The Money Pit

I started a new blog today, this will be just about the house, maybe some other crafty projects we'll see....

The PDX Money Pit

Design Inspiration.

This month I have been very inspired by the design of other's homes. Here is one post from the jewlery designer Lisa Lenoard that makes me want to run home right now and get busy!

http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/blog/2010/07/27/around-the-house/

Out of Doors

My intentions this spring and summer are to have quite a dramatic change on the outside of our house. Big things like new siding, likely will not come until further down the road but landscaping, the rook and with any luck, the windows will be changing this year. Here are pictures of where we are starting from this Spring.

The Front of the house.

I can't tell you how much I am ready for that dish to go away!

This Spring we will start planting the front bed, we are already finding that there are a lot of bulbs coming up. So far, there was a LARGE clump of daffodils that I dug up a couple months ago and replanted along the side of the house and front walkway. There are some tulips and some yet to be identified flowers coming up. I have also pruned the rose bush and planted some bulbs of my own.

The big scale picture, will include rebuilding the front porch/sun room as there was water damage at one point in time AND all the windows and doors need to be replaced. Luckily, we have what was probably the original Front Door in the basement that just needs a little TLC. Those large picture windows will one day be replaced with divided light windows like the ones next to the front door...

The west side of the house...We are in sort of a wait and see with what is already planted here...

 

Here is the parking strip. Next week 2 of the 3 Cherry trees will be removed. There is a stump left where I took out the smallest of the 3 already this past fall. The 2 trees are in poor shape and are being overshadowed by the one large tree. Also, one is growing right under the power line and the other under a phone line. The one remaining tree will get a nice prune job taking out the previously poor pruning job, dead branches and off of the house.

 This is the flower bed I started last fall in the "back" yard along the side of the house. Those daffodils are the ones I found in the front. There are also 3 lovely hostas planted that I snatched up for $1 each during Home Depot's fall sale last year. All this needs right now is some mulch to cover the weed block...

This might not look like much now...but this is the garden. I planted a bunch of seeds a couple of weeks ago (so far only 1 kind of pea is showing signs of life...) That board marks where the old claw foot tub is going to be set into the ground to make a pond/water feature. Lucky us, there is already a hole started!

To the left of this picture, will be a deck and a hammock for Graham, probably a Dog House for Roxy as well.

To the right, at the end of the garden, will be a chicken coop that will house 4 chickens...

This is my dream coop.

But Graham says the flower boxes are ridiculous...

Along Graham's new fence, will the the hot garden with tomatoes and cutting flowers, also a lovely Mother's Day birdbath yet to be found...

Around the House

SO... I realized that I haven't posted many pictures of the inside of the house since we have moved in...Since there isn't really any finished rooms, I haven't really felt like posting any pictures. I recently stumbled upon a blog where the author has been posting some before and after pictures and it has inspired me to post pictures of the now and then the after will be more dramatic, right?

 Oliver's Room looking at the windows. Still needs a new bigger rug, a toy box and his dresser finished. Also new windows & his closet door fixed.

 Looking at his bed and dresser.

I love the robots but I thinking of just limiting it to one set of Robot decals...

 Here is Henri's Room with some Blue dot decals on the one wall and finally some curtains (which have yet to be hemmed as you can see...)

This room is one of the 2 bedrooms that has to have the bad Sheetrock pulled down. It was put up over the the plaster and I have heard it crumbling while hanging our wedding photos in the hall. His windows are also probably the worst with Oliver's a close second.

Henri's Christmas Owl.

I have loved these owls, sold at Japanese grocery stores for so long. I finally gave in and got it for him this year. It is purely ornamental. Solar powered. His head turns from side to side. The brighter the sun, the faster his head turns...

This is one corner of the playroom where Oliver's play kitchen is. He LOVES this to death and would probably spend the entire day cooking... 

The paint needs to be finished as you can see. Originally the whole room was going to be blue and then Graham told me after I had already painted the ceiling that he didn't want it to be. I am thinking from the picture rail up will be a soft yellow. The other corner of the room has Oliver's easel while other 2 house the computer and a pile of stuff that I just haven't found places for...I am jonesing for a Ikea trip to get the final organizational pieces and thinking of painting the 2 brown shelves white to match the large cabinet and computer desk...

 This was my birthday present from Graham.

We picked it out at Rejuvenation in their clearance section which is the only way we will ever be able to afford something from there!

 The paint test for our bedroom ceiling. I had planned on it being the color of the playroom/Oliver's walls but that was nixed. I think I like this green better. It doesn't really matter much since this is the other room where the walls have to be torn down and put back up.

The dresser...Needs something, i just don't know what yet...

 Another Rejuvenation find.

This is from their blowout sale at the beginning of the year with items up to 70% off! I purchased the Rose City fixture and this shade which was being discontinued. Oh and this is the kitchen...

That's what I have for now...We have some big plans coming up this spring and summer. Since Graham will have some time of in March, we are hoping to use part of our Fed tax return to finish some projects around the house. i.e. Install the bathroom sink, build a cabinet in the bathroom and hopefully install bead board and the baseboards...Also building a mantle and possibly the bookshelves on either side with reclaimed leaded glass doors. I would LOVE to get a new water heater...the majority of the money will be going to putting on a new roof this summer. We had 2 estimates last week that were over double what we were hoping. Lucky for us we have some able bodied friends and family as well as the experience and contractor deals...fingers crossed it will all go smoothly!

A few months back, I applied for Weatherization through the county and we were approved. Now we wait on a list until we make it to the top. Eventually a energy audit will be scheduled and done to see where we need the help. If deemed necessary, (which it is...) we could get all new windows and insulation added to our home at no cost to us! We will also be applying for a grant through the city in August for money to redo our kitchen. With that, you can either pay it back very slowly or the amount borrowed will be put as a lien on the home and paid off upon the sale of it. Either way, we could have a new more functional kitchen by Oliver's 3rd birthday! Well, maybe...

:)

Fence!

We finally have a fence!

Thanks to Mom & Rick and our 4 year wedding Anniversary, we were able to get the materials last Tuesday and the fence started on Wednesday. Graham worked everyday after work from Wednesday to Sunday to get the fence and gate complete. He may have actually had 1 day off but my days run together so I can't remember. Oh yes, it was Friday, he got home after dark and a really bad day at work (the next day he gave his 2 week notice! only 2 more weeks at that dreaded place and awful hours...) It looks as though he will have time off the 2nd week of March which coincides with Poppa J's birthday. Maybe we will be able to actually make a trip down for a day or two to visit? What a concept!

Anyway, here are photos of the progress...

The wood.

The last pictures of my beautiful car...the accident was just mere hours after these photos were taken.

:(

Doing what he hates most in this world...good thing he only needed to dig 2!

The post and it's concrete.

Creative post support.

The other post.

This was yesterday afternoon. Graham got the rails and all the boards up Saturday night after work, working well past sun down. Turns out he can build a pretty mean fence in the dark!

the front side...

99% done!

What is still needed:

Posts trimmed & capped

Decorative trimming over the gate

A latch

Sealing.

We also realized last night that we have about a 2 foot space behind the house that needs to have a little fence build to keep little children and dogs from escaping...I am so so so happy with it. It is exactly what I wanted and imagined. We already had a little taste of what the rest of the Spring and Summer will be like this afternoon.

Rapid Fire

The past couple of weeks have brought a lot of changes and quickly.

Oliver is now sleeping in a big boy bed and doing pretty well. He likes to climb out of bed and play a bit  (or scream and cry) but always climbs back into bed. He mostly gets up now at about 7:30-8am from his usually 9! Oy vey! This morning was a lovely 5:45am where he came pattering up into our room and climbed into bed. He has to have my iPod to play with and sometime goes back to sleep. This morning he wanted to "eat". So we got up, set up a movie, his highchair and some breakfast and I went back to bed until Henri woke up at about 8. Right now, Oliver is taking his 2nd nap ever in his big boy bed...i'd say he's pretty tired, not to mention splitting his lip on the hearth in the Dining Room this afternoon...

This is what happens when Nap Time Goes Wrong...

Friday we got a brand new wood stove to keep us warm as an early Christmas present (thanks mom!) It took 5 hours to get it installed and the chimney lined (Ca-Ching!) but well worth it as we will not be having any more $200 electric bills...It is a gorgeous dark green that really shows when the light hits it. I managed to get the brick primed Thanksgiving night and then painted Friday afternoon after the installers left.

The new stove and painted brick.

Thursday, Graham had to work but was able to get off by about 2 i think it was, i can't remember much anymore....

Anyhoo, Gramma, Poppa Rick & Grampa all came up for our very first Thanksgiving that we have hosted. It was a day of doing projects on the house and cooking. Wood was unloaded from Graham's truck and stacked in the basement, all of the upstairs light fixtures that needed to be changed out were done, oh and the night before I laid the rest of the bathroom tiles. We had a VERY tasty Turkey dinner that was also gluten free! Yay me!

;)

The Turkey Day wines...

Last night I finally finished the paint in the Dining Room, Kitchen & downstairs hallway, AND grouted the bathroom floor. All that is left is the sink, baseboards and building a cabinet.

Finished floor!

Oh yeah, last week, Graham got a raise too, so that takes a little stress off before the holidays!

Henri is still sweet as can be. He does have some moments of only wanting to be held, but over all he's a happy baby. He turned 7 months last week and is working really hard on tooth #6. He loves eating banana in his mesh food holder and Mum Mum biscuits, if he can get a hold of anything else, he will try to eat that too!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Whirlwind

We are finally all moved in...Monday night to be exact. It was a 4 day moving extravaganza. Graham had last Friday off (after 13 days of working, 12-14 hours days too...) so we were able to exact some moving revenge on Aaron to help move all of the big heavy stuff. That Friday also marked the day that Graham's promotion took effect. Instead of being a "roving" Sous Chef that works all stations of all meals, he is now the AM Sous Chef. This means that he starts work at about 5am and gets off between 4:30-6:30pm, usually the latter. The last time I saw him was actually this past Friday night when he got home about 9pm. Yesterday was a crazy day with a Farmer's Market in the morning and a Wine Auction in the evening, he wasn't expected to get off until 9pm and then start work again at 5am today. Needless to say, he was able to crash at the hotel for the night.

Back to moving...

Dad graciously spent his 3 day weekend helping me with the boys, some shopping, some projects, moving, unpacking and  cleaning. Monday night we had our walk through with the landlords where they informed us that they didn't see us getting the house back into the state in which they rented to us...meaning washed walls, blackberries pulled along the garage, shampooing the carpet in Oliver's room (which I was planning to do) etc, etc. We were killing ourselves, scrubbing, sweeping, vacuuming, & mopping and then quoted $100-200 for this and for that, soon it appeared to us that our entire $1000 deposit was going to be gone no matter how clean we got it. So we stopped where we were, finished loading up and went home never to have to deal with it again. It was very frustrating since really the place was falling apart around us. To me, when you rent a place, you clean it, but not to the standard it was rented to you, the owner should do that along with the repairs that need to be done after someone has lived in a home for 2 years (not to mention what appeared to be a flip done wrong, quick & dirty...) The deposit should be held for repairs that the tenants or animals did, though technically that's what the animal deposit should be for...windows were falling apart, cupboards doors falling off (and landing on me) a faucet that leaked and dripped the WHOLE time we lived there...oh, and a Flood after some heavy rains. When I mentioned the flood to her, she told me to check the gutters. The faucet I told her about at the beginning and when I mentioned it again when giving notice, Then someone was sent to "fix" it, though it still dripped...The one window that was in the worst shape was bondo-ed back together, not even new windows...

Anyway, that's over now and we have written off the deposit. If there are issues we are charged with that have to do with how crappy the house is, I will fight her on that.

Last Friday was our first night sleeping in the new house. Our room is so big! So much room, don't even know what to do with it all! The boys each have a room and then we have the extra room that is becoming the playroom/computer room. It feels so nice and Oliver has so much room to run. Roxy will be much happier once we have the fence up.

I have been busy in my "free" time, painting and doing projects as well as sewing some alterations for Portland Center Stage. 

I am WAAY late getting Oliver's Birthday invitations out...His party/housewarming is this Sunday the 20th at 1pm at our new house. Invitations are coming but if you'd liek to rsvp now that is fine and shoot me a message to get our address!

pictures coming shortly...

Before, During, After 2

Here is the 2nd installment of the progress we have made over the last couple of weeks...

Originally we planned to be moved in by yesterday, but with getting the place 1 week later than we had anticipated and Graham's super crazy work schedule, we requested another week at our rental. We hope to move the bed over tomorrow and finish moving Friday. We will spend Sat & Sun cleaning up the rental and be done with it!

 

  

  

This was Graham's tiling job before I took over.

 

  

  

   

Oliver helping Mama tile.

The next day he even helped pull up the paper on the glass tiles.

 

Ready to help!

 

Helping Grampa sand.

 

Safety First!

Taking a break...

He saw Grampa put his mask on his head so he did it too...

 

Henri

 

Oliver wanted his picture taken too.

 

  

Toilet is in!

Tonight (hopefully) the tub will be going in.

 

Henri's crib in his room.

 

Henri's bedding and enjoying his new bed.

 

Oliver's Room

 

Our Room, first coat.

 

  

  

There you have it!

Now I have to go run a million errands, including a trip to Hippo Hardware for tub parts...