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!

Whose House is THIS?

Mom emailed me more photos today. I was floored. Shocked. Stunned. My jaw literally dropped. Did she break into someone else's place and snap some photos? I wasn't prepared for the sight of completed projects. One word: KITCHEN!!! I'm going to do before and afters of the pictures so those of you joining in late (or who need a refresher) can see the extent of the changes. I'm still blown away.

The Realtor wasn't able to come today because she had to show 20 houses to someone from out of town. Yes, in one day. I gave her my sympathies. Mom didn't want to start painting in case she came, as there would be a big mess, so she and my sisters spent much of the day cleaning. I'm still not sure how she got the wood floors to look that good. They looked like garbage while I was there, but that most likely has more to do with my cleaning deficiencies. I think Mom said the Realtor will be coming tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be hearing back soon.

Mom mentioned in the end of her email, "It is going to be hard to see the house get sold...... I have become attached to it!" I didn't even need to read that because as soon as I saw that there were curtains hanging in the kitchen I knew. The house is similar in style and layout to Dad and Mom's first house after they got married. Their house was much cooler though with oak built-ins and it was in much better condition. I know, just get to the pictures, right?

The upstairs bathroom really just needed to have a good cleaning and accessories to get it market ready. I don't know where she found it, but that's the perfect shower curtain. Almost makes the stupid blue tiles look like they should be there!

Before:
After:Upstairs Hall: New paint, new wall on the West side with replacement doors and trim.

Before:
After:
Saved the best for last for you guys. The kitchen. Who wouldn't want this kitchen now? New appliances, new paint, new hardware, new faucet, new flooring. New curtains!?! (Mom's officially attached now!)

Before:
After:
It's so amazing. I wish I could just get the house picked up and dropped in Manhattan! I'm very excited for my next talk with my Realtor just to hear what she says. I think a listing isn't too far off! Again, hopefully up a few k's from her earlier estimate... still dreaming right?

Update Up North

Mom sent me some photos the other day of her progress painting in the house. She's been working on the upstairs hallway and, might I add, doing a fantastic job. The trim received a fresh coat of crisp white paint and the walls are now enjoying a seller-friendly khaki that extends up from the living room. She said that Dad's finishing up a little plaster work on the ceiling so that will get a coat of white in a little while. The white for the doors were on her agenda for today.

I thought, instead of just showing the most recent photos of the hallway, I would take us back to last summer. Wait! I've almost had this place a year now! That is so weird to think about.

At any rate, the West side of the hallway: a fairly big transformation I'd say.

before:framing in the wall between the bedroom and the hallway:
a little drywall:
doors and trim:and finally paint!Looks like that wall's been there for 80 years doesn't it?

Now the East side. All we really needed here was to take off the door to the stairway and paint.

before:
and after:
I hope you noticed in that last set of photos how the stairwell went from 70's paneling to plaster.

This was kind of fun to see. I might have to post some other progression photos from other projects.

I called my Realtor this morning and she is going to swing by the house this afternoon and take a look around. I really trust her judgment and I know she'll give it to me straight. She'll let me know what needs to be done still and what isn't worth the work for the sale. Last time she was in the house was back in the tail-end of April so I'm pretty sure that she will be shocked to see how it looks now. I can't wait to hear what she thinks and I'm even more excited to get the house on the market. Maybe it will even be looking better than she thought and we can bump up that listing price a little. Hey, a broke New Yorker can dream, can't he?

I'm Back!

Has it really been that long since my last post? Wow, sorry!

A lot has taken place since the last posting, so hold onto your hats ladies and gentlemen!

First of all, I finished my project in studio (sorry, no pictures yet) and had a fairly good critique at my presentation. That was the largest hurdle; kinda took precedence over house projects.

My roommate and I took all of the tools in the house and placed them on shelves in the basement. It is so nice to not trip over tools right and left upstairs, and it's also nice to be able to see all of the tools in one place. Nice and (kinda) organized.

I finished paining the trim in the NE bedroom and I got the closet painted as well. Mom came up to Fargo on Friday with my twin sisters and painted the ceiling in that bedroom, the NW bedroom, and the first floor bathroom.

With the ceiling painted the NE bedroom is finally ready to be occupied. FINALLY! I just finished mopping the floor, and after I'm done with this post I'm going to begin moving in furniture. It'll be amazing. Here's another recap of the progression:

Do you like how I just painted out where the missing window trim is? You can barely even tell that the woodwork was notched out. I'll replace it sometime, but until then this works pretty well.

This weekend was amazing, although I was not in Fargo for most of it. I drove down to Minneapolis for the NDSU Bison/U of M Gopher football game. Wow. Of course, NDSU prevailed and we celebrated that night out on the town. We also stopped in at the U of M's Sigma Nu chapter to hang out with some of the members there. Their house was built in 1930 and has some really cool architecture. Very different from our big boring box Sigma Nu at NDSU! This morning before I drove back up to Fargo I drove down some streets with old historic houses and just admired how cool some of them are, and how cool it would be to fix up some of them. I'll have to get one after college when I move down there, if I haven't burned myself out on rehabbing!

Closing & Floor Plans

Closing has been set! Wednesday at 4pm. Done deal.

I did a little floor plan to help illustrate the work I'll be starting this week.

The red represents walls and doors that are being removed, and the green is where doors and walls are being added. If you were confused about some of the picture angles, go ahead and cross reference them with the plans. Hopefully that helps get a feeling for the layout of the house. Good thing I have all of this architecture software!

T-minus 2 days! Hold on to your hats!