Wash and scrape

This post will be short on words and big on pictures. My nails are worn to nubs and it hurts to type. With the help of some AWESOME friends we got a lot done today. We removed miles of wallpaper, some carpet and power washed a lot. Here's the proof!

And for my Canadian peeps who don't have concrete subfloors check out how nasty it is to remove carpet. The carpet tacks are nailed INTO the concrete. So you pry those suckers up, pull all the concrete nails and then fill the holes.



We're slowly saying goodbye to 1998!

xoxo
Sarah

Playroom Inspiration

My inspiration for the playroom is the girls toys. Pink Red Green Orange! While searching etsy for some art to put in the playroom I came across a FABULOUS artist Katie Moon. She has a blog where she gives away one free children's illustration a day http://oohmoon.com/ . After 24 hours you can buy them (super cheap!)  I fell in love with the fairy tale series and my awesome brother (SHOUT OUT TO PSACK!) bought it for the girls

http://oohmoon.com/2011/01/girl-fairy-tales-the-whole-pack/

Since the girls are so bored when we are at the house working my goal is to get the playroom in usable condition so they have somewhere to chill while we clean/paint/scrap/sand.

Cleaning

No fabulous blog candy today. We are on day two of what will probably be a week long cleaning blitz. Focus was mostly on the yard since we need to make it safe enough the that girls can eat plants play there while we are inside using scary chemicals. Here's a panoramic view so you can see the whole yard. The house isn't actually crooked that's my photoshop skillz.  We stopped counting bags after 43.

Of course the yard work = lots of half naked men.

I did tackle some of the kitchen today.  I met my new boyfriend. Mr Clean and his magic eraser.

A friend recommended and what I thought was "Pish. Dude this is a foreclosure. Its been vacant for two years. What I need is some nasty chemicals to BURN the dirt away Your silly housewife cleaning product won't work."  But I picked up a pack when I was in the cleaning aisle. Man I was so wrong. I don't know what its made of. Probably dolphins and crushed unicorn horns because it really is magic. 

XOXO

Sarah

We are now homeowners!

WOOT WOOT! We closed in our first house today and excited is an understatement. I made cupcakes for the closing and our awesome realtor Johnnie Jordan brought champagne, confetti poppers and those noise makers that unroll when you blow them. We signed 8 billion times and the keys were ours! HONK! (that's the noise maker)

We are so happy to finally have our own house. The fact that it hasn't been updated since 1998 and was vacant for two years is AWESOME. How can carpeted bathrooms and yard that has a thick carpet of leaves/pine needles instead of grass be awesome? Because we got our Texas sized starter home for a steal of a deal and most of the repairs are cosmetic (well except for the AC units, stolen). Maybe we've been watching to much HGTV but we love the idea of having a beautiful house that we created ourselves. So today when I was scrubbing the filthy toilet, kneeling on carpet speckled with what I like to imagine was "black dust" but was more likely mouse or giant roach poop, I was HAPPY! It was first small step in creating our home, today it's "Look what I did! You can sit on the toilet with out getting malaria!", tomorrow* it will be "Check out my gorgeous bathroom! Love the tile? We did that! Oh that cool water saving toilet, yeah we installed it"

So stay tuned for what is sure to be many "before and afters". For now a picture of our new home from the front. The one part the HOA maintained so it wouldn't affect the value of the neighbourhood**.

XOXO

Sarah

*Okay not tomorrow, but you know, sometime.

** Get prepared for some gratuitous some u's. I'm Canadian we like them.

Bonus! Video of the first time we opened the front door to our home!!!