Day 133

It's been a while since my last update.  We finally heard back from the septic guy.  It was good news, considering.  Josh said that he needs to replace the pipe in the downstairs and run it from where the toilet will be to basically out the door down there.  We still aren't sure about the leech field but Josh said that he will test it.

 

He is borrowing a back hoe from his dad so he can dig out the yard for our wet basement problem.

 

 

 

He starting work on the rails that will go around the dining room.  It was kind of tricky because there is an overhang from the wall so we had to determine where to put the rails.  We decided to put them at the beginning of the wall, then we can have a little shelf in the family room.  Otherwise, it would probably just collect junk and shoes in the dining room.  He is just going to do rectangle rails because it turns out, that they are very expensive to buy.  It can be something we change in the future if we want to.  

 

 

I finally got the hallway ceiling painted.  It was a gross tan color from years of dirt.  Now we need to put up the new light fixture and paint the "attic" door.  We are also going to save money and try to paint the hallway and dining room ourselves.  Not sure about the living room though.  Need to cover it all in white first.

 

This is the kitchen ceiling that is ready for paint.  I really don't like painting ceilings because your arms get tired pretty quickly, but I will be happy when it's done because it's stopping us from putting up the lights and painting the walls.  After the walls are painted, the cabinets can go up.  After the ceiling is painted, the tile can go down.  I'm really hoping to get that done this week. 

 

I also really want to get the rest of the bedroom closets painted so they can all be carpeted. I can't believe how much painting I have done and how much still needs to be done.

Day 120

The pantry has been plastered and starting to get sanded.  What we have been doing a lot this week is evaluating our septic issue.  Don't ask me because I'm not an expert.  I know there is a problem that was supposed to be fixed by the owner before we bought the house and he said it was fixed.  From what we found out, it was only about 70% completed and by a company not certified to do that kind of work.  We are having someone come out to tell us what needs to be done to fix it.  I just hope it's not like, really expensive like it could be.  After we know what's going on, we're going to call our realtor to see if anything can be done, since the agreement was that it would be fixed. So Josh dug up the floor to see what was going on.  This is where our second bathroom would be. 

Josh also completed the cement board in the dining room so next would be to lay the tile.  He also cleaned up the garage, which has kind of been a catch-all.  

His dad's friend came out to look at our basement since we are still getting water in it.  He suggested we dig a ditch to drain the water away from the house because even our front yard slopes towards the house.  Josh's dad knows someone with a Ditch Witch, so we would be able to do that ourselves.  His dad's friend offered to help as long as he could hunt in our woods.  Our woods isn't very deep, but it's long.  If he thinks he can get a deer in there, good luck. 

We started talking about carpet in the bedrooms.  Probably not sanding and staining the hardwood floors up there anymore.  We are in too much of a hurry to move in and were going to carpet them anyways.  Josh plans to start framing the laundry room and downstairs bathroom soon.  I'm sure we will move in before the downstairs bathroom is completed.  We can live with one bathroom for a while.  Heck, we've only lived in a 2 bathroom house for 2 months anyways.  My parents is technically a 2 bath, but one bathroom just has a claw-foot tub that no one uses, so basically the house is 1 1/2 baths.  

We just really need to get this septic issue worked out to really move forward and in. 

Day 112

Well, it's officially been a year since we moved to Ohio and in with my parents.  Sometimes I wish we would have just bought a move-in ready house. Then we would have moved in around Christmas probably.  BUT this house is way more affordable and it will be perfectly tailored to us when we finish.

 

A lot has been accomplished this weekend!  I set up my vegetable garden in the backyard on Friday.  So far we have planted tomatoes, peas, carrots, cucumbers, yellow squash, bush beans, watermelons and radishes.  Still need to plant our corn and pumpkins, and more carrots.  We got these wooden boxes from our church when they were tearing down the stage.  I don't really have a green thumb, so I'm hoping something will grow.  Once I transplanted a few that I started inside, they got sad and wilt-y.  I watered them a few hours later after making a watering can out of an old kitty little tub.  Hopefully they will perk up.

 

 

 

I met Josh at the house Saturday afternoon and we had a nice sit-down lunch together. Haha!  Usually if we eat there it's just some pizza while we are walking around.

 

 

I started painting the kitchen!  It just looks so much better now since the drywall is covered.  There will be very few places on the walls that aren't covered in cabinets or backsplash, so I didn't bother making it look perfect.

 

 

Josh started working on the pantry and put the frame up before I was even done painting the wall behind it.  Later that night he finished framing it.  Today he put up the drywall on it.  It is seriously huge!  A walk-in pantry!  And will also double as a broom closet.  He bought some doors from Home Depot that were on clearance.  They are a little scratched up, so just need a fresh coat of paint.

 

 

The gap in the above picture is where our fridge will go. 

 

Josh's mom and grandma also came over today and painted some kitchen cabinet doors.  Which is nice because I have come to hate working with oil-based paint.  They still need a few more coats on them before they will be done.  It's crazy how different they look after they have time to dry and suck up all the paint.  I can't wait to see what they look like put together.

 

Goals for this coming week, hmmm.  Josh will probably keep working on the pantry.  Getting it all puttied up.  There is probably a lot more that needs done to it than I realize. Or maybe not.  But I'm still really excited about it.  If he doesn't do that, I'm sure he will keep working on the floor in the dining room.  I'm going to have to start painting the kitchen ceiling soon.  It needs oil-based paint to seal it then ceiling paint once that's dry.  The second light still needs hung also. 

 

I still need to paint Oliver's closet and our closet.  But I've been putting it off because there are things being stored in there and I also really don't want to do it.  Penelope's closet took me much longer than I expected and I had to do like three coats.

 

If anyone knows of someone who does hardwood floor sanding (in the Ashland/Richland area), please let me know.  We would like to hire someone to do the bedroom floors and hallways.  We just need them sanded and will stain them ourselves.  We saw a sign hanging in a store window for floor sanding, but the number listed isn't connected and there is no website for the company.  Drat.

 

Josh is finished with school until the fall so I'm really looking forward to things progressing! :)

 

Day 105

Yesterday was our 6th anniversary and I wanted to get some work done on the house with Josh.  It was in the 70s and such a nice day.  But we were doing inside work.  Our magnolia tree is really blooming and looks wonderful.  There was some sort of thorn bush growing next to it (the right of the picture) and Josh cut it down and today my dad got all the cut of branches out of the tree.  It was intertwined and nothing was blooming on that side.

 

 

We went to Home Depot and bought some soil and more paint for Oliver's room.  So now his closet just needs painted.  I haven't seen what it looks like dry, but I'm hoping it is enough.  I feel like I've done 17 coats on his room.  I think it's really been about 4 though. 

 

Josh cleaned out the dining room and took the things downstairs and we also took a table from the family/tool room and threw it on the burn pile. And ripped put the screen door down there.  He worked on the floor in the dining room and getting the cement board down. 

 

I was painting the backs of the cabinet doors.  The seven that I did last week, need another coat before I start on the front. I did that, but haven't checked to see how it turned out.  I'm nervous to do the front.  If the back doesn't look well, I'm like, eh whatever, but the front obviously has to look nice.  It surprisingly goes pretty fast.  I get the inside corners with a paint brush, then do the middle on about 3 or 4 before doing the edges.  I can't load it up with paint too much because the paint will run down the side and to the front.  Learned that the hard way with the first set I did.  Will probably have to sand off the paint streaks. 

 



Today I was going to begin my vegetable garden but ran out of time.  If the weather stays nice, I can hopefully do that sometime this week.  It's finally warm outside, so I want to spend a lot of time working outside, but the inside is what needs the work.  It doesn't matter what the outside looks like when you move in.