Tag Archives: Closing on a house

Demolition, DIY, Natural Gas, New Beginnings, Wallpaper

…and Let the Renovations Begin!

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OMG it's ours!
OMG it’s ours!

Closing went smoothly -Jason’s mom and brother acted as POA’s for Grandma and came to the signing- and for some bizarre reason I was completely zen all morning beforehand. We all smiled and laughed and said our goodbyes after we were finished at closing but the the moment Jason and I got in the car I broke down in a hot mess of tears. The relief and finality of the closing allowed me to let go and start to feel that little-kid excitement about our new place again.

Once my tears were mostly dried we picked up a bottle of Prosecco and stopped at Chipotle for a to-go lunch and had ourselves a picnic in the loft of the new house. The champagne bottle exploded as we opened it -flying cork slamming into the ceiling and all- and we got champagne all over the carpet. At first we both looked at each other with an “oh shit, Grandma’s going to be so mad!”, and then we both smiled and shrugged because we realized it was now our carpet we were ruining. It’s a good thing we are planning to replace it anyhow.

Our Prosecco and Chipotle carpet picnic in the loft
Our Prosecco and Chipotle carpet picnic in the loft

The last week has been overly busy and we’ve only had a few hours at the new house but so far we’ve moved all of grandma’s remaining belongings into the garage so Jason’s mom can take them to storage, torn into the wall behind the dryer to get at that pesky gas leak (or we found a leak, anyway. It may not be the only one up there), now I just need to find a few pipe wrenches to see if we can just tighten the leak away.  We also bought a little steamer and started removing the wallpaper in Jason’s office and the West kitchen wall. It’s such a tedious task but it’ll be so great to have it gone! The back-splash tiles in the kitchen will also be going away so I started slowly chipping at them too. Demolition… feels good, man.

This weekend was a fairly stressful one between shooting a 12 hour frigid December wedding and getting my 4Runner stuck in a snowy mountain ditch (another story for another time…), so it felt really good for both Jason and I to put on our work clothes, turn up the tunes and start working on our house together.  The stress melted away as we worked and all that’s left of the weekend now is our sore muscles and big smiles.

A few backsplash tiles removed.
A few backsplash tiles removed.
Steaming wallpaper on the kitchen wall. It was adhered to raw drywall so it's coming off a little rougher than we'd hoped.
Steaming the kitchen wallpaper off. It was adhered to raw drywall so it’s coming off a little rougher than we’d hoped. I have a feeling we’ll be getting really good at mudding in the near future. ;)

 

I’m heading back over to the house this morning to continue steaming the wallpaper but I think I might stop by our discount grocery first and pick up a few food items so it feels a bit more like home while I work. I keep brewing coffee every time I go over there in hopes that it will start smelling a little more like home too.

Our cozy cottage blanketed in snow. *swoon*
Our cozy cottage blanketed in snow. *swoon*
New Beginnings, This Fairytale Life

Bright, Bright Sunshinin’ Day

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As an update to “The Trouble With Underwriters“: it turns out we were met with chilled Champagne, not the guillotine :)

The last few weeks have been chockablock full of ToDo’s with not enough time to keep up with my blog, darn it. Now that I have a little time this morning, here’s where my head is at:

This week (and the last month or so) has been one of the best of my life, and I’m reeling from the amount of gratitude I feel for knowing I’ve gotten to experience full, true happiness before I die. My photography career is taking off faster than I could have ever dreamed of, I am surrounded by such amazing friends and family (for this I am MOST grateful for), my darling hubby and I are about to sign on our dream home tomorrow, and a new fresh year full of even more possibilities is about to begin.

I have had this nagging twinge of guilt for how wonderfully things have been going for us while the world at large has been going through a terrible rough spell, but after thinking long and hard about it I realized that all good times are fleeting. Just as I could hit the jackpot on the Powerball tomorrow, I could also lose the love of my life in an auto accident. I’ve come to the conclusion that being over-the-moon-happy when things are going well is not something anyone should ever feel guilt about.

We made our own anniversary holiday ornament this year. A compass, because I found my way this year, and a key for the new house.
We made our own anniversary holiday ornament this year. A compass, because I found my way this year, and a key for the new house.

We all experience good times and bad, and I just so happen to be in an upswing after spending most of my twenties struggling to find a path. The last 6 years were difficult for many reasons – though mostly because I felt so lost and without a compass –  but now, to quote good ol’ Johnny Nash (though, as a child of the Cool Runnings generation I prefer the Jimmy Cliff version. Ha ha!):

I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright, bright sunshinin’ day

Tomorrow we close on Brake Manor at noon. There are no words for how excited I am to take on this new adventure with my hunny.  It’s been months of paperwork and roadblocks but we’ve made it through and everything has worked out for us.

Though it may seem silly, I want to thank all the folks who have helped us get to closing day: Jason’s wonderful family for being so supportive and helpful as we try to make this transition. They knew how much it meant for us to keep grandma’s house in the family and they helped us make it happen.  Thank you to John Polansky of CitiGroup – this man is a rockstar in the world of lenders. Never have I dealt with anyone  as prompt, thorough, diligent and kind as John. For anyone in Northern Colorado needing a home loan, we HIGHLY recommend John ….we’ve used him three times in the last 6 years and he has never disappointed. Tonya Brigham, of CitiGroup Title; this woman tells it like it is and was completely supportive of my mission to buy a house without using a real estate agent. She was so helpful as I learned about the process. Jason, my rock and knight in shining armor who has  been so supportive as I giggled and cried tears of joy one minute but then turned around and worried we were crazy for trying to do this the next. He’s listened to me gush about all the plans I have for the new house, and then hugs me tight when I worry we might fail…. he is, by far, the best husband a girl with big dreams could ever ask for. And a final thank you to all our friends and family who were so encouraging and offered additional shoulders to cry on and ears to bend about this adventure. Rest easy all, there’ll be no more house buying for a long time ;)

That’s all for now, I suppose. Jason and I are going to take tomorrow off so we can go do a little something to celebrate (and to relearn how to breathe easy) after the closing. Champagne and a carpet picnic in the new house? Quite possibly.

Cheers!

Lanna