Sunday, February 10, 2013

Our First House: Adventures in Cement Pouring and Wallpaper Removal

A little over a year ago Douglas and I moved into our first home. We couldn't have been more excited! Thoughts of decorating, dinners with friends, and gardening filled those first few days of unpacking. But a self-punishing monster consumed us and instead of building our "nest" with cute curtains and comfy furniture, we renovated. I'm talking MAJOR renovating that engulfed every single weekend of the past year. 

Some highlights include removing hideous wallpaper, ripping out stained and stinky carpet and tile, self-leveling floors with tons (literally tons) of cement, toilet replacing, painting (and repainting) various rooms, and laying our own hardwoods. Throughout our home adventures we have learned how to plumb, rewire electrical outlets, fix wood rot, use some pretty awesome power tools, and put down our own flooring.

Although we are still in the midst of major work on the house, I think back to our flooded kitchen, power surge that killed our AC in the middle of August, leaking toilet, and numerous other "inconveniences" with a smile. We definitely had days when we questioned our sanity and physical and mental ability to just keep working, but we pushed through. Douglas and I have grown even closer, I got past some of my germ phobias, and we conquered house renovations that I never would have dreamed of. We are slowly making our 1980's house into our home and it's starting to feel like us. I couldn't be more thankful. I can't wait to see what other crazy ideas we have for the house and how we will overcome them! In the meantime, this "year in review" makes me laugh and thankful that we will never have to revisit some of these renovations ever again!


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