Homeowners Again

It's official - we closed on our house yesterday afternoon! It was so fast and easy, which is just a complete contrast to the rest of this process. I just haven't had the guts to look at the bank account balances yet. These foreclosures are nuts - there was no plan of getting us the keys. It was a little afterthought and the decision was that we go back to the house and get the key out of the lock box and assume someone will come for the box and the for sale sign at some point. We have a locksmith coming this morning to change the locks anyway. He will also be able to get us in to the shop in the back of the carport that we have not yet been able to access. Could be exciting!

FINALLY!

It seemed this day would never arrive, but here we are! We close on our new house this afternoon, and I can't wait to start tearing carpet out. The gas and water were finally turned on yesterday (water was still off when the inspectors arrived!) and we completed our inspections of the furnace and other appliances. To our absolute shock - everything worked! We truly expected to have a house full of non-functional systems. Our front hall in the apartment has our calendar covered with appointments and tasks and it just keeps getting more full, but now comes the fun part - we get to start making this house our home.

My tasks for today are finalizing my appliance selections, scheduling the cleaners, plumber, electrician, and HVAC contractors, and I need to go grocery shopping - the dog has no food. I've been working on the appliances for a while, and thought I had it all figured out when I discovered that the fridge I want is not energy star compliant! That just can't be! So now we either spend an extra 1k on a fridge in the same product line, or we risk having the finishes be different and get the original pick, which was a KitchenAid fridge. Oy! Of course, I have a spreadsheet going for this as well. What a complete geek.

My mom and her boyfriend are here to help watch Peanut while we get some work done this weekend. They are having a great time with our little muffin - everything she does is the cutest ever - but who's biased? :)

It IS easy being green!

So last night I put the kitchen cabinets and appliances on craigslist and said they were free to anyone who could un-install and remove them by the end of the weekend. I just couldn't see us putting all of that in a landfill, and while most of the appliances may not work, I said that someone who may want to tinker a bit might be able to fix them. Well, within 45 minutes I had two takers and by this morning there were seven people vying for the opportunity to do my demo for free and keep these things out of the trash! What a beautiful thing! I took some photos today of the bathrooms to see if I can get them gone in the same way...

Closer...

After much ado yesterday, the gas bill is now paid and our title is clear! We plan on closing on Friday, and I am beginning to think that just might happen. Peanut and I went over to the house today with a friend and her babe to do a little tour. It was so nice to see the babies playing in the yard - a vision of things to come! We also walked over to the trails at the end of the neighborhood and took a little stroll in the wilderness. It seemed like we were way out in the middle of nowhere instead of suburban VA. This neighborhood just keeps getting better. Our neighbors seem great, the school is close a good, and we've got trails and a park so close by. I think we have picked a great place to live!

we just need a little gas!

We have already rescheduled our closing on the house from last Friday to this Wednesday. As of today, the gas company still did not show the balance on the account had been paid. They won't turn the gas on until the account is cleared. Better yet, we can't go to closing because there is a lien on the house because of the unpaid gas bill! So now we are scheduled to close on Friday. I have been spinning my wheels thinking about everything that needs to be done since last week, so I sure hope we can get the gas on and get the house inspected in order to close. That way, I can stop spinning and START WORKING! I never realized how much I really love gas...

the end to one obsession

After what seems like a zillion kitchen plans, we made a discovery yesterday that seems to have brought the IKEA Planner madness to an end. At Sears, we found a beautiful Jenn Air freestanding range that has a gas cook top and electric ovens below! Eureka! In addition, the burner controls are on the top right, so little hands can't reach them, and the larger lower over can cook by convection as well as conventionally. The top oven is the perfect size for everyday cooking. This find has eliminated my obsessive quizzing of everyone - "Range or wall oven and cook top?" and has made the kitchen planning much easier since we have found the goddess of all cooking appliances!

imaginary construction

The hardest thing about remodeling a foreclosure is not owning it yet. We are chomping at the bit to just get in and start doing things, but closing is not until next week. Meanwhile, we continue to meet with contractors and get estimates on all of the work to be done. This morning, we met with an electrician who kindly pointed out several more items that if not fixed are a not to code and b very unsafe. Thanks. The list gets longer, and I see our $ not stretching as far as I'd like... Oh well.

We should be able to start working next Friday afternoon after we close. I say "should" because the gas has still not been turned on in the house yet. There is some difficulty in getting the gas company to send a bill to the listing agent so they can pay it and get reimbursed by the bank. We have yet to check the furnace or any of the gas appliances. So if we haven't got gas flowing, we may have to push back closing. On the flip side, the well has been fixed which we did not expect. Saved us some money that will probably go to the electrician :)

While we wait to get in the house, I obsess about the kitchen. I have drawn up literally hundreds of kitchen plans at this point. I have researched cabinet makers, counter tops, appliances...you name it. In my attempt to go green, I am looking at things I would not have thought of before. I'm trying to find out if a cabinet has particleboard in it and if it does, does it have added formaldehyde? Do the finished have VOC's? Is there an unfinished option? The hard part is that solid wood cabinets are much more expensive of course than the less eco friendly ones. Cabinets seem to be the hardest for me - some of the other materials are easy choices because of their appearance and their "greenness". Recycled glass tiles are gorgeous - it is just a question of how much of the tile is actually recycled. Same with counter tops. Anyway, I could go on (and on and on) about kitchen materials and the benefits of a layout with the oven and cook top separated vs. having a range. Maybe later. I need to go read some of my kitchen remodeling books from the library!