Ready To Dish It Out

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The mountain house boasts many upgrades over our first house.  Fantastic views, more land, larger home, an indoor (non-functioning) pool, room to expand, and loads of untapped potential.  However, there are several slight downgrades from our first home; dated bathrooms (we’re happy to live with until we can remodel), old windows, and crappy appliances.  Appliances that are as old or older than I am.  Like our dishwasher.

I’m pretty sure its close to original in this house.  At any rate, it’s gross.  And I have no clue why there’s a board on the floor at the base.

Apparently, in the 80’s, this monster was considered an energy saver.  Hmm, I wonder what Energy Star rating it would have today?  It still functions, but not very well.  Clean dishes are hit or miss and the capacity is tiny compared to the KitchenAid washer we bought for our last kitchen remodel.   Seriously, why is the utensil caddy on the door?  Spoons are rarely clean.

While we’re on the topic of the KitchenAid dishwasher, let me show you what we got to replace that puppy above.  This stainless beauty from Lowe’s.

Yep, we got the exact same dishwasher.  Why?  We loved it at our first house.  Huge capacity (seriously, I had to buy more dinner plates because we didn’t have to run it often enough to clean the 12 we had), sleek controls, and stainless interior and exterior.  Ben had to get this big box in his tiny car.  And he did, so we’ve got a new to us dishwasher sitting in our garage, waiting to be installed.  We’ve got 30 days to return it if it doesn’t work, too.  I’m so excited for a new, clean, quiet dishwasher.

What upcoming event are you excited for?  I do deem a new dishwasher an ‘event’.  Score any great deals lately?

Just Keep Tiling

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That’s Ben’s motto these days.  We’ve had the main bathroom shower surround tiled for over a week now, but little projects keep popping up, preventing further progress.   Instead of waiting longer to share, here’s where we’re at now.

Tile from tub to ceiling makes the 8 foot ceilings feel taller and opens the space.

A functional tub is great, but the lack of grout means the boys can’t splash during their bath.

I’m in love with this tile.  It’s a nice gray/cream color with subtle pattern, but nothing that jumps out.  Our floor tile is in and has sat in the garage for a week, while our bathroom floors look like this:

In our down time, we like to relax while watching a show on Netflix or Hulu through our Play Station.  Not a single cable jack exists in this house.  Through wireless internet, the connection is terribly slow, stopping several times to load.  Finally, Ben had enough of it and rigged up a temporary fix.

Cable comes from outside, at the end of the pool room, under the deck (the original owner’s plan), into the floor in my office, up the wall and over.

And we need an actual entertainment center.  But we’ll have to finish the basement, re-roof, install the new geothermal unit, and I’m sure do several more things before an entertainment center can reach the summit of our huge to do list.

After signing closing papers yesterday morning, the boys and I ran errands, including a stop at Joann’s and TJ Maxx.  Picked up another pile of fabric and I’m half way through with this sewing endeavor.  I spied a cute golden yellow and white rug at TJ Maxx.  For $19.99, I figured I could find a home somewhere.

Right now, it’s at the French door off the deck, but I’m considering using it as a large bath mat in the main bathroom.  Not completely sure yet, but I think it’s adorable (and surprisingly soft!).

What’s at the top of your to do list?  Bathroom renovations starting soon?  Need a new roof?  Working on a painting project?  Share with us.

The End of an Era

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After living in and perfecting our first house for eight years, we found a new fixer upper that stole our hearts.  Our first house will always be our first house love, but we’re officially back to owning one house.  It’s a little sad,  but we’re so happy in the mountain house.  Even more so, we’re happy the buyers are happy in our old home.  Let’s take a walk down memory lane with a reverse before and after picture tour.

Living room before, recently opened to the kitchen:

After our move out:

Dining room before:

An empty after:

Kitchen, just after finishing a complete gut and remodel:

And after the after:

Guest bedroom before:

Now ready to house a cute little girl:

Main bathroom before:

After, emptied out:

Boys’ bedroom before:

And now, ready for the new owner’s stuff:

Master bedroom before:

And after, complete with the custom-made bed built (our buyer bought it from us):

Master bedroom before:

After:

When Ben bought this house, the basement was completely unfinished.  Here it is after finishing it while I was pregnant with Everett:

And two years later:

My office, stocked and ready for work:

Now sad and empty, but ready to work for someone else:

The basement bathroom before:

We never did finish the steam shower under the stairs, but that can be a project for the new owner:

Laundry room and Ben’s reloading office before:

And after we moved everything out, including the washer and dryer:

The small basement bedroom as we had it just before moving:

And after moving:

The large basement bedroom pulled double duty, acting as both a bedroom and a storage room before:

When emptied, it feels even bigger:

Seeing the house empty is especially strange to me because I’ve never seen it this way.  Ben bought the house a couple years before we met, so he had already moved in.  If we’re in this house again, we’ll be visitors.  We’ve become friendly with our buyer, and we’d love to see how the house evolves over time.

Have you been a house after selling it?  Was it odd, or cool?  Did the new owner make any changes?

P.S.  To see true before and afters, check our Our First House page.

Over the Weekend

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Weekends are great.  Ben is home and we can get some house work done.  Nothing happened in the bathroom because we have a few other projects to deal with.  Currently, the mountain house has a geothermal system, but the compressor is broken.  Furthermore, the previous owner insisted on installing the unit in the garage.  We (and the installers) prefer it in the utility room (the rooms are back to back).  Last week a geothermal guy gave us a bid for a new unit and moving it in the utility room.

Where am I going with all this?  We ordered the unit and are waiting for it to get here.  In the interim, Ben had to pull out two old water heaters and install a new water heater to make space in the utility room for the geothermal.

Here are the two old water heaters.  The big guy in the back was used in conjunction with the solar panels to heat the pool water.  When we re-roof, Ben will pull out the non functioning solar panels, making the heater obsolete.  The littler one is a standard water heater, but we loved out tankless one at the other house.  Running out of hot water when you’re half way through your shower is never fun.

Ben installed a tankless Rheem heater from Home Depot (this one, if you’re wondering), which was part of our bathroom buying binge.  Once the new heater was running, Ben started the process of removing the other two tanks.  Disconnecting lines, emptying the tanks, and  shimmying the heavy things through the door and into the garage.  We’ve got so much more space in the utility room now.  And we’re ready for the new geothermal, just in time for AC season.

While Ben was working on mechanical problems, I was working on design problems.  Every last light fixture in this house is gaudy and overly traditional for our taste.  Like the large, you better duck or you’ll hit your head light fixture in the dining room:

Is no longer, though the glued in medallion still is.

I couldn’t take it any longer.  It had to go, even if we didn’t have a replacement light.  If you’re wondering, the folding table is what I’ve used for my sewing projects, like the striped curtains.

And a smaller, not quite as low but still low chandelier over the breakfast nook table:

We launched an attack on those fixtures over the weekend.  It all started when I found this at a thrift store for six bucks.

No, it’s not real copper.  Just steel painted a copper color.  I liked it, especially for the price.  So I bought it, thinking Ben would hate it and knowing our thrift store has a 7 day return policy.  Surprisingly, Ben actually liked the fixture.  Sure it’s a little beat up, a few scratches and dents, but for $6, I can work with it.

I did what most self-respecting DIYer would do.  Hauled out my spray paint.  Before I could start painting, I filled the socket with a paper towel to protect the inside.

While outside, between coats, I discovered a cute colony of hen and chick succulents.

Along with a few teeny tiny hostas.  Seriously, these are small.  The largest leaf is about 2 1/2 inches long.

Both the hostas and succulents are planted around this large rock.

For reference, the door in the background leads to the wet bar of the pool room.  Along the back edge of the patio, I found what I’m assuming to be Day Lilies, though they look more like grass clumps right now.  But there are old flower stems, so I’m hopeful we’ll have some color (and life!) back there soon.

You’ll have to wait to see the refinished light because I’m waiting for paint to dry and I’ve got nuts and bolts to buy.  I’m excited to add a modern/industrial touch to the house.

How was your weekend?  Did you do any landscaping?  Or spray painting?  Or changing of light fixtures?

April Acrynom

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Alright, I’m a few days late with the monthly acronym, but I’ve been busy.  Here’s what we’ve done in April:

Abodes and abundant greenery:  We finally closed and moved into our new abode.  Spring has arrived in Montana, and I’m loving all the greenery.

Partnerships and plans:  Ben teamed up with my sister to build an awesome open staircase and bookshelf.  I drew a rough floor plan of the new house to help explain the layout.

Remodel and redemption:  Before we could live in the new house, I required a new, working bath tub.  So Ben gutted the bathroom, went on a bathroom shopping extravaganza, and installed a new jetted bath tub. Scored one heck of a deal on a West Elm rug at a local thrift store

Initiated project fix up and project bold:  Prepping our first house for closing, including random little fixes and a fence tutorial.  Project bold entails more saturated colors in the mountain house.  First color added: Dragonfly by Ben Moore.

Lawn work and the last trim tutorial:  Handy Sammy took a weed whacker to the front yard, making us (and the neighbors) happy.  We shared the last trim tutorial from our first house, the master bedroom.

What was the high light of April for you?  We’re happy we made it to (and through!) the closing table for the new house.  Now we’re up to our eyeballs in projects and loving it.  Most of the time.  The packing and unpacking isn’t much fun.