The House on Quality Hill
Sounds like a pleasant family sitcom, doesn't it? Maybe even a terrible horror movie, but we will opt for the former.
Who'd have thought that we would buy a house on a street with my name on the street sign. Our new place is on Quality Hill Road - I would have to agree with the street sign: I am quite the quality Hill. Kidding. We bought a house that was built in 1977 and it has not been updated since it was built, with the exception of a few minor updates: ENTER SCHWANBECKS.
We walked into this fixer-upper with a plan to renovate and be finished with most of it (besides kitchen and bathroom renovations) before the Schwanbean arrives in June. It has been a slow road so far. We closed December 14th, started demo December 17th, and moved in December 20th.
Phase One of the Renovation:
Remove all of the carpet
Scrape the popcorn texture off all of the ceilings
Clean out all of the previous owner's junk
We managed to get through Phase One relatively quickly, but it wasn't without difficulties. Phase One was (hopefully) the messiest, dustiest phase of the renovation. We have a silt-like white dust that continues to settle all over everything. We are dusting constantly and are so glad we don't have new furniture because our sofas are covered in white kitty prints.
We are still sleeping in the dining room, which is the only room with window coverings, and we are still living on concrete floors (no, not the nice, finished kind - more like the dusty, dirty kind that requires sweep, vacuum and mop multiple times a week). Concrete floors in North Texas during the winter = cold toes.
Now we are on to...
Phase Two of the Renovation:
Paint each bedroom (walls and trim)
Put up window coverings - there were none
There is not a lot on the list for this phase, but goodness gracious, it takes forever. We are having to patch walls and fix things that the previous owners rectified with strapping tape - yes, there is strapping tape all over everything in this house. Hopefully, we will finish the master bedroom soon so that we can move our furniture in and start sleeping in a room with a door! I would also prefer to have an office. I was working on top of a TV tray until I had had enough and pulled my desk in from the garage, Imagine this pregnant lady trying to drag a desk inside by herself. Ha. It's not a heavy desk, just bulky, so I had to take little shuffle steps after long periods of rest. I made it though and now I have a desk and desk chair to sit at during the day - what a concept! I am still out in the open, so I must make do with all of the construction noises (air compressor compressing air while I am on the phone with clients, miter saws trimming crown pieces, my husband's lovely music selection while he paints each room).
Again, this is a long road to renovation, but we are making due. ... ready for Phase 3, which is where we will get FLOORING!
Who'd have thought that we would buy a house on a street with my name on the street sign. Our new place is on Quality Hill Road - I would have to agree with the street sign: I am quite the quality Hill. Kidding. We bought a house that was built in 1977 and it has not been updated since it was built, with the exception of a few minor updates: ENTER SCHWANBECKS.
We walked into this fixer-upper with a plan to renovate and be finished with most of it (besides kitchen and bathroom renovations) before the Schwanbean arrives in June. It has been a slow road so far. We closed December 14th, started demo December 17th, and moved in December 20th.
Phase One of the Renovation:
Remove all of the carpet
Scrape the popcorn texture off all of the ceilings
Clean out all of the previous owner's junk
We managed to get through Phase One relatively quickly, but it wasn't without difficulties. Phase One was (hopefully) the messiest, dustiest phase of the renovation. We have a silt-like white dust that continues to settle all over everything. We are dusting constantly and are so glad we don't have new furniture because our sofas are covered in white kitty prints.
We are still sleeping in the dining room, which is the only room with window coverings, and we are still living on concrete floors (no, not the nice, finished kind - more like the dusty, dirty kind that requires sweep, vacuum and mop multiple times a week). Concrete floors in North Texas during the winter = cold toes.
Now we are on to...
Phase Two of the Renovation:
Paint each bedroom (walls and trim)
Put up window coverings - there were none
There is not a lot on the list for this phase, but goodness gracious, it takes forever. We are having to patch walls and fix things that the previous owners rectified with strapping tape - yes, there is strapping tape all over everything in this house. Hopefully, we will finish the master bedroom soon so that we can move our furniture in and start sleeping in a room with a door! I would also prefer to have an office. I was working on top of a TV tray until I had had enough and pulled my desk in from the garage, Imagine this pregnant lady trying to drag a desk inside by herself. Ha. It's not a heavy desk, just bulky, so I had to take little shuffle steps after long periods of rest. I made it though and now I have a desk and desk chair to sit at during the day - what a concept! I am still out in the open, so I must make do with all of the construction noises (air compressor compressing air while I am on the phone with clients, miter saws trimming crown pieces, my husband's lovely music selection while he paints each room).
Again, this is a long road to renovation, but we are making due. ... ready for Phase 3, which is where we will get FLOORING!
