Saturday, October 8, 2011

We're Homeowners!

by Erin

Laura and Leslie have been really holding down the fort here at The Test Nest for the past couple of months, and they have been very understanding of the back to school craziness and dantaladaaaaa! Max and I bought a house!


Here it is!  Isn't that front porch grand.  Max and I thought this day may never come, but after diligent looking and learning what being patient really meant, we found a house that we love, and that we can really make our own.

So this means many home DYI projects are to come on The Test Nest.  After all we've got to figure out how to deal with this:

gross 80's wallpaper
We have resolved to tear off a chunk of wall paper every time we use the bathroom.  Hideous.  Btw, if anybody has any good wallpaper removal techniques, please leave a comment.  As you can see, we're going to need them.  We've also got to work on this delicate pattern:

Kitchen wall paper



 If you look closely you can see a sweet painting of a birdhouse on our back porch (insert sarcasm here).  You can also see the beautiful stain glass that we have over the door to the back porch.  I think it is going to look great in the morning, with the sun streaming in.

Anyway, enough about the, shall we say interesting, because there is so much to love about this place.  We don't have any pictures without the previous owner's furniture, which didn't do much for it, but those will be forthcoming.  After closing yesterday, Max and I got straight to work on pulling up carpet.  
Carpet bounty
 We pulled up three bedrooms, the bedroom that was converted to the stair room (we've got to figure out a name for that) and the staircase!  We worked from about 5pm - 8pm.  Not bad, if you ask me.  The floors really vary in condition.  The stairway room was the worst, as they glued the carpet down. 


The back upstairs bedroom was the next level up.  That gross carpet padding is kind of stuck to the wood, but ultimatly the wood is in good shape, we just have to sand those toxins off.  

 This bedroom looks pretty good. 


And the upstairs bedroom looks beautiful.  It is really a shame that there are so many staples in the floors.  Otherwise it is really lovely.


So with a little sanding and some elbow grease, I think these floors are really going to shine.  Fortunately there were no boards that need to be fixed or replaced.  Score!
What I love best about this house is that after a tough day of carpet removal or crazy students, I can take a load off in our pretty back yard!


Stay tuned for more updates on our house progress!  We're off to borrow a floor sander.

3 comments:

  1. Congratufrickinglations!

    After our apartment already blew a fuse this morning, some strange person tried to enter while Nunny was home alone the other day (think crazy old bat rather than villian), my car gets hit in the lot beside our building, etc...I sure am ready for a house.

    So happy for you! It looks awesome! I look forward to seeing your progress.

    --Phillip Quincy Davies

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beck and I became pros at wallpaper removal at our last house. We were able to pull off the top layer of each sheet, then soak the paper and glue underneath with water for a few minutes. After that the rest scrapes right off.

    We did this in about 90% of the house.

    Good luck with yours, the place looks great!

    Your cousin, Brian

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats Max and Erin! Its nice to have something to call your own! Looks like lots of fun! Hot water with vinegar works great at wallpaper removal, or a steamer also makes great progress! Have a grand time with all the projects:)
    Jason Jill and all

    ReplyDelete

Leave us a message! Tell us what you think!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

We're Homeowners!

by Erin

Laura and Leslie have been really holding down the fort here at The Test Nest for the past couple of months, and they have been very understanding of the back to school craziness and dantaladaaaaa! Max and I bought a house!


Here it is!  Isn't that front porch grand.  Max and I thought this day may never come, but after diligent looking and learning what being patient really meant, we found a house that we love, and that we can really make our own.

So this means many home DYI projects are to come on The Test Nest.  After all we've got to figure out how to deal with this:

gross 80's wallpaper
We have resolved to tear off a chunk of wall paper every time we use the bathroom.  Hideous.  Btw, if anybody has any good wallpaper removal techniques, please leave a comment.  As you can see, we're going to need them.  We've also got to work on this delicate pattern:

Kitchen wall paper



 If you look closely you can see a sweet painting of a birdhouse on our back porch (insert sarcasm here).  You can also see the beautiful stain glass that we have over the door to the back porch.  I think it is going to look great in the morning, with the sun streaming in.

Anyway, enough about the, shall we say interesting, because there is so much to love about this place.  We don't have any pictures without the previous owner's furniture, which didn't do much for it, but those will be forthcoming.  After closing yesterday, Max and I got straight to work on pulling up carpet.  
Carpet bounty
 We pulled up three bedrooms, the bedroom that was converted to the stair room (we've got to figure out a name for that) and the staircase!  We worked from about 5pm - 8pm.  Not bad, if you ask me.  The floors really vary in condition.  The stairway room was the worst, as they glued the carpet down. 


The back upstairs bedroom was the next level up.  That gross carpet padding is kind of stuck to the wood, but ultimatly the wood is in good shape, we just have to sand those toxins off.  

 This bedroom looks pretty good. 


And the upstairs bedroom looks beautiful.  It is really a shame that there are so many staples in the floors.  Otherwise it is really lovely.


So with a little sanding and some elbow grease, I think these floors are really going to shine.  Fortunately there were no boards that need to be fixed or replaced.  Score!
What I love best about this house is that after a tough day of carpet removal or crazy students, I can take a load off in our pretty back yard!


Stay tuned for more updates on our house progress!  We're off to borrow a floor sander.

3 comments:

  1. Congratufrickinglations!

    After our apartment already blew a fuse this morning, some strange person tried to enter while Nunny was home alone the other day (think crazy old bat rather than villian), my car gets hit in the lot beside our building, etc...I sure am ready for a house.

    So happy for you! It looks awesome! I look forward to seeing your progress.

    --Phillip Quincy Davies

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beck and I became pros at wallpaper removal at our last house. We were able to pull off the top layer of each sheet, then soak the paper and glue underneath with water for a few minutes. After that the rest scrapes right off.

    We did this in about 90% of the house.

    Good luck with yours, the place looks great!

    Your cousin, Brian

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats Max and Erin! Its nice to have something to call your own! Looks like lots of fun! Hot water with vinegar works great at wallpaper removal, or a steamer also makes great progress! Have a grand time with all the projects:)
    Jason Jill and all

    ReplyDelete

Leave us a message! Tell us what you think!