The Home Renovation | Week O N E

As I mentioned in these posts we have been on the house hunt for awhile and finally, the day before my birthday this past August, we found a house that we actually wanted to live in!!

HOORAY

Well... the process of buying it has been long and arduous but I can finally say we own the house! It is ours. The long journey of house-hunting is over. 

Now starts the journey of fixing it! :) 

We knew from the beginning we wanted a couple of things in our new home:

1) Central location. This was important to us. We were used to living in Hershey. Greg's job is in Hershey. We like Hershey. 

2) Small. We didn't want anything too big for a number of reasons: cleaning, furnishing, cost-of-living, etc. Also I'm staying home which translates to I'm not working so we knew small was gonna be where it was at. Especially since location was our #1. 

3) Ranch. Both of us have always liked the idea of one-floor living. There is something simple and quaint about it. I liked the idea that we could, if we so choose, stay in it until we are old and gray and can't use stairs anymore. 

4) A fixer-upper with potential. Greg is pretty handy and I'm pretty particular. So we wanted something we could make our own. So we were on the look out for houses that were priced a little lower due to condition so that we could step in and make it nice again. 

So that was kind of the wish-list that we were working with. We settled on a 1300 square foot, 3 bedroom, ranch in Hershey! 

Lucy and Daddy in the front yard. 

hashtag thatfrontdoortho

It hit all of that criteria and then some! Pluses included: a big basement already 1/2 finished, a flat yard, a great neighborhood, a flat drive way, a good-sized kitchen, a fire place and the possibility to expand should we someday want to. 

So on September 14th the house was ours. 
And the projects began! 

The list of projects that we have in this house is long, but we are excited. 
So we of course wanted to get started right away so move-in day would be sooner than later!

"Hey Girl, my parents just bought a new house. Get over here and party! And check out my sweet, new phone"

Gotta say it though: Week one is probably not going to go down as our most productive week. Even though Greg and I were there every night. Those first few nights we would just stand staring at each other then look around then stare at each other all like:

"Where do we start?"

That year of talking about our plans had come to fruition. Now we needed to ACT. We just weren't sure quite how to start that! 

Greg got himself motivated and started on a number of projects around the house and got a good amount done!

And me? I decided to COOK!

That's right, an entire house of projects and I went back to the Moad's and cooked. 

It was something I knew I could do. So I made up a week's worth of meals to leave at the Hershey house because after 2 nights in a row of take-out I knew at that rate we were gonna spend our reno budget on Chinese! 

Once we had a good stash of food it was time for a new project one that actually got us closer to moving in.

Friday of this week my mom came and she and I started the monstrous task of ripping down layers upon layers upon layers of wall paper. 

This was no small project and after an entire day of working we really only finished 2 rooms!

I can finish this in a weekend. 
 I said
How hard can it be?
 I scoffed.
It's therapeutic
 I was told

Wrong. 
Lies. 
DECEIT. 

The removal of wall paper really makes a house look like a scene from a horror film.
It's scary, ya'll. 

I do not care how many times HGTV suggests wall paper. I don't care if people say "it's coming back!" I don't care if some designer tells me that wall paper is exactly what my home needs to make it look great. 

I will NEVER EVER put wall paper in my home. 

(I'll post on some distant day about the in's and out's of this wall-paper project!)

So, while the wallpaper was my goal, Greg put his focus on bigger things. 
Namely: removing that oil tank!

Thankful for the help of a friend 'cause apparently that thing was huge. 

At the end of this first week it feels like we barely did anything, when in reality we did a decent amount. It's just that those things are a mere drop in the bucket in the scheme of things.

That's discouraging. 
And a little defeating.
But I will not lose heart!
Because this is our home and this is what we worked all year for!

My Man! All the heart-eyes emoji's for this guy!

All in all I am just emotionally overwhelmed with it all. 
It's surreal. Feels like it can't really be happening.
Like the other day... a few of the neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves while we were outside and I just fell in love. I fell in love with them, with the street, with the neighborhood, with everything. I told Greg it all seems too good to be true. 

Do we really have a house after a year of looking and saving?
Do we really have this adorable neighborhood for Lucy to grow up in?
Is it really true that this is ours!?

It's small, it's simple, it's nothing fancy but it's ours, ya'll. 
Every wallpapered, mothball-smelling corner is ours. 

My heart just swells with gratitude!
And my head spins with projects!

Don't worry. I'll keep you posted on the process - the good, the bad and the ugly! 

Anyone in need of a sunbeam door? We got one you can have! Anyone??