Home Improvement

We FINALLY did it! I still can't believe it. Charlie and I are now the proud owners of a cute little house in the Cape St. Claire area of Annapolis, Maryland.  Just a short walk to our neighborhood beach on the Chesapeake Bay, it's all for the low low price of a 30 year mortgage.

We are really very excited in between the moments of being overwhelmed by our cute little foreclosure.  We got it knowing it needed work.  It seemed to be the perfect amount of work for the price and our skill set (or, our collective parental skill set that we both wished we had taken advantage of learning a little bit better before leaving the Lone Star State).  So far our assumptions have proven to be true with only a couple of exceptions.  We're having issues with our hot water heater (it's not producing hot water).  And the electric system installed by the jack of all trades who owned the place before us leaves you guessing whether you're turning on the dishwasher or the living room lights (or both on the same circuit... stranger things have happened).

On the upside, after signing our life away with a stack of triplicates that probably took down an entire forest, we have gotten a great amount of work done. After a year or so on the market, there was a a year or so of grime to scrub off of every surface.  I swear these houses would sell so much faster if the realtors would spend some money to get a cleaning service in there.  It smells better, it's shinier, it's more homey.  And then we brought in the furniture!

We agreed that it didn't seem real until the furniture got in the front door.  It was actually relieving that our couch didn't dwarf our uniquely-shaped living room.  I took measurements early on and put our floorplan in CAD, but I will freely admit I was stumped by this living room.  Once I get it up to photographic standards, everyone will be able to see the oddity that is the plan of this house.  Don't worry, that's totally the fun of it!  We are having a blast finding all of the nooks and crannies that are magically perfect for those little pieces I've had since my first apartment in college.  I'm excited to have everything painted and cohesive so everyone can see what we saw in our house; grime, metallic wallpaper and all.  

So, now it's clean and we have furniture.  Before our boxes that are in our storage unit make it in, I'm determined to get everything painted.  Thanks to the help from my mom, the wallpaper is stripped from the kitchen and mostly from the bedroom.  Sunday night I began painting my kitchen cabinets.  I know it seems oddly cosmetic to do this when there are still so many other things we need to get done before moving in completely, but seriously, it will never happen if our stuff gets unpacked first.  Right now I have empty cabinets and drawers and empty countertop space for a workspace.  And soon, I will have my pretty blue cabinets!  The idea is inspired by a home featured in a Wacoan from a couple of months ago.  I'll post pictures when I'm done. I'm very excited about it!

So, after a weekend full of stressing and manual labor, Charlie and I were both exhausted today at work.  We both crashed when we hit home, and now I'm awake at 11:30 with no real sign of wanting to sleep again soon.  Oh well... that just means more blog to read.  Hopefully I'll have updates on the house progress soon! 

Transition

So! I am apparently a very bad blogger. This doesn't surprise me. I was never able to keep a journal when I was younger. I suppose the good news that's been a change since my last/first post is that I am employed! I have been a design assistant at Bennett & Co. since February 2nd, and it has been simply wonderful (side note: have a look at their website, www.bennettcompany.net. They are in the process of a much needed website revamping, but at least you can see some pictures of the store where I work.).

The main thing I've learned about myself since I've been there is that I was pretty sure I didn't want to do residential design when I was in school. But it's been so much fun to see inside all of these amazing waterfront homes in Annapolis and help the clients make a home out of the house that they undoubtedly worked very hard to attain (real estate is astronomical up here, and ESPECIALLY on the water). The one contract project we've done for the Naval Academy was frustrating because of the code limitations. Since we don't do many contract projects, we don't really have a wide selection of product lines to make a contract project amazing. We did pull it off, and quite well I have to say, but only by deciding to treat residential fabrics to pass Cal 117. All of that to say, once we finished proposing the Navy project, I was surprised to discover that I was anxious to get back to our residential projects where we have so much more freedom to design... except when budget is accounted for, but that is a whole other tangent for another day.

This post is called 'Transition', but the job thing is only part of that. As some of you readers may know (if there are in fact any readers at all), we are in the process of buying a house. And, my goodness, has it been a process. We knew it wasn't going to be completely simple because the house is a foreclosure, so we have to deal with a bank. But we had no idea it would take this long or be so arduous. We put in our first offer at the end of January, and after a few weeks of back and forth offers upon counter-offers, we finally settled on a price. From there we thought it would be coasting to the finish, but boy, were we wrong.

Throughout all of these issues, insert a week or two of waiting because the bank is essentially unresponsive.

Issue #1: The blizzards. It basically set this area of the country back two weeks. This alone pushed our closing date back from February 26 to March 9.

Issue #2: They had, surprisingly, taken the care to de-winterize the pipes. For the southerners out there who didn't know what that is (myself included), it involves draining all of the water from the pipes and then putting antifreeze in each drain to prevent the pipes from freezing and breaking. Notice I emphasized ALL - this is because the contractor hired to de-winterize failed to remove ALL of the water, so they might as well have not done it in the first place. A couple of weeks later, the pipes are fixed. Luckily, it was on the bank's dime.

Issue #3: The type of loan we are getting requires that the items that the appraiser does not deem 'move-in-able' must be fixed before closing. This is done, I have learned, to protect the buyer from a hazardous home (just in case we decide to chew on lead paint chips or something...no we don't have lead paint, it's just the common example). However in the foreclosure situation, it's actually hurting us because we have to take care of it. But the catch-22 is that we aren't allowed on the property; it's technically trespassing. So how are we supposed to fix things? No one seems to know. Right now, we're having to sit there, do nothing, and leave it up to the bank.

So. It's almost 10 weeks after our initial offer. It's also two weeks after we had to be out of our townhouse, so we are officially homeless. Like, when someone needs a mailing address, we have to give them my work address. It's weird... but admittedly not as dramatic as I'm making it sound... we are lucky to have good friends who have taken us in. We stayed for a week and a half or so with friends of ours that Charlie met through work, and now we're staying with the senior designer to whom I am an assistant at Bennett & Co.

No offense to our friends, we very much appreciate their taking us in, but this house is pretty flipping awesome. After tripping over each other and our belongings and sleeping on an air mattress for a couple of weeks, this is basically like heaven. We are in a basement suite, complete with kitchen and direct outdoor access. In theory, we could come and go and the family would never have to be bothered. However, they have been so nice and welcoming that it's not a bad thing to spend time upstairs. We just hope we don't get too intrusive. Another awesome thing is their dog. He's a golden doodle, a breed with which I have never interacted before, but he's such a hilarious dog (see photos on Charlie's flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16894633@N06/). The best part is that he and Twix are getting along so well! I can't wait to have our own space again, but this is not a bad way to wait it out.

Well, I have gone on long enough! Now that I've caught up, hopefully I'll keep posting regularly enough that it doesn't have to be such a lengthy venture. But really, we'll see.

Before I forget...

I have a purpose for this blog. And it doesn't have a whole lot to do with my cutesy working title. It is a working title, because I know my process for this blog is going to evolve into something I can't quite grasp yet.

Here is my train of thought...

- I have a degree in interior design.

- I don't have a job as an interior designer.... yet.

- Even though I am not employed as an interior designer, it doesn't mean I can't do what I like to do (that being designing spaces).

- Therefore, I need spaces to design (stay with me, I know it's obvious).

- When most people hear what I do/plan to do with my life, they say "oh, I wish you would come take a look at my house! I just don't know what to do with it."

> Side note: I always assume this is simply a polite response to what I said. And in many cases, it may very well be. However, I am going to change my counter-response to "Great! Here is my card. Can you tell me what you would like to change?" (or something like that; I'm just brain dumping right now)

> Sub side note: I need to make nifty new business cards.

> Second side note: My hesitancy of accepting these people's offers in the past (beyond feeling simply inadequate) is that I don't feel I could be ethically paid for my services as an non-certified designer (feel free to comment on what you think of this). My response is now that any experience I gain is payment enough. Just let me take a before and after picture for my website and we'll call it even.

- So, assuming the last point follows through, I go to these people's houses to help them with their spaces. Most likely, these people don't want to spend much money on their home improvements. That's okay - I just need to start figuring out questions to ask my clients and tricks for small improvements. And that is what this blog is going to be all about! In case you missed it, let me reiterate...

I am going to document my experiences with my friends and family turned clients. What questions got good information and responses and which ones were duds. What small things I did that seemed to vastly (or subtly) improve a space, and what it cost on a $ to $$$$ scale (or something like that).

When I don't have a client in sight, I'm going to use my own place as my personal playground. Since I've been married and had my own space (well, come to think of it, since I had a will to decorate my own room), I've created little projects. Often inspired by things I can't afford or simply know I could do better, it usually involves a stealthy iPhone picture and a trip to Michaels.

Since I have several recent crafty-like projects under my belt, as well as figuring out the layout of my own awkwardly-shaped townhouse, I'll probably first backtrack and cover those just to get a rhythm for my blog down. So, stay tuned for an update soon! And if you know anyone in the greater DC/Annapolis/Baltimore area who needs free design advice, send them my way!