With a nod to the guys from OPM, let's catch up on what's happening around Casa de Huh? these days.
The good news is that our silent partner in the home buying activities came down this weekend along with my mother-in-law too. They got a chance to see the house as its slowly coming together and were surprised at how well put together the place is right now. P had been preparing them for the worst and the place was only mildly out of sorts with the exception of the upstairs which was all whacked from moving all of the stuff from the office so we could paint.
Anyway, they were pleased and we got a chance to go over some ideas and thoughts for how to improve the space for us but also to add value to it for when we do sell. We also learned that all of the money we put into the place for repairs and improvements will be tallied up and added to our final totals after the house has been sold. That means that we're investing in the house itself and will get all of the money we put in back and that's a nice thing to know.
So we discussed some of our plans to make the house a better space. Some of the ideas included removing most of the walls from the bottom part of the staircase so that the front entryway is opened up into the rest of the house. Doing something similar at the top of the stairs would also help alot too. Adding a new window to the office was discussed as well as installing one of the tube skylights. The difference being that we'd likely have to hire someone to do at least the first skylight so we can figure out how to do it properly. The window is something that we can do on our own right now. And it would also allow for better airflow and sight lines as well as more and better light. So we're planning a run to Home Depot to pick up a window maybe this coming weekend, maybe even two, one for the master bedroom as well. And maybe a skylight too, for the master bathroom. It might be good if our tax return doesn't come this week but it doesn't matter as we'll have home improvement money available soon in any case.
The backyard is going to get a bunch of work done to it. Like the huge bush, George has an electric chainsaw that'll tear that sucker down in a couple of hours and give us back a bunch more yard space. The fence line at the end of the yard needs attention to make it servicable and the area just inside the fence is going to get dug out, retaining walls put in and the space will be made to be usable instead of the muddy, sloppy mess that it is now. The plan is to move the gate up when we redo the fence, dig out the space into the yard, lay in some railroad tie steps and walls and blend it into the yard smoothly instead of the ugliness it is now. The corner of the fence will also get a new board or two soon so that the neighbor's rottie can't just decide to come on over for a visit whenever it wants to.
I would like to do something so that our deck doesn't feel quite as exposed to the neighborhood either. And to our neighbors. We're thinking about some sort of deck covering with a partial wall to give us some privacy. Right now, if we're out on the deck and the neighbors come out, its like they're in the same room and just a little funky. Not that we dislike them at all, just that we want to feel that the space is our own.
Anyway, some home improvement resources that I've been exploring as well as my Black and Decker Home Improvement Book, the Repair-Home.com Directory and Home Improvement Calculators
And then there's the DPChallenge that I am going to try and get in on more often. This week's challenge is Conflict and some pics of the puppies rolling around would have been perfect. But oh well, I'll have to get in on it next time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment