House

Beautiful Weekend

Marty

Last weekend was a beautiful Spring weekend so we spent a good amount of time outdoors. Carter and I went on a long bike ride which Carter called “The Longest Ride Evvvveeerrrrrr.” It wasn’t that long, but definitely more than he is used to. The ride was much easier with his new geared bike compared to riding his fixed gear kids bike. Afterward, I took Emery on a hike to Knoch Knolls.  The park was busy, but we managed to avoid people and had a good time wandering the trails. Emery was all about running ahead and scoping out all the pretty flowers in bloom. At home, I spent all day Saturday putting up shiplap (still needs paint) in our dining room and Julie got dirty while washing windows on the house, cleaning our driveway of mulch stains, and planting flowers, vegetables, and herbs in our garden.  The house is looking great so it was well worth the time.

 

Spring Break 2020

Marty

Spring break 2020 was quite different than we originally planned. We had plans to go to Florida and hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Stubler, but COVID-19 put the brakes on that idea. Instead, we hung out at home and tried to make the best of this crazy lockdown. We joined in all the great neighborhood activities, like putting stuffed animals in the window and drawing positive phrases on the driveway so kids could get out of their houses for scavenger hunts. It definitely helped get Carter and Emery interested in going around to see what all the houses had. Since we didn’t have much else to do, we spent some time prepping for Easter. The kids got all of Easter baskets out and hid them around the house. Hopefully, the Easter Bunny can find them all when he comes in a couple of weeks.

I have been keeping busy with a few house projects. I finished putting up wainscoting and painted all the walls in the office, and put a fresh coat of paint on the ceiling in the dining room. At this rate, the whole house is going to get repainted by the time the lockdown ends.

 

Unwanted House Guests

Marty

I had some uninvited guests last week. I was hanging out in my kitchen when something caught my eye. I looked out the window to find two baby raccoons hanging out in the tree. The plan was to get some traps and cut back our trees hanging over the house but we didn’t quite get to it last weekend. So today I come home to my bird feeder on the ground and demolished. Guess I should get around to it sooner rather than later…

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New Kitchen and Basement

Marty

Our house is feeling brand new this week. We had the cabinets redone and finally put the wraps on the basement. It is amazing what a little trim and new cabinet doors can do to a kitchen. It really looks like they are all brand new.

In the basement the final laminate floor pieces were put in and the carpet was installed. I still need to add some quarter round and secure the base boards in a few places, but to me this is done. Now and forevermore our attention is on the weather. Our hopes are high that we are not going to get massive amounts of rain so we can avoid another flood.

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Disaster House

Marty

While we were out of town at Disney our dishwasher decided to dump some water on our wood floors. It really hasn’t been the best few months for us when it comes to water. If you haven’t guessed already the wood floors sucked the water right up and started to buckle. That is how we ended up in a disaster house the past couple weeks.

While the floors in the other rooms were getting sanded and stained, the three of us and all our furniture were limited to two rooms of the house. The limited space wasn’t bad alone but the stain smell and dust just puts the whole annoying situation over the top. Luckily we made it through the main area resurfacing and now with the contractors finishing up the kitchen everything is coming together nicely. One more coak of polyurethane and then we can get everything back to normal. The only other gap is the missing spindles on our main staircase. It kind of makes me feel like a dare devil every time I go up and down the stairs. If it wasn’t for Carter I would say just leave them out!

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It Looks the Same

Marty

Does anyone else do occasional drive by’s past your old house? We sure do! O the memories I have from that house and that neighborhood. It sure doesn’t look like much has changed from the outside except for that extension to the driveway. I can’t remember how we fit all of our stuff in that place, it looks so small now.

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Basement Phase 2

Marty

We are now in “Basement Phase II.” The last phase included getting the drop ceiling down and drywall patched. In this phase we painted the walls. The next step is to get the crown molding up and replace the flooring.

So far so good… Julie’s mom came up today and helped me get the walls mostly covered. We only have another coat on the interior wall. Speaking of the interior wall, thankfully I made the suggestion to make it a different color than the exterior. The two tone basement looks really good.

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New Driveway and Patio

Marty

This week the new driveway and patio were finally finished and everything looks great. The patio is about twice as big as the old one and the brick walls look amazing. Each wall and the step have a few LED lights that light up the patio at night. Nothing too fancy on the driveway, just happy that the huge sink hole is gone and the driveway is now completely level.

Not a complete waste of a weekend

Marty

The weekend started out not looking very promising. Julie’s mom and grandma and my parents were planning on stopping in for a visit but we canceled due to Julie having Influenza A. Julie being sick and me being lazy made for a slow start to the weekend. With that said, we actually managed to eek out some actual productive work on the house. I took down another section of drop ceiling in the basement and we put up a back splash in the laundry room. Pretty pictures below…

House = Painted

Marty

The house has been painted! We moved in at the end of May and now (I hope) all the rooms have been painted. Most of the painting was done by Julie’s Mom. After years of studying the “Mr Miyagi” technique, her painting ability is second to none. Personally after a single wall my arm feels like it is going to fall off. Glad to have you around Sue!

New Landscaping

Marty

Now that Fall is upon us it is time to get the plants in the ground. Our house had some major gaps after performing major landscape surgery this summer. In total I think it was 4 trees and 7 bushes we ripped out. All were over grown and all gave us grief trying to get them out. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Wassmer had a heavy duty chain and van to tug with!

All of the new plants are in with a fresh layer of mulch to keep them cozy. Here are some pictures:

Just Moved In

Marty

Finally! The boxes are starting to get emptied and our schedules are getting back to “normal.” This house is starting to feel more like home.

Big thanks to Julie’s mother, 3 rooms have already been painted. Carter’s room, Carter’s bathroom, and the master bedroom all got a nice fresh coat of paint. This weekend Sue is coming back for more and going to finish the kitchen. A fresh coat of paint really goes a long way in changing the feel of a house.

I was tasked with moving, of course, and changing all the doorknobs in the house. When we put boxes in the rooms my mom was there to help unpack and organize. All of the door hardware was original, which for 1996 was gold. The gold was toned down and classed up a bit with nice aged bronze levers. This weekend I have to change out all the hinges to match the fancy new levers.

Our New House

Marty

We finally found a house! On Monday the sellers agreed to our 3rd counter offer. It took about 3 weeks of negotiating, but we finally got it. We close on this house at the end of April and we move into the new house at the end of May.
Now Julie and I are signing what seems to be an endless array of documents. Luckily we can sign, scan, then email the documents back and forth. I can’t imagine what realtors did back in the old days.

Here is a link to the listing: http://1232boswell.info/

The neighborhood is super nice and it is in one of the best school districts in the country. To top it all off, the neighborhood has a pool with a swim team! Maybe Carter will be a swimmer just like his dad. 🙂

House = Sold

Marty

We just sold our house! It took a whopping 10 days and only 2 showings. The final showing was this morning and we got an offer an hour later. Who would of thought that our house would be the first house in 9 months to sell in this price range? Who would of thought that we would sell in 10 days? Who of would of freaking thought?!?!?!? Now it is a mad rush to find a new house so we aren’t homeless in 60 days. Naperville, here we come.

Carter love the potential new house:

House for sale!

Marty

Our house is finally on the market. Will it sell? Luckily we aren’t underwater and luckily our house only depreciated about 5% from the original purchase price. It’s hard to accept that type of depreciation with all of the upgrades that Julie and I have done (mostly Julie). New appliances, larger/new bathroom, finished basement, and new carpet are just a few of the things that we’ve done.

It went up on the MLS last week and we just had the first showing last night. With high hopes we made the house look spotless, packed up the dogs, packed up the kid, and shipped off to Chipotle. The plan was to eat dinner at Chipotle until the interested buyers were gone. After dinner we went back to the house and anxiously waited to hear from our Realtor. Today we heard the news and it was inline with our expectations. The interested buyer(s) weren’t interested. The unexpected part of the rejection was that they didn’t want the house due to “religious reasons”. We totally didn’t expect to hear that!

Know anybody looking for a house? Here is the link to the listing: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/709-Bluebird-Lane_Bolingbrook_IL_60440_M76676-03865