Kitchen Reveal

And that, my friends, is how you go about not posting for eight whole months!!

So what have y’all been up to for the last 245 days of this year? We took a few trips, rode out the dirty side of Hurricane Harvey(our first hurricane) south

The House Makeover/Remodel Still Isn’t Finished…and Then We Bought a Boat!

Not much has happened on the house since I last blogged…way back in October! The holidays came and went, five pounds were gained and still haven’t left, we laid new flooring in the master bedroom and hallway, and I painted the hallway white to brighten it up.We still have one more bedroom, guest bathroom, and the kitchen area to lay new flooring. Since the holidays, Mr. and I have 

Master Bedroom Makeover: Bed Frame

Our master bedroom is starting to look so cute! Our daughter said it looked “very beachy cottage” and I have to agree.

I love how the bed frame ties in with the bedside tables that I finished last week. The room is becoming

Master Bedroom Makeover: Bedside Tables

I’ve been wanting to paint our bedroom furniture for a while now but just never had taken the time to do it. But since we are doing the master bedroom as our first room makeover, I am diving head first into painting

We Moved….

Mr. and I finally closed on the “Preacher House” about six weeks ago and moved to the water!

We are adjusting to downsizing and a different way of life; therefore, I am starting a new blog, “Saltwater and Sawdust”, which

We Just Want to Buy a House!

Buying a house starts out exciting, but can get stressful really quick! In this post, we had just received a contract on our house and had gone under contract to buy a house in Bayou Vista, TX. We had inspections on the Bayou Vista house and a huge money pit was revealed!! The sellers didn’t want to negotiate so we walked away. Everything was still good-to-go on the selling of our house so we had to act fast and find another house to buy as we were about to be homeless!!

We met with our realtor a couple of days later and ended up looking at eight different houses! Our realtor knew how desperate we were to find a house that weekend, that she showed us two houses that weren’t even on the market yet! We narrowed it down to three houses, which we named the “Party Deck” house, the “No Doors” house, and the “Preacher House”. The “Party Deck” house had a gangway off the main deck that led to a great party deck over the boat house. The seller of the “No Doors” house had removed all the closet doors and hung curtains in the place of the doors! Does anyone else find this odd?!?! And last but not least was the “Preacher House”; a preacher had recently made an offer on the house but had to back out due to the church wanting him to live on the island.

While at a restaurant later that day, Mr. and I had our own little HGTV moment and wrote down on a napkin all the pros and cons for each house and deliberated about them. We finally decided to go with the “Party Deck” house. But before we could make the offer, we ran into a neighbor of “Party Deck” house and she stated that one of the neighbors of “Party Deck” were big “partiers” and would have huge get-togethers at their house every weekend; with parties sometimes lasting until 4:00 am and the police being called quite often! Scratched that house off the list!! 😦

So on to the next one! The “No Doors” house was a big house with an updated kitchen, and also had a boat house with a party deck, but needed some TLC as it had been sitting on the market for about a year. After going back and forth a couple of times with offers and counteroffers, the seller accepted our final offer. Or so we thought. The next morning, our realtor called to tell us that the seller had decided to rethink the offer and would get back with us. Really?! Who accepts an offer then calls a couple of hours later to say they are rethinking it??

So…we moved forward and decided to make an offer on the “Preacher House”. We didn’t have time to play these games, as we were closing on the sell of our house in just a little over one month! While waiting on a response from the “Preacher House” seller, the “No Doors” seller countered with a price! Our realtor told them that we had already given them our final offer but they asked her to call us anyway. Of course we declined to counter. A short time later, our realtor called to let us know that the “No Doors” seller had decided to go ahead and accept our final offer from the day before. We decided not to to go with “No Doors” and we moved forward with the “Preacher House” and agreed upon a price.

I’ll let you in on a little secret…”Preacher House” has been my favorite all along and am so thrilled about it!! 🙂

What a wild ride these last several weeks have been! Mr. and I are getting so excited about living on the water in just over a week. Here’s a couple of pictures from the “Preacher House” deck that hopefully we will be sitting on very soon!

Y’all have a great day!

~

 

One Last Look: House Tour

Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think that when we moved into this house that we would be moving again so quickly! We closed on this house on January 11, 2013. Just three short years ago! And boy, does it look different!

I had a huge To-Do List of projects and am happy to say that we were able to finish most of them and also some that weren’t even on the list. So I thought I would share with you one more look at the before and after photos and what all we did to update the house.

Street View

• removed rocks and flowerbeds from around trees
• had sod installed around trees
• removed all the plants from flowerbeds by the house and planted tropical plants

before

after

Kitchen

• painted walls
• painted cabinets and installed new hardware
• painted trim and added baseboards
• painted the backdoor
• installed beadboard backsplash
• installed new flooring
• replaced countertops
• replaced sink and faucet
• installed new ceramic stovetop and range hood
• replaced the oven
• installed pendant lighting in place of can lights
• installed a new ceiling fan/light in breakfast area
• added the kitchen island that we upcycled from a small chest of drawers.

before

after

Dining RoomEntry Way

• painted walls
• painted under the chair rail
• spray painted the existing chandelier (Mr. sprayed painted the fixture and replaced the chain with a silver one)
• painted the inside of the front door and side panels
• installed blinds above front door
• added sun filter film to front door & side light windows

before

after

before

after

before

after

Living Room

• painted walls 
• installed a new ceiling fan

before

after

Guest Bathroom

• painted walls
• painted the vanity

before

after

Master Bedroom/Bath

• painted walls
• installed a new  fan/light

before

after

before

after

Laundry Room

• painted walls
• removed old cabinets
• removed metal shelving
• installed new cabinets
• installed drying rack
• installed hooks for broom/mop
• replaced light

before

after

before

after

Upstair Bedrooms 2 & 3

• painted walls
• installed a new ceiling fan/light in #2
• installed new chandelier in #3

before

after

before

after

Craft Room

• painted walls

before

after

Upstairs Bathroom

• painted walls
• painted tiles in tub area and walls
• painted tiles on floor
• replaced faucets
• painted cabinet
• replaced hardware
• took door off linen closet

before

after

Office Bedroom 4

• painted walls
• removed filthy paper fan from window
• installed new blinds

before

after

Closet under the Staircase

• painted walls
• replaced carpet with hardwood floors
• installed new shelf and bookcase
• added totes and a bin for storage and hooks for hanging items

before

after

What a difference a little paint, new kitchen floors, and countertops make! Mr. and I have learned alot these last three years! We now know we can install ceramic tile, hardwood flooring, and carpet, but couldn’t/wouldn’t do it for a living! I have a new found respect for those that do!!

I’ve enjoyed this house, and especially having the swimming pool, but I’m so excited to begin our next journey in our new house! I’ll be sharing pictures of it very soon!

Y’all have a great day & weekend!!

~

Mr. is OUT OF TOWN!

The last post I did was on November 10th…31 days ago. I told y’all about us getting ready to do a bunch of projects on the house so that we could put it on the market on December 1st. We didn’t quite make the 1st, but we were close.

Mr. took two weeks off at Thanksgiving and we busted butt to finish all the projects that I wanted to get done, plus some. We decluttered, packed 33 boxes of  stuff, and took several loads of more stuff to a storage unit! Obviously, we have TOO MUCH STUFF!! Also, while Mr. was off, we took a drive down to Bayou Vista (just this side of the causeway going over to Galveston Island) to look at a house on the market. (we were just looking)

But here is where it gets crazy!

Saturday – December 5th

• 2:00 pm – Our realtor listed our house online (no photos).
• 2:30 pm – Mr. finds a leak in our sprinkler system/calls plumber.
• 3:40 pm – Plumber arrives.
• 3:50 pm – Our realtor calls and says she has someone who wants to see the house at 4:30.
• 3:51 pm – I go into panic mode, as I have the realty papers strung out all over the kitchen table. I grab all the papers and stuff them in a drawer in the chest of drawers in our bedroom. I make a mad dash around the house making sure everything is in place and go outside to tell Mr. and the plumber we have people coming at 4:30!
• 4:25 pm – We leave the plumber to do his thing and we go up the block to sit and wait for him to get done. We also secretly want to see who is coming to look at our house. 🙂
• 4:30 pm – White car begins stalking our house by slowly driving by again…and again…and again.
• 4:45 pm – Plumber finishes up and leaves.
• 4:50 pm – Realtor pulls into drive followed by a couple in the house-stalking white car.
• 5:15 pm – Prospective buyers and realtor leave and all is calm again.

Sunday – December 6th

• 11:30 am – We head to Bayou Vista to check out a couple of houses.
• 11:45 am – Showing service calls to set up an appointment for 12:30 (still no photos are online).
• 12:30 pm – Mr. and I enjoy lunch on the island and look at three houses plus the one we looked at over Thanksgiving.
• 8:00 pm – Realtor calls and says we have an offer on the house…from the house-stalking white car couple!
• 8:01 pm – Negotiations begin!

Monday – December 7th

• 6:10 am – I drive Mr. to the airport as he is flying to North Dakota for the week. Of course, he is. One person should always be out-of-town when trying to close the deal on a house! Keeps it more entertaining!
• 9:30 am – Offer is finalized. I sign it, scan it, and email it to Mr. in North Dakota for signature.
• 2:45 pm – Realtor and photographer arrive to take pictures for online listing.
• 7:15 pm – Showing service calls to set up an appointment for 6:00 pm tomorrow
• 8:40 pm – Realtor from Bayou Vista house calls to tell us that she has two offers coming in on the house that we have been talking to her about.
• 8:41 pm – I go into panic mode! Our house is going under contract and now the ONLY house I want to buy has multiple offers on it! And of course, Mr. IS OUT OF TOWN!
• 9:30 pm – Mr. calls Bayou Vista realtor and gives her our verbal offer.
• Monday night – No sleep!

Tuesday – December 8th

• 9:30 am – Realtor swings by with the contract for signature. I sign, initial, scan, and email to Mr.
• 10:00 am – Pictures are on the online listing!
• 5:45 pm – Leave to go out to dinner with my daughter and her roommate while house is being shown.
• 6:30 pm – Bayou Vista realtor emails me to let us know she is presenting offer.
• 7:30 pm – Return from dinner to find our back gate is semi-locked. Roommate messes with it and gets it open. We walk to the back screen door which has been locked from the inside! (the issue here is my front door key is in the realty lock box on the front door ,  daughter left her keys at home, and Mr. IS OUT OF TOWN)
• 7:31 pm – I call the realtor and leave her a message that we have been locked out of the house! In the meantime, roommate has found a flyswatter, takes it apart, and begins to work it down the inside of the screen door and finally pops the latch after several tries!! Just call her MacGyver!
• 7:39 pm – I leave another message with my realtor and tell her we broke into the house!
• 7:59 pm – Realtor calls to find out what happened and to tell me that tonight’s lookers want to put in an offer!
• 9:00 pm – While talking to Mr. on the phone, we realize that we have an email with acceptance signatures on our offer on the Bayou Vista house!

So to break it down for you, in a little over three days, we put our house on the market, received a contract, made an offer on a house, and are under contract for it!!

And Mr. is STILL OUT OF TOWN!!

Y’all have a great day!

~

Change of Plans

We’re moving! Well, we hope to be very soon!

For the last several months, Mr. and I have been talking about buying a vacation home on Galveston Island and renting it out during peak vacation season. But then about two weeks ago, we decided to just jump all in and move to the water full-time! And I am ecstatic! Living in the suburbs of Houston is driving me crazy! 6.6 million people is a huge change from the one stoplight small town of 6.3 thousand people where we lived for 17 years before we started our moves in 2010.

But that means I have to finish all the projects I have going on with the current house. We want to get it on the market as soon as possible, and are thinking the first of December is doable. So I have approximately three weeks to get this place finished, decluttered, and staged! Therefore, a change of plans will need to take place when it comes to all the projects.

I’ve broken everything down into what I hope to get done each week. Yeah, I have to have lists/deadlines or I get distracted and never get anything finished!

Week One: Kitchen/Laundry Room/Dining Room

• Thankfully, we finished installing the kitchen & laundry room floors in September. I’m bummed that I won’t get to enjoy them for as long as I thought I would, but they have made such an impact to that area!  I hope the next homeowners will love them as much as I do.
• Install and paint baseboards in the kitchen & laundry room
• Paint the interior of the backdoor
• Install trim or cabinet doors where the microwave is
• Install or paint the chandelier in the dining room

Week Two: Front Bath/Master Bed, Bath & Closet

• Paint baseboards in the front bath
• Paint the walls in the master bed/bath/closet

Week Three: Upstairs

• Touch up paint on one wall in spare bedroom
• Paint ceiling in the gypsy room
• Replace faucets in bathroom

And DECLUTTER, DECLUTTER, DECLUTTER, AND STAGE, STAGE, STAGE!!!

I’ll be posting updates as the weeks go by, so be sure and check back!

Y’alll have a great day!

~

New Adventure!

 

And that’s what I did and is the reason I haven’t posted here for almost two months!

On a wing and a prayer, I jumped feet first into starting a business refinishing furniture, Pink Bungalow Design! And then I immediately signed myself up for a local craft show seven weeks out to market PBD! The only thing was, I only had a couple of pieces finished! Therefore I have been busy sanding, priming, and painting everything I can get my hands on! Plus I took a week in the midst of all this craziness and traveled to Atlanta with Mr. and my mom! Another state to check off that bucket list!!

And since I needed something to haul my goods around in, Mr. bought me the perfect gifts for my birthday last month…a jigsaw and a cargo trailer! 🙂

   Now you know that I couldn’t let the inside of my new trailer stay this boring…

…I had to make it completely glam! So much better!! Don’t ya think? 🙂

So now you know where I’ve been and why the house makeovers have been put on hold until after the show. But be sure and check back in early November for upcoming house makeovers, as some exciting news is on the horizon,. And be sure and check us out over at Pink Bungalow Design!

Y’all have a great day!

~