Potential New Digs - House Crashing the Upper Level

The timeline for making a decision on this potential new abode has been moved back to Saturday, hopefully to give us time to work out all the kinks in the stucco and crawlspace repairs.

We are also going to go ahead and get us a home warranty for the major systems and appliances, which buys us a year before we have to think seriously about replacing the HVAC - we've been looking around at pricing, it can be pretty hefty.

That being said it's time for a tour of the upstairs lair of our potential new digs. (I think I might have some of the plan slightly off, like the 4th bed might be next to 2 not 3 - give me a break I was only here once for 30 mins max)

We have 2 ways to get up here - either via the back stairs from the Great Room, or up the more traditional front stairs off the foyer.

There are 4 bedrooms and a bonus room along with 2 full baths.

2nd Bedroom - Already a nice neutral grey, we might spice it up with some fabrics and accents.  The room is pretty spacious, with a good size walk-in closet if I remember correctly.

Plans: This one will likely be Celeste's Room.  Maybe change out the fixture (I have a feeling Celeste has inherited my disdain for ceiling fans in bedrooms).  Paint the closet a fun color, add some stenciling for interest?

3rd Bedroom - Light and Bright, also with a good sized walk in closet.

Plans: Might be the new nursery for Puffling, we will likely do something similar to the last nursery since we enjoyed it so much (wide tone on tone stripes) or maybe something more fun with pattern.  Certainly paint though, that yellow isn't doing it for me.  Paint the closet a fun color, switch out light fixture.

4th Bedroom - The other option for the new nursery.  It's a bit darker as it's at the back of the house, so maybe a better option.  It's the smallest of the 5 bedrooms, however still more than sufficient in size.

Plans: Maybe switch out the light fixture

Bonus Room -  (not pictured) a HUGE room with dormers!  And so much potential!

Plans:  Use as an upstairs playspace, or a sleep-over bunk room?  Or install some bookshelves and a holodeck?  

 The Master - large, however not a complete waste of space for our lifestyle (we've seen some tremendous bedrooms in the last few months).  I love the trey ceiling and the moldings - it just gives it an added level of sophistication.

Plans: Paint almost immediately - this reminds me of the vampire paint from our last home.  We will also need to replace and raise the ceiling fan to fit with our bed.  And replace that swag thing around the windows.

The Ensuite - Some updates have been already completed by the current owners - and while not completely to our taste - we can live with the updates and continue to work around them.  There is a tiled shower, a sunken tub and 2 vanities.

Plans: Paint, frame out mirrors, replace vanities, update lighting.

I'm getting lots of ideas for all the cool stuff we can do with this house!  And I don't even have pictures of the basement!  There is a workshop, a media room, a full bath and a large open room down there...this house just goes on and on.

Potential New Digs - House Crashing the Main Level

When last we left you, we had offered on House #5.

The inspection came through, and had some issues.  We are working through them with the current owners and hopefully we can come to an agreement by the 10th (the end of our due diligence period).

Some of the issues we were most concerned about were: the condition of the stucco exterior, some moisture present behind this stucco, the condition and age of the HVAC system and ducting, and some considerable issues with the crawlspace that need to be addressed asap.  

And some pest problems (rodents, bugs).

That aside, let's house crash our potential new digs.  (No outside pics for the short term since it ain't ours and we don't want to invade privacy of the current owners).

So firstly, it's GINORMOUS.  Like wow, look at that main floor and all the rooms!  How the heck am I going to keep all that clean??

It's certainly a traditional layout - I like bits of open plan, but clutter doesn't co-exist with open plan, and both Craig and I really prefer how trads work with our lifestyle and family (close the door to the room full of junk and toys).

Bonus:  Downstairs Bedroom for Mom and Dad!  And a full bathroom on the main floor too. Saa-weet.

Bonus #2: BACK STAIRS!  EEeeeeeeEEeeee

The Foyer - light, bright, not too big that you feel like it's a waste of space.  The floors are in beautiful condition.  The paint color in here is a taupey grey that I quite enjoy so we don't have to worry about painting this in the short term.

Plans: Buy a bench or antique halltree?  Look for a larger entry rug.  Eventually stain the bannister and stair molding a darker, richer shade.

The Living/Office - This is a really good size room, the current owners have a full furniture suite in here and it still feels spacious.  The super tall baseboard moldings are my jam too.

Plans:  Paint a cooler tone, likely some shade of blue or grey, switch out the draperies, install wall-to-wall bookcases for a library feel, build a custom desk

The Dining - Quite spacious (that's the theme of the day I think), though a little ho-hum at the moment.  Great moldings and light fixture is OK for the present.

Plans - go dramatic with a dark paint color on top (graphite? blackboard paint?) or stencil a neat graphic and paint out bottom trim in bright white or charcoal? 

The Kitchen & Breakfast Nook - Although not exactly our taste, this kitchen is pretty good for us and could serve our needs for the next few years while we save up for a re-do.  The cabinets are plentiful and the appliances all look newer and in good shape.  The counter has been recently switched out to granite.  Its has a good work triangle too and a gas cooktop (bonus).  We've been pretty spoiled in the kitchen department, but I think we can certainly work with this.

Plans - detexture the ceiling, remove older trash compactor with open storage, restain cabinets (short term), eventually replace or reface lowers upgrade uppers to 36" tall, change out granite and backsplash.

Or maybe paint the cabinets out in a lighter tone to brighten up this room and call it a day?

Like so:

The Playroom & Sunroom - These are totally unexpected BONUS spaces for us.  I honestly have no earthly clue what we might do with them yet.  But the playroom leads into the sunroom, which leads into the Great Room so I'm sure Celeste already has plans for how she wants to use the space.  We could potentially see her playing from both the kitchen and the great room.

Plans: Do a happy dance

The Great Room - HUGE.  And Vaulted.  And pretty judge's paneling everywhere.  Which is very pretty, but oh.so.DARK.  I have a few reference pictures that I think I might like to try, I'll just have to work myself (and my husband) up to painting over such beautiful wood.  The great room is at the back of the house, and the back stairs lead out/up here.  Overall I really love this room.  We might need more furniture to fill it up in fact.  :) And I think there might be hardwood beneath the carpet.

Plans - live with it for short term to see just how dark it is, MAYBE paint the paneling, MAYBE whitewash the brick.  Stain the mantle darker, new draperies.

The Outside (Rear-style) - 2 tier deck that isn't hanging out over a mountain!  The upper deck is maybe 6 feet off the ground.  Not a lot (read: any) grass back here, just leaves and more leaves.  There are quite a few trees, some of which may need to be looked at - but the backyard is fairly flat.
Plans: Think about sodding the yard, maybe get a playset for the kiddos?

That's a lot of pictures and only the first floor!!!

Up next: the upper level and a decision on whether this is our new home.

Final House Tour

We say goodbye to our first Atlanta house - you treated us well - you shared in our memories.

The final house tour:

The Foyer

What We Did: Painted the walls, sprayed the hardware, switched out the hinges, changed the light fixture, re-stained the railing, freshened all the trim.

The Office

What We Did: Sprayed the hardware, freshened all the trim.

The Dining Room

What We Did: Made curtains, added new curtain rod, switched out light fixture.

The Living Room

What We Did: Made curtains, added new curtain rod, painted manhattan mist, freshened trim, created gallery wall, sprayed hardware, switched out hinges.

The Kitchen

What We Did: Made valences, painted ocean pearl, added brackets to island, switched island light, switched nook light, replaced dishwasher, added menu chalkboard, painted ceiling.

The Nursery

What We Did: Made curtains, painted neutral stripes, created whale/puffin art, replaced light.

The Big Girl Room

What We Did: Painted manhattan mist, changed light fixture.

The Guest Room

What We Did: Painted

The Hall Bath

What We Did: Painted ocean pearl, painted cabinets squirrel, changed toilet to low flow/duel flush, installed marble floors, installed fixed shower curtain

The Master Bedroom

What We Did: Nadda - just never quite got around to anything in here.

The Ensuite

What We Did: Everything?  Changed cabinets, installed marble floors, installed beadboard and chair rail, retiled tub surround, new shower top to bottom, replaced faucets and vanity lighting, painted (twice) with baked brie.

The Basement

What We Did: Nadda - just never quite got around to anything in here.

The Exterior/Backyard

What We Did: Painted the house, stained the deck, new landscaping

The NeverEnding Story Pt. 3

When we decided to sell, it was a pretty quick decision.

We knew we eventually would have to move because of my new commute time (yahhh Atlanta traffic), but things were going well - I was working from home a lot and had an awesomely flexible schedule.  It wasn't so bad.

Then the market went BOOM.  Real Estate has recovered on the north side of the perimeter (for locals North OTP; for non-locals the Northern Suburbs outside Atlanta Metro).

Things were selling QUICK.  We saw prices in our neighborhood going up and up and up.  So we said, 'why not?'.

We fixed up some of those 90% projects - and then listed.

3 showings later we had our first offer, which we countered and then agreed upon.

Our house was sold (barring a few obstacles after the fact we worked through) with almost 17.5% appreciation in 3 years.  Pretty awesome right?

Our outside listing picture:

It looks a touch purple in the saturation, but apparently it didn't make a difference.  We had 12 showings in 3 days before we went officially under contract.  

Then came the hard part - finding a new house.   Under a time crunch - the purchasers of our current house wanted to move in ASAP - by the end of June.

Some of the houses we looked at (actual viewings are about triple - around 33 houses).

(Not numbered as above - those are just some of the houses we've viewed)

We offered on House #1 - While a great option it failed out on inspection - huge issues with the foundation, erosion and structural soundness.

We offered on House #2 - And withdrew because of multiple offers and a bidding war.

We offered on House #3 - and withdrew because of multiple offers and a bidding war.

We offered on House #4 (viewed on the same day as House #3) - Accepted and failed upon inspection - again issues with the foundation, moisture damage on 90% of the siding

All that and House #4's negotiations all occurred while we were out of the country - coordinating inspections and countering fix requests on limited data plans.

And so the deadline to find something passed.  We said 'f&#k it' and acquiesced to living in an apartment short term.  We had 15 days after we got back from Canada to pack up EVERYTHING and get it done.  

Two words:  We procrastinate.

I made a plan, a list, a schedule of what to pack when - we were good about it for like 3 days then sank into old habits.  I had 2 business trips in that 15 day period.  Needless to say there was a final flurry of packing on moving day.  We made it - barely.

The weekend following our move into the apartment we started up our search again.

And found House #5.  That we opened negotiations on because it ticked almost every damn box of 'need-to-have' and 'nice-to-have' in our price range.  It wasn't perfect - but it was pretty close.  Only the owners were not interested in negotiating.  And that was that.

So we thought about it - and we brought our offer up to ALMOST list.  We are now under contract with them.

Next up - the inspection.  We are crossing our fingers and toes and tongues.

The wonderful things about House #5:

- 5 Bedrooms and a Huge upstairs Bonus Room

- A Finished Basement (without a drop ceiling)

- an upgraded kitchen (while not completely our style, it's still pretty nice)

- a main floor bedroom and full bathroom

- newer appliances

- back stairs (I'm weird)

- a downstairs playroom

- large living room

-formal living room (we will use for library/office)

- main floor garage

- good size secondary bedrooms

- hardwoods on main level

- main floor laundry

- so much space I'm kind of a little scared of being able to keep it all clean

Island Life

So you remember back when I had a few issues with installing those brackets on the island?

Well - we have won the second battle.

See how the granite just sort of hangs in the air.  It was awkward.

And now it's SO much better!  The stain perfectly matches our cabinets.  It's like they belong!

Our 'must have' mist was pretty small.  A clamp and liquid nails for Home Depot.  Brackets were already on hand - however you can ALSO find these at THD in the molding section - usually at the bottom of one of the molding displays.

Apply Liquid Nails liberally.  This version specifically said you could use it to join wood to stone.

Clamp overnight.

So the clamp job wasn't perfect (see that gap at the top).  But unless you are squating down next to the island you can't tell.

Much better.  Happy Happy Joy Joy.