parental vists make our house much better

My family came over last weekend to see the house. My dad hung a new light fixture in the dining room for us. I didn't bother to check the wattage on the light when I bought it.. turns out that all 10 of those bulbs are only 5w each. We will be needing some lamps.




Josh just informed me that I have to do this in a before and after format. So here is the old fixture:





My parents also got us a great new grill. My dad bravely assembled it under a large tree during the Ohio Hurricane.

Josh's parents were in town this week and made our house a million times better by getting us a gorgeous new GAS range (the cabinets are still a work in progress):



and a washer/dryer which we desperately needed:



So, thank you parents! Visit more. With gifts.

Some things to consider when buying a house on a quiet tree lined street

We now know all of our neighbors. Well, I still haven't "met" the guy who refuses to wave back at me, but it's safe to say we have a thing going. I need some routines like that to feel like I'm home; roll through the stop sign, un-buckle the seat belt when I turn a certain corner, wave at my neighbor, frown.
It's not that hurricane in Ohio stopped the unskilled laborers from working, just from documenting it. We'll be back with pictures tomorrow or the next day.

Lower level getting close to a blank slate

We "started" on the kitchen last night. We bought new hardware for the cabinetry, but before we can install it we need to take off the existing trim, patch some holes, sand and paint.




There is one little strip of carpet left under the big shelf until we figure out some way to add feet to it. With that exception this is Niki moving the last of the carpet out to our porch!



I stuck a knife in my calf last night getting up the rest of said carpet. I am really crabby about it today. We also took down the mirror above the mantle and started scraping off what is, at best, thirty year old adhesive.



This material will be curtains when I get home from work. We can finally move our fancy TV out of the store bathroom!

Dining Room Before Before

Our first inside project is ripping up the blue carpet. We're about 98% sure we're going with an ebony stain on the floors underneath. Apparently, in the way back when, carpet was installed using tack strips running the entire perimeter of the room, with 100 rusty nails going in opposing directions per strip. It may very well be done that way in the present. I have never installed or torn up carpet. As Niki has had a tetanus shot more recently than I have (we really should have done a Tigertree 2nd location build out blog, that was one of our better injuries) she tackled most of the actual tearing up of the strips.

No. 1

This blog is intended to be a visual guide to changes of Niki and I's first house. If you are a friend or family member, you will probably find it interesting. If you are not a friend or family member, there are much better things on the internet and I would suggest you spend your time on those instead. For instance, there is an election coming up. Regardless, I will welcome your criticism.