Fixing Up the House

While we've closed on our house already, we haven't moved in.  It was filthy, the carpets are nasty, and appliances won't be delivered until next week.  (The guy who bought our old house wanted the appliances, and as the washer and dryer were 16 and the fridge was 13 and didn't match the new kitchen anyway, we were fine with letting him have them.)  So, Steven works during the day at VOM, and I go to the new house when I can and do some cleaning and love on the cats until Alex says he's had enough.  Steven goes over in the evenings to do some work of his own.

For example, while prepping Alex's room for painting, Steven discovered that there was painted-over wallpaper in there.  He started pulling it off and found messed up drywall.  It's turned into a full-blown project that has him frustrated. 

The nice thing is, he can mess up the carpet all he wants, as that's being replaced on May 2nd.  It's really gross, and the house smells funky, in large part due to the nasty carpet.  I genuinely don't understand how people can stain a carpet so badly.  But it was a rental before we bought it, and I'm learning that people just don't take care of stuff when they don't own it. 

My kitchen needed some TLC.  The cabinets are nice, but they're 32 years old and a bit banged up.  I cleaned them, then discovered that my furniture feeder actually made it with my cleaning supplies slated for apartment living.  I was so excited to find that!  I rubbed that in, and I'm hoping the cabinets will drink that up.  When my Howard's Restore-a-Finish comes out of storage, I'll go over everything to make it look prettier. 

Isn't that diamond checkerboard floor fabulous?!  I fell in love with it when we looked at the house.  It's even my shade of green! 

I'm planning to paint my kitchen and the breakfast room behind it, which will by my crafting space, a soft, pale, cheery shade of pink.  My husband is not happy about that decision, as he doesn't share my love of pink, but the kitchen is my space.  If I have to live in a house full of boys (even the cats are boys!), then I should get to have a little pink somewhere.  Besides, it'll look very nice with that green floor. 

I went on a cleaning warpath.  The house was given to us in filthy condition, which irritated me more and more as I worked.  I mean, I had a baby and a ton of packing to do, and I still managed to clean my house for the new owner!  This guy had his renters move out a month before we took possession, and he cleaned nothing.  *sigh*  I'm not one to use antibacterial cleaners (the surfactants in regular cleaners are typically enough to remove dirt and germs and don't contribute to the creation of Super Bugs), but I was finding myself a bit skeeved by the filth in this house.  (There was urine all over the toilet seat in the master bath, for crying out loud! Who does that?!)  I bought a big ol' bottle of Mr. Clean and went to town.  I'd say that you can eat off my floors now, but the cats danced in the fireplace after I'd mopped, and there's now soot scattered around. 

It's a slow process, but the house is coming together.