2009 March « our home in the cities

haz curb appeal?

March 31, 2009 at 6:06 pm | In After, Before, During, Moving, Our Home, Projects | 6 Comments

We “spruced up” the yard a bit over the weekend as an attempt to give the house a little more curb appeal… as much as a yard can be “spruced up” in the frozen Minnesotan tundra this time of year. Which, really, isn’t much, given that it can snow and freeze and be cold and nasty for another month or so here. But we tried anyways.

Here’s what the house looked like shortly after we put an offer on it. Try to ignore my pained expression, and focus instead on the concrete walkway to the right of the house. This was a nasty, broken walkway, and it dumped water directly into our basement during the spring thaw of 2008. Not awesome.

So Jason took a sledge hammer to it. It was a long, painful process. We both lost a few pounds and gained a few muscles. Don’t worry – we’ve gained all that weight back by now.

My parents and brothers came to visit on a rainy weekend last May, and they not only helped us build a fence, but they finished digging out the area that was to be our new brick walkway and patio.

Later last May, we rented some tools, purchased 2.5 pallets full of brick, and went to work. It was another long, painful weekend, but then, we had this:

Which was (and continues to be) awesome. Not only for the awesome ability to sit and relax outdoors, but also because we’ve pretty much eliminated the water-into-the-basement problem. Ignore the ugly garage in the background. That is still a problem.

After all of this work, we managed to put in two planting beds (in front of the garage and next to the patio) and regrade the soil around the house before turning our attention to our impending fall nuptials.

Which brings us to the present. Sunday, as we were comparing our house to the neighbor’s (you know, the ones with the gateway to hell through their oven and 2 offers on their home), we realized: we have little-to-no curb appeal. We had a dead evergreen and mounds of dirt left from last year’s unfinished projects.

With the help of my cousin, Jennifer, we got rid of the dead evergreen and picked up some free mulch from a nearby park (the city leaves piles of cut up wood in parks for residents to use), and made our home a bit prettier. I think.

Still not glamorous. I would love to see a row of low bushes across the front of the house, and a window box full of flowers attached to the front, but this will have to do. (Okay, and I’d put in a new door and paint the trim on the windows and paint the stairs, and add some planters to the stairs with pretty flowers in them. If I was going to live here another 10 years, which I am not. So it will have to be fine as it is.)

we’ve been signed!

March 30, 2009 at 9:38 pm | In Moving, Our Home | 9 Comments

Yep, it’s official. Our sweet little house is for sale. (Wanna buy it?)

Susan, our Realtor, came over yesterday to go over some paperwork and to check out the house for sale across the street. Which, Jason has been informing people, has a GATEWAY TO HELL inside – specifically, through the oven. DO NOT BUY! he says, OR THE DEMONS WILL COME OUT AND GET YOU. Of course, all of this is sparked by the recent release of The Haunting in Connecticut, which is based on the scariest TLC show I’ve ever seen, which is based on TRUE, REAL, NOT-MADE-UP LIFE. You know, if you believe in that sort of thing. Which, I’m not sure I do, but that show was enough to give me nightmares for weeks. If I ever end up in long-term therapy for my complete and total chicken-ness, it will probably be because I saw that show once 4 years ago and have residual emotional scarring as a result. Yep, I blame this single 1-hr television show, and a slew of the Christopher Pike books I read as a pre-teen for my home alone angst. But we can talk about that another time.

Because, despite having a gateway to hell in their oven, the house across the street has managed to score TWO offers in the week that they’ve been on the market.

Which is good news for us, since the only ghosts we’ve got over here are the ones that keep eating my chocolate. Seriously. I couldn’t have possibly eaten all of those whopper eggs by myself.

Anyways. Yes, our house is unofficially officially on the market. Which means that we’ve got a sign up suggesting that our house will be on the market on Thursday or Friday. But it’s not quite on the market. We have to pass our Minneapolis Truth in Sale of Housing inspection tomorrow. We originally had it scheduled for last week, but due to a small plumbing war between the laundry sink and my very wet and very very angry husband, we have plumbers coming in the morning and an inspector coming in the afternoon tomorrow.

We’ve completed most of our duties, and are officially sore, tired, warn out, and frankly, a bit irritable.

I spent what seemed like the entire weekend washing windows. It was not great – especially the part where I was hanging out of one window to wash the other.

All of this window washing gave me a lot of time to think. And, what I think is: a. I am a sucker for washing all of these windows, b. Whoever buys this house better love these clean windows like a fat boy loves cake, and c. Hey! Window washing is kind of a good arm workout.

So if you’ve got dirty windows and flabby arms, buy yourself some windex. It’s cheaper than a gym membership.

Windows

March 28, 2009 at 10:05 am | In After, Before, Our Home, Projects | 1 Comment

I really HATE window cleaning. But boy-oh-boy does it make a difference!

Left window = clean, Right window = covered in decades of dirt

I suspect these babies haven’t been washed in at least 10 years. I wonder if I would be bothering to wash them if we weren’t moving.

Also, if anyone has suggestions on how to clean the outside of old windows, bring them on. As of now, my plan includes climbing on the roof and using a ladder. If you don’t hear from me by Monday, you might want to call to make sure I haven’t broken my neck.

Back to work now.

Bedroom #2

March 27, 2009 at 4:39 pm | In After, Barley, Before, Moving, Our Home, Projects | 1 Comment

Alright, you know the routine by now.

A glimpse of the before:

Meh.

And the after:

Better. The bed is now sporting the beautiful quilt that my mom, aunt, and grandma made for my bridal shower. And that picture above the bed? Yep… it’s a Jen original.

Next to the bed is this big old dresser that I refurbished a few years ago. I have a few framed pictures of my family’s awesome trip to the Baltic states (when can we go again? Soon, please!). And the apothecary jar (reused from our Christmas decor and the candy bar at our wedding) is filled with postcards from some of my adventures.

Keeping up with our little travel-theme, Jason hung this poster that we got in San Juan while there on business. Tough business meeting, I know…

A view from the hallway…

And this staging make-over cost us a grand total of $0. This makes me happy – gotta save our pennies for the new home in Michigan…

I also thought I would mention that Barley’s head is looking much better – thanks for all the kind words. We pulled the stitches out yesterday and bathed him… He wasn’t too thrilled about it (see picture below in which Jason grabs him to put him in the bath and he looks absolutely terrified), but I am so so so happy to get rid of that yucky doggy smell that’s been lingering around him and his blankies for the past few days/week. I bet nothing would excite potential home buyers less than yucky doggy smell.

Bedroom #3

March 26, 2009 at 6:18 pm | In After, Before, Moving, Our Home, Projects | 6 Comments

Our 3rd (and smallest) bedroom left much to be desired. The previous owners had splashed dark green and brown paint everywhere (including the white trim and wood floors). One of the walls curves up to the ceiling, and instead of drawing a neat line where the paint should stop, they stopped painting where their rollers stopped reaching. It was a mess. Here’s a glimpse of the hideous-ness shortly after we moved:

I like this green color… but it would work better in a bigger room.

And now? 5 coats of paint later:

The view from the study. To solve the curved ceiling problem, we painted the far wall and ceiling the same shade of light blue as the office. We painted the other 3 walls a slightly darker shade of blue.

The view from the hallway. Our garage is out the back window. And yes, that painting on the wall was made by yours truly. It’s not that pretty, but it works. Also? There’s something therapeutic about a $10 canvas and a few $1 bottles of acrylic paint. You should try it sometime.

The view from the closet, looking into the bedroom. The study is in the background.

Total cost spent in this room? Not much.

The furniture, pillows, sheets, and picture were all purchased a while ago. The bed is actually a futon, but our Realtor suggested we stage this as a bedroom.
Painting – Canvas from Michaels $10; I had the acrylic paints from previous painting attempts (which you’ll see very soon!).
Curtains – Ikea (left by previous owner)
Primer – Killz $25
Paint – The light blue was leftover from the study (Frost Wind (#540A-1) by Behr), and the darker blue is Eminence (#550E-2) by Behr $18

$43 for a super-staged bedroom. Yay for rooms that don’t require much of a budget! Just wait till I get to the other bedrooms… where we staged them pretty without spending any money!

add more to the list, and the oven debate

March 25, 2009 at 10:25 am | In Moving | 9 Comments

Sigh. We’ve got a few more chores to add to the list (in red below). Minneapolis requires a city-approved inspector to tour your home before you even put it on the market, and the items in red are the most common reasons for failing the inspection (i.e., no CO/smoke detectors, no vacuum breakers, leaky plumbing, etc). And, since they typically charge $200 to do the first inspection and another $75 to come back and check whether you’ve made repairs, we’re hoping to just do it right the first time. It’s going to be another busy weekend!

The updated to-do list:

Scrape peeling paint from bathroom walls and re-paint
Paint vanity in upstairs bathroom white, replace rusty heating vents on either side of the vanity.
Replace curtains in study with white sheer curtains.
Paint 3rd bedroom and set up like a bedroom (put the futon down like it’s a bed)
Wash all windows
Hang up pictures
Move dresser out of master bedroom.
Remove curtain separating Jen’s closet from master bedroom.
Remove shades in master bedroom.
Get bed frame for bed in master bedroom (how embarrassing is it that we’ve been sleeping on a matress/box spring on the floor for the last 10 months?).
Minimize coats on the coat rack, or remove completely and hang a picture in it’s place.
Repaint/patch ceiling in butler’s pantry (there’s a small damaged area that was there when we purchased it… must have been old damage that was repaired poorly).
Stage main floor bedroom as a bedroom. Remove boxes, set up bedframe/air mattress.
Kitchen: fix falling ceiling tile, add a stove, hide dish drying rack.
Get rid of old washer/dryer.
Get rid of cobwebs in basement rafters.
Sweep/vacuum basement floor.
Tidy up storage area in basement.
Organize laundry area.
Replace side screen door? (Not sure about this one)
Add woodchips to new planting beds created last year (instead of the mud that’s currently there…).
Change HVAC filter
Test smoke detectors
Install 2 CO detectors (they must be within 10 feet of each legal bedroom… meaning we need one on the main floor and one on the second floor)
Check to make sure extension cords are not being used to plug things in. We’ve got to get rid of one in the living room, one in the basement, and one in the kitchen. I’m not entirely sure how we’ll plug the fridge in without an extension cord (the fridge cord does not reach to the nearest outlet). We may have to get creative here. (Or call an electrician).
Check gutters/downspouts to make sure that things are draining properly.
Put vacuum breakers on exterior water spouts and laundry room sink.
Fix laundry room faucet (we’ll be calling a plumber for this one. Jason tried to fix it, but I think the piece that’s leaky is actually welded to the rest of the pipes, so it’s time to bring in the professionals).

I should also mention our current oven debate. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Our Realtor suggested that we get an oven. We’ve since determined that it will cost approximately $500-800 to install said oven, even if we buy something used on Craigslist. We’d need to buy the oven, have a plumber out to install it, and then have an electrician out to put in a new 3-prong outlet in the corner where the fridge would go (there’s currently only a 2-prong outlet there). (Alternatively, we could buy an electric stove, install it in the corner opposite the fridge and just have an outlet installed, foregoing any gas hook up expense). We’re not really wanting to put that money into the house, since we are likely not to get it back (our relocation package will not reimburse us for any capital improvements made on the house – if the house sells for less than we bought it for, we will be reimbursed for the difference – if the house sells for more than we bought it for, we will keep the profit, but I think this is an unlikely scenario).

So, we don’t really want to spend the money. On the other hand, if buying a stove will make this house sell faster, it might be worth the investment. But, wouldn’t you walk into our kitchen thinking, “oh boy, this needs to be renovated” regardless of whether there was a stove present? Or is it better to at least have functionality – even if that functionality isn’t pretty?

To complicate things, the house across the street from us was just put on the market. And even though it is smaller than our house (2 bedroom/1 bath vs our 4 bedroom/2 bath), they clearly have a nicer kitchen than ours… I’m guessing a lot of people will go from one house to the other when house-hunting, and I really just want our house to be the one they choose!

Alright everyone – time to sound off: Should we install a stove? Or skip it? Would YOU buy our home? Or any home without a stove?

The Study, at its best

March 24, 2009 at 8:17 pm | In After, Before, Our Home, Our Study, Projects | 7 Comments

Certainly you remember the not-so-pretty before pictures of the study, with Jason’s junk strewn about (that one is not so good with the organizing… plus, we had just moved in).

And now?

Computer desk with new imac and printer (this is where I’m sitting as I’m writing! Hello!). Confession: The calendar on the wall is actually for 2008, but I like the pictures in it and it doesn’t say 2008 anywhere on it, so I’m going with it. Eventually I will probably put the pictures in frames, but for purposes of staging, a 2008 calendar is good enough.

Random blue chair. We initially wanted something a little cozier here (a reading nook!), but this will do. Until JT moves to Kalamazoo and takes it with him. Also: Dirty windows! Yuck! Still have to clean them… not sure exactly how I will clean the outside… Sounds like a big pain.

Another shot of my lovely blogging workspace.

Extra paper and CDs hang out here. Also, check out my awesome window chalkboard. Love it. Need to buy chalk to write on it.

I had planned on using a green and white material from Urban Outfitters for the curtains, but our Realtor suggested that if I wanted to take them with me (which, I do! I love that fabric!), I should pick up something else. With the exception of pictures, anything tied to the walls (i.e., curtains and curtain rods) goes with the house.

Our Realtor also commented that she dug our color-sorted books. Yes!

I am especially proud of the window chalk board. We had our old basement windows replaced with glass block last winter, and I held on to a few of the window panes. I just popped the glass window out of the frame, and sanded and painted the window frame. Then, I purchased a light-weight board ($5) and chalk board paint ($5) and cut it to the size of my window frame. After painting the board and letting it dry, I popped it in the back of the window frame. Ta da! A fun re-use for an old window that would have otherwise been thrown out!

Our total cost/item rundown for this makeover?

Primer – Killz $25
Ceiling Paint – Gliddon (it’s the paint that starts purple and turns white as it dries!) $20
Wall Paint – Frost Wind (#540A-1) by Behr – $18
Trim Paint – Semi-glossy white paint by Behr – $18
Desk – Ikea (purchased years ago)
Stool – ? (purchased years ago)
Chair – Ikea (purchased years ago)
Rolling File Cabinet – Target (purchased years ago)
Magazine Holders – Ikea (left behind by our Swedish roommate)
Book Brackets – Ikea $14
Book Shelves – Wood from Home Depot, painted with the trim paint – $10
Curtains – Ikea $10
Curtain Rod/Wire and support pieces – Ikea $23
Curtain Clips – Ikea $5
Chalkboard – $10
Calendar above the printer – Gift (my mom brought it back with her from Italy).
Green desk accessories – Target (purchased years ago)
Silver pencil holder – Gift (my Grandparents gave this to me when I graduated from High School)
Blue Vase – Gift (Jason’s parents gave this to us on one of their visits)
Books – (purchased along the way…)

$153. Not bad for a clean and modern workspace!

Check!

March 22, 2009 at 9:17 pm | In Moving | 1 Comment

We made a pretty big dent in our to-do list this weekend… or, at least I thought we made a big dent in the to-do list. Check it out:

Scrape peeling paint from bathroom walls and re-paint
Paint vanity in upstairs bathroom white, replace rusty heating vents on either side of the vanity.
Replace curtains in study with white sheer curtains.
Paint 3rd bedroom and set up like a bedroom (put the futon down like it’s a bed)
Wash all windows. (I am SO not excited for this chore)
Hang up pictures. (We don’t have any pictures in our upstairs bedroom and she thought this might make it look like someone lived here).
Move dresser out of master bedroom.
Remove curtain separating Jen’s closet from master bedroom.
Remove shades in master bedroom.
Get bed frame for bed in master bedroom (how embarrassing is it that we’ve been sleeping on a matress/box spring on the floor for the last 10 months?).
Minimize coats on the coat rack, or remove completely and hang a picture in it’s place.
Repaint/patch ceiling in butler’s pantry (there’s a small damaged area that was there when we purchased it… must have been old damage that was repaired poorly).
Stage main floor bedroom as a bedroom. Remove boxes, set up bedframe/air mattress.
Kitchen: fix falling ceiling tile, add a stove, hide dish drying rack.
Get rid of old washer/dryer.
Get rid of cobwebs in basement rafters.
Sweep/vacuum basement floor.
Tidy up storage area in basement.
Organize laundry area.
Replace side screen door? (Not sure about this one)
Add woodchips to new planting beds created last year (instead of the mud that’s currently there…).

We’ve done nothing but work on this list since we got home from work Friday. We’re exhausted. (Do I really have to go back to work tomorrow? Where did my weekend go?) Fortunately, many of the remaining items should be quick and easy (e.g., 7, 8, 9, 17, etc) to complete.

Updates with pictures tomorrow!

A to-do-before-we-sell list

March 20, 2009 at 8:29 pm | In Moving | 1 Comment

Having never worked with a relocation counselor before, we really had no idea what to expect, but in a lot of ways, it seems as if having a relocation counselor has made getting the ball rolling a bit easier/quicker than if we had made the phone calls ourselves. On the other hand, we’ve had to fill out a lot more paperwork than we would have if we were doing this on our own. We faxed in some paperwork a few days ago, and yesterday afternoon we had our first round of inspections – a pest inspection, a home inspection, and a meeting with a potential Realtor. We met with a second Realtor this afternoon (we are allowed to decide which Realtor we’re going to work with).

Fortunately, it wasn’t a very difficult decision. Susan Schutter from Edina Realty will be helping us out on this one. Susan helped us find this house a year and a half ago, so we know her well and trust her Realtor instincts. Also, she loves Barley and brought him treats, so she got Barley’s vote.

Unfortunately, Susan has given us a long list of “suggestions” of things to do before the house is officially put on the market. Check it out:

Scrape peeling paint from bathroom walls and re-paint
Paint vanity in upstairs bathroom white, replace rusty heating vents on either side of the vanity.
Replace curtains in study with white sheer curtains.
Paint 3rd bedroom and set up like a bedroom (put the futon down like it’s a bed)
Wash all windows. (I am SO not excited for this chore)
Hang up pictures. (We don’t have any pictures in our upstairs bedroom and she thought this might make it look like someone lived here).
Move dresser out of master bedroom.
Remove curtain separating Jen’s closet from master bedroom.
Remove shades in master bedroom.
Get bed frame for bed in master bedroom (how embarrassing is it that we’ve been sleeping on a matress/box spring on the floor for the last 10 months?).
Minimize coats on the coat rack, or remove completely and hang a picture in it’s place.
Repaint/patch ceiling in butler’s pantry (there’s a small damaged area that was there when we purchased it… must have been old damage that was repaired poorly).
Stage main floor bedroom as a bedroom. Remove boxes, set up bedframe/air mattress.
Kitchen: fix falling ceiling tile, add a stove, hide dish drying rack.
Get rid of old washer/dryer.
Get rid of cobwebs in basement rafters.
Sweep/vacuum basement floor.
Tidy up storage area in basement.
Organize laundry area.
Replace side screen door? (Not sure about this one)
Add woodchips to new planting beds created last year (instead of the mud that’s currently there…).

So we’re going to be very busy this weekend… but we’ll be back next week with before/after pictures and stories!

Barley’s Bite

March 19, 2009 at 5:35 pm | In Barley | 13 Comments

We have the dirtiest dog on the planet.

Knowing that we’d need to clean the bathroom soon anyways, we thought we’d take him to the dog park, get him tired and uber-dirty, and then bathe him. The dog park was almost completely mud (thank goodness I wore my fake wellies), and Barley had such a great time running around in the mud, dirt, and sand with the other doggies.

Until… he got eaten by an Irish Wolfhound. I know you’re all, “how does a big 75-lb dog like Barley get eaten?” but if you’ve ever seen an Irish Wolfhound, you’d understand. Biggest. Dogs. Ever. (and I am told that they are usually very nice, friendly dogs. this particular dog may have been an exception to the rule, though – he’s been reported for biting other dogs before, and we’ve seen him act aggressively towards other dogs on a few different occasions.)

Barley approached to sniff, the other dog lunged, growled, and bit, and Barley ran away. (The other dog was on a leash – a big no-no for an off-leash dog park, but it may have been good in this case).

Surprisingly, (or maybe not surprisingly, given the thickness of Barley’s head) he seemed totally unaware that another dog had just walked away with a piece of his scalp.

2 hours, $359, and 6 stitches and a shunt later, we brought our anesthetized doggy home. And, let’s just say that 75 lbs of anesthetized doggy is NOT easy to get into the car, much less the house, or pretty much anywhere else you’d want to bring him. And the fact that he is uber-pathetic with blood dripping down the side of his face and the saddest periodic whines that you’ve ever heard does NOT make him any lighter.

Being the super-amazing and wonderful doggy mama that I am, I set up a little nest for him in the sun while he recovered. And it took him the rest of the evening to recover. It was so sad to see him not be able to walk properly! And to hear his little whines! Poor guy!

His behavior is back to normal, and the vet said that everything looked good during his check-up yesterday. We’ll probably remove his stitches next week. And then, if his cut is healed, maybe we’ll finally be able to bathe our dirty dirty doggy! Cross your fingers, please, because I love him, but he is really starting to stink.