House Update

The structural engineer gave us some really great news: the foundation repair will not be nearly as extensive, or expensive, as the HUD inspector had thought.  As of now, we are awaiting the HUD inspector's final estimate for all of the work to be done on the home.  Our contractor will put together his bid sometime this week. The HUD contractor will then adjust his final estimate, based on the contractor's bid.

It will then go to HUD and the bank for final approval.  We should close by the end of September and if all goes, well, work should begin in early October.

That's all the news for now.

Kitchen Inspiration

Love the chalkboard.  D is building a butcher-block island and I've asked that he rig it so that there is a hole in it, with the compost bin below--no more trips across the kitchen to the rubbish bin!

 

This is actually the layout of our kitchen, exactly.  I want some open cabinets and shelving, however.

Subway tile, check. Honed black granite, check. Viking range, check.  And I LOVE the faucet mounted over the stove for pot filling.  D tells me he can make this happen.

Lovely.

I'm really digging the classic, post-war look right now.  Apparently so is everyone else!  That's good, because even though my dream house is an Eichler and not a craftsman, I can definitely appreciate the craftsman look.  It's a bit of a balancing act to make one's home classic enough to re-sell and also fit one's personal tastes. So, I'm going with clean and classic, knowing that paint, furnishings, and art work will really make it ours.

Rejuvenation Lighting

"Hood" from Rejuvenation

Also from Rejuvenation--note that this kitchen is pretty much what we are going for: shaker cabinets, honed granite counters, and a white subway tile back splash

Guest Bedroom, Before

 This door leads out to the living room

 I think this is supposed to be a closet

This door leads to the hallway.  If you travel out, the bathroom is to the right, the master bedroom is straight ahead and the kitchen and dining room are to the left.

On the to do list:

1.  Delete the closet--the linen closet in the hallway and the closet, here, are being sacrificed so that we can expand the bathroom

2.  Create a closet on the opposite side of the room--technically, you do not have a second bedroom unless it has a closet

3. Rip out carpet, refinish floors

4. Paint

5. Remove baseboard heaters

6. Clean vents

7. New lighting

8. New outlet covers
9. New baseboard
10. Possibly new sheetrock

"Master" Bedroom Before

I'm not sure any "magic" has been happening here for quite some time.

On the to do list:

1. Rip out the carpet, refinish floors

2. Possibly will need new sheetrock

3. Remove baseboard heater

4. Re-engineer closet

5. Refinish door

6. New outlet covers

7. Paint

8. New lighting

9. Clean vents

10. Create vanity space--there's a nook on the right of the closet that's perfect and it's already wired for wall sconces 

Living Room and Dining Room Before

 Dining Room

 Dining Room

 Living Room, Front Entry

Living Room, Front Entry

 Living Room and Front Entry

Peephole in the Front Door

Arts and Crafts Fireplace

Mail Slot

The things I like most about the living and dining rooms, are the huge, leaded-glass windows, the original floors, with mahogany inlay, the arts and crafts fireplace, and the little details like the peephole and mail slot.

On the to do list:

1. Vault ceilings (hopefully when we punch a hole in it, we'll find that it is, in fact, possible)
2. Patch walls
3. Re-finish floors
4. Clean and service fireplace
5. Strip and refinish doors
6. Paint trim, white
7. Paint
8. Remove electric baseboards (we're switching to gas!)
9. Clean vents
10. New lighting
11. New outlet covers

Bathroom Before

It just keeps getting better.  Your eyes are not deceiving you, that is, in fact, carpet in the "bathroom."  There really are no words, except, "GUT IT!"

On the to do list:

1. Completely gut

2. Knock out linen closet to expand bathroom

3. Hex floors

4. Subway tile in bath

5. New bath, toilet, and sink

6. Custom cabinets--shaker style, paint-grade

7. New medicine cabinet

8. New faucets and hardware

9. New plumbing

10. New sheetrock

11. New privacy window

12. New lighting 
13. New wiring
14. New outlet covers

Kitchen Before

Crazy, NASTY kitchen.  The pictures don't really do the ickyness justice.  There is a smell, one that can't really be described, in this hole of a kitchen, that forces me to pull my shirt up over my nose and inch about the room as if it's filled with landmines.

That being said, it is larger than it looks in the pictures, with two windows, space for a breakfast nook, and a backdoor that leads out to the garage.

On the to do list is:

1. Gut the whole lot!
2. New cabinets, shaker style (paint-grade solid wood)
3. New counters, honed black granite
4. Subway tile back splash
5. New flooring, hex tile salvaged fir floors, painted "Jadeite" green
6. New sink, faucet, plumbing
7. Gas range
8. New hood vent
9. Sub-zero fridge (thank you, Dean!)
10. New sheet rock, if needed
11. Fresh paint
12. New wiring
13. New outlet covers
14. School House Electric Lighting (if the budget allows, most likely, I'll end up at IKEA!)

One Hot Mess

I know.  This looks like a nightmare, and I assure you that I'm terrified.  Welcome to my nasty basement.  Aside from the obvious things, what we found out from our inspector, yesterday, was that we need a structural engineer to tell us exactly how effed the foundation really is.

Apparently there is ZERO drainage and therefore, significant water damage, and the foundation is failing in some parts.  Enter structural engineer.  We thought we'd have an estimate for repairs by now, but there is giant question mark over the foundation--it could be 5k or 50k--we just don't know yet.  We should, however, have a good idea by this Tuesday. 

Exterior of the House--Before

Sad, yet full of potential.  We're  chopping at the bit to get to our inspection today.  Fingers crossed!

203(k) Loan

My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home with a 203(k) or "rehab" loan.  This type of loan is handy when you want to purchase a property in need of some work, because you can combine the purchase price of the home with the cost of the remodel into one mortgage, right up front.

The first step is to locate a house.  This took a bit of doing for us, because we are on a pretty tight budget and Seattle real estate is crazy town!  We finally found a classic, little, old craftsman, in the Central District, in need of some serious love.

The next step was getting mutual acceptance, and it turned out that our offer to deal with all of the junk in the house (the woman who owned it passed away and all of her stuff is still inside) moved our offer to the top of the list.  Since we already plan to do a total remodel on the house, a day of cleaning and dump runs aint no thang.  At this point, you should have a contractor lined up--you technically cannot do the work yourself, unless you are licensed, bonded, and have the liquid funds for all materials and labor. Lucky for me, my husband is a carpenter and we're getting a screaming deal from his old boss who is a contractor. 

We had a sewer scope scheduled and that went well.  Tomorrow is the initial inspection.  With a 203(k) loan, a HUD inspector is required.  This is where we'll find out what work the bank and HUD will require. From there, we will be able to determine the rest of our budget and create an itemized work order of the things that we want to do.

I will post before pictures of the house soon and continue to track our progress and post ideas for the remodel.