Somebody Else's Fargo Fixer-Upper

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. Get your very own Fargo Fixer-Upper! The house is officially on the market! Might I add, a couple G's above where the Realtor originally thought. Of course this is because the family did such an extraordinary job with the little details. Details now including:

A fresh coat of paint for the front windows:
(You'd never know that window was broken!)

New light fixtures in the stairwell and second floor hall:
A new downstairs bathroom sink! Look at the difference:The old sink had curling iron burns on the top and the home-made, particle-board cabinet was rotten from an old leak. The new one looks so nice and clean!So there you have it. One beautifully cleaned up 1928 gem. All of this can be yours... if the Price is Right! (Fargo house hunters... COME ON DOWWWWNNNN!!!!)

I'll be praying for multiple offers in church in the morning!

**Happy 28th Anniversary Dad & Mom!**

Fargo Photo Update

More photos from Fargo! The newest shots to land in my inbox featured freshly painted trim and new brushed nickel light fixtures in the two South bedrooms. Mom gave the Southeast room a coat of Provincial Cream paint, which she said turned out a little more yellow than she though it would be. It looks really bright and clean though, so I like it. I think the khaki color is the only paint in this house that has turned out as planned!

Here are the before-and-afters of the work:
Here's the new light fixture in the Southwest room. Same as the other bedrooms, but still thought I'd post it.The downstairs bathroom has not only new flooring, but also freshly painted walls and trim.

Before and after:
If there is enough time before listing, Mom wants to put in a new vanity in this bathroom. I'm starting to wonder who's going to be sadder when this place sells!

Dining Room: Complete!

This just in: dining room completed! I received an email from Mom this morning bearing photos of the cheap-o chandelier I bought on ebay dangling from the *ahem* near perfect ceiling in the dining room. It really pulls it all together. Let's view the progression of this room from grimy apartment bedroom (remember I found syringes in the carpet!) to glamorous dining room:

Before:

Demo of 80's closet addition:Demo completed, patching plaster:
Scraping loose paint from ceiling: (It's the best ceiling in the house now)
Walls are primed and painted:
Cheap replacement woodwork is sanded, primed, and painted:

Ceiling and walls painted, capstock on window trim, crown moulding in place, and dining-approved lighting:Finished dining room:
I always liked this room. There is so much natural light and the green of the trees in the backyard looks so nice. I bet you can see the new light fixture through the archway when you come in through the front door. It'll knock those house-buyers right on their butts the minute they come in!

The Realtor came over and had a few suggestions, but it doesn't sound like listing is too far off. The carpet needs to be removed from the stairs (done- Dad and my brother took care of it, my younger sisters pulled up staples), This fixture needed to be put up (done- thanks Dad) bathroom tiles need to be finished (my brother pulled up the old ones, new ones coming soon), and a broken window upstairs needs to have the glass replaced. Mom and my older sister painted the doors upstairs and started painting the trim in the South-East bedroom. It's really turned into a family project! Thanks for your help everyone, much love!

Today's Special: Quick Projects.

Today was pretty productive considering how little time I had to be messing around with the house. After staying my first night in my bedroom (as opposed to the living room for the last 2 months) I went to my first class... a difficult feat for this sleeper-inner. Afterwards, I came home for a couple work hours before my second class.

During that two hour span I changed out the light fixture in my bedroom and replaced the lightswitch. The lightswitch was dirty and yellowed, so I replaced it with a nice new white one that looks ten times better with the crisp white trim and coverplates. The fixture that was hanging in the room was pretty small and generic; it looked like this:



I decided that I would prefer something more like this:The old one is still in usable condition so I'll donate it to the ReStore this week. I'm actually pretty excited about that because most of the things I've removed from the house are in such terrible condition that nobody could use them.
This little quick task also had one bonus; I know which breaker turns off the second floor now! It only took about four tries, but I got it! Is it weird that the whole second floor is on one breaker? I guess I don't know too much about electrical systems, but I think that's kind of unusual.

After my second class, but before my dinner engagement at 5:30pm I removed the thick plastic covering the exterior of a couple windows. This was found on the north window in the dining room, the window on the stairway landing, and the little window to the right of the fireplace. I'm sure the reason it was on the windows was because the storm windows leak cold air like crazy in the winter, so I removed them so I can re-glaze and repaint them before it gets too cold out.

I'm gunna bust out the 'flame thrower' tomorrow and take 'em down to bare wood and pull out the old glazing compound so I can redo the glazing after work tomorrow night. That's of course if I can hold off on firing up that heat gun that I love! Here are the two from the fireplace wall. When finished they'll be the new trim color, so I couldn't just do the bad one, they wouldn't match and I'd freak out. Anyhoo, here they are (can you spot the rot?):
THEN, after I finished supper I came back and installed a storm window I salvaged off a demolished house onto the window on the landing. I finished that before my 7:00 meeting! Woo hoo! Now you can actually see out of the window, whereas before the plastic was so thick all you could see was a blur. You can kind of make out the stained glass landing window of the neighboring house/apartment conversion. (which should be restored... another story altogether)Upon further thought, I think I might just start stripping paint tonight. Is it weird that I love it so much? I'm such a loser!

Let There Be Light!

I continued my streak of unproductivity yesterday and most of today, but finally broke it with what should have been a 20 minute fix. Why do I always assume that anything I do will take just as long in this house as it would in new construction? You'd think I would have learned by now.



As it turns out, it took about twice as long as I thought it would. After expanding the living room out I decided that I needed to upgrade the light fixture to one with more bulbs. I bought a three bulb, brushed nickel fixture some time last week and finally got around to hanging it up. I know that it isn't a 'historically correct' light fixture, but I think that buyers will like the brushed nickel look when I go to sell in a couple years. I also like the cleaner look it gives vs. brass.



Here are the before and after shots of the light.






...and this is the reason it took longer than I'd imagined. At some time in the house's past, somebody drywalled over the plaster ceiling in the living room. They didn't bother to cut the hole for the light fixture big enough, so there's problem one. Problem 2? Well, there are a lot of old wires going on in that box! It was hard to be able to push them around so I could hang the new fixture. Try sending screws up into that mess and still holding onto some form of confidence in what you're doing!





As I started connecting the wires I glanced down at the entry table at the copy of my insurance policy I had received earlier in the day. Covered for fire? Check. Let's hope it works. Flipped the breaker back on, said a short prayer, and BAM! We have light! 3 bulbs! As I sit here at 11pm typing it is still bright enough in the room, unlike the light from the old, single-bulb fixture.



The only problem with it is that there is a small dent on the fixture above where the glass is. That would be from when it, as well as all of the tools and hardware, fell from the top of the ladder. Whoops! Luckily I didn't have the glass with me at that point!



It's only small progress, but I'm happy about it. It sounds like Dad's coming up again this weekend to finish drywalling upstairs so I can get the taping done and my roommate can move into his room. That's going to be such a great feeling for me. I really don't care if I sleep in the living room for a month, just as long as my roommates are comfortable.