to be true?  I needed a sign...

 

 

 

 

How it all began...

Welcome to That 70's House.  Before we begin on the journey into DIY renovation, let me give you a little background.

Characters of this blog:

I am Stacy

• 39 year old divorced mother of two boys, Britt(10) and Charlie(8)
• A medical technologist (night shift)who commutes 170 miles to work and works 7 on and 7 off 
• Shares custody of her boys with her ex husband and has them the weeks she is off of work
• Has little or no experience of DIY projects but has a tendency to over research everything before attempting it
• Is not afraid of getting dirty and working with one exception, plumbing
• Has a best friend, Amanda, who is just as crazy as she is to attempt DIY projects and hopefully succeed

 

Amanda

• 29 year old divorced mother of three: Alleigh(8), Rusten(6) and Heidi(3)
• Full time student who commutes 110 miles to school three days a week
• Shares custody of the kids with her ex husband but the schedule is so complicated I am not sure that Einstein could remember it without a calendar
• Has a little experience with dry wall but not much else
• Is more of the lets just try it and see if it works type of renovator, which hopefully will stop me from all of my research to actually start the project
• The only thing she has expressed any non love for is painting which, if I know her right, she will do anyway

Britt

• Is a typical first child
• Loves outdoors and hates homework
• Can regurgitate any useless fact from a documentary he watched five years ago but at times can't spell hello (it's almost always hellow)
• Very smart but also manipulative...a deadly combination for a parent
• Can eat his weight in fruit, especially oranges

 

Charlie

• Sweet, not only in actions, but in choice of snacks
• Is a people person
• A little OCD about things but that comes in handy in school...he's never made B
• Likes video games but is not a total techie
• Very picky eater that is learning that he may like more than cheese and chocolate over the past couple of years

Alleigh

• Also has the first born mentality
• Loves music
• Is a hard worker
• Can be extremely emotional at times, which is new to me...see above (mother of two boys)
• Likes to write and owns more journals and notebooks than Office Depot sells

Rusten

• A loving child
• Hardly ever gets in trouble except for not paying attention
• Loves tools and putting things together
• Is affectionately known as the clueless wonder because he only has a one track mind and if that track is TV forget about it
• Eats enough at 6 that he may have to get a job by 13 just to supplement the grocery money

Heidi

• ALSO has the first child mentality, yes she is the baby (are you keeping a tally...that's three first child types)
• She has had several health issues and always will
• Is head strong
• Very smart and is developing the manipulation gene (didn't I already type that?  Oh yes...see Britt.  Actually with the exception of her health issues I could pretty much just say...see Britt)

This will be the crew living in this house...yep all seven of us.

We didn't just all of a sudden get thrown together...it sort of happened gradually.

Amanda and I have known each other for years.  Charlie and Alleigh are only a week apart in age.  But we actually became close during Heidi's health issues.  We have been best friends ever since.  We have been through a lot in the last few years including both of our divorces, custody battles, moves, money issues, and through it all we have always been there. 

We both were renting houses and hating to throw away that money.  Everytime we talked about it, it came back to the same issues.  She had credit but no income and I had income but no credit.  Both situations should remedy itself within the next five years but for now we had to settle for renting.

Eventually, we had the idea that we could make it if we combined our resources and used her credit but my income to at least be paying toward something until things get a little better.  But then there was the issue of the FIVE kids...we are some fertile folk.  

No way could we find something in our price range that would be big enough for seven people to comfortably live.  Well....

Amanda loves to play in the real estate guides etc.  She was always saying I found this but... and I found that but... We did go look at a few houses but nothing was right.  Too much or too small.  Lease to own with only a year to buy.  It didn't look promising.  I eventually told her not to tell me about them unless she thought that they were actually obtainable. 

Christmas eve 2010...it was my week to work so the boys were with their dad.  I was going to see them the next morning but it is always a little sad to know that you are missing Santa Claus.  I was not in the best of moods that day to say the least.  I woke up and started getting ready for work when I hear this chipper voice coming down the hall.  Oh no.  I don't think I can hear about anything fun right now.  I have to go to work and everyone else is getting ready for Christmas, wa wa wa. (I thought it, didn't say it, but I thought it)

Amanda says, "You have got to come with me."

"I've gotta go to work."

"Can't you just come by to look at this house with me? It won't take long."

"Um," while I think that maybe she has gotten into some egg nog at Mammy's house because no Real Estate Agent in their right mind would meet us at 8 o'clock at night on Christmas Eve. "Who is meeting us there at this hour?"  

"No agent needs to met us...the front door knob is loose so we can just go in,"  she says.

"Seriously, no front door knob?  Is it worth a look?"

"YES!! I have already been there today and you HAVE to come look at it!!  It has a front door knob...it just doesn't work."

So I agree and we are off.  On the way I find out that it is big enough for all of us, around 2400 sq ft and is a foreclosure so it is in our price range.   

Big enough, in our price range, with a broken front door knob....this should be fun...