All Moved In...So Let the Renovations Begin

We completely moved into the new home last week and it's been so busy around here. We are in love with this new house.  The new house was built in the 1930s by a local architect who designed quite a few of the buildings downtown.  The house has so much charm, so we are doing our best to maintain the vintage feel where its possible.

Oh but ladies, the biggest shocker was two hours after closing, I'm at the new house (with my wonderful in-laws who came in town to help us move) cleaning and getting things put away.  The inspector had mentioned that the jacuzzi tub had some brownish water when he ran it from where the water had sat in the pipes. So, we took some bleach, mixed it into the water, and ran the tub for a while.  After it had thoroughly cleaned, we drained the tub. I walked downstairs to put something away, and at the bottom of steps I see the bleach water running down my chandelier, down the walls, and the canned light fixtures in my eat-in kitchen (breakfast room). I panicked. Luckily, we plugged the tub and got buckets quickly enough that no damage was done to the oriental rug or table in the room.  The light fixtures all dried out, and the plaster ceiling has been repaired.  The drain on the tub had apparently dry-rotted and has also been replaced.  

Also, the desk didn't fit through the door frame to the office by less than a half-inch, even when it was taken apart.  I was beyond sick when I walked in and my darling husband was literally chiseling the 1930s crown-moulding off around the door. He completely ripped out the door jam, so the poor door frame was gone through major restoration over the week.  But, we got the desk into the office so apparently that's all that matters.

I've found a great handyman (who has a great painting crew) that can fix pretty much everything we've thrown at him thus far (everything--the plumbing, the door frame, the plaster repair, interior/exterior painting). Seriously, there is no question that he's become my new best friend.  Our wallet is probably needing a break, but I'm in love with all the updates thus far. 

I'll give you an itemized list of each thing we've had done to the house, and I'll try to post pictures of each room's before and after eventually (let's just say we can all agree that if I fail the bar, it won't be for over-blogging, sorry guys). 

• Removed all wallpaper upstairs 
• Repainted all trim, windows, doors, walls, and ceilings in the hallways, bathrooms, kitchen, breakfast room, and living room (they're still working on doing second coats to all the trim)
• Refinished (er...refinishing as we are still in the process) the kitchen cabinets and the built-ins in the living room and breakfast room
• bought new pulls for the drawers (and have narrowed down the selection for cabinet knobs).
• Repaired all damage to the plaster behind the wallpaper and from the tub leak and sanded, filled, and restored the door jam in the office
• Sanded and repainted all exterior trim (and touch up of brick when it was needed).
• Most importantly--removing every inch of mauve in the house (unfortunately, we still have navy to do at a later point).  

Ahh, house decorating/fixing up is so much more interesting than the Bar exam.