7 month house update

I commented on the check-in thread that I have been spending most of my time working then coming home and renovating my house and car. After some thought I figured an update is in order since I told y’all I bought a house in September of 2023. Emotionally, my house has put me through the ringer! Lmao. Definitely a liability instead of asset, BUT I also love being able to take a hammer to every part I hate about it and make it something I love instead of having to put up with it.

Car wise, the updates are nothing super fancy. Just changing out tires, changing oil, upgrading the windshield wipers, getting some new seat covers, and other small stuff. The one BIG thing I’m saving up for is to upgrade my dash to have apple car play. My car is so old it’s got a CD player and an aux cord hook up. Which is fine for me, I have CDs and don’t mind hooking up my phone, but apple car play would be nice for navigation. I currently have a Garmin and I’d like my windshield to be unobstructed. I’m debating on whether I’ll take on the install or let someone else, but I’m leaning toward me doing it. Youtube has got me this far so how hard could it be?

My house, however, has had a LOT of work done to it and still much more to get done. As I’ve mentioned before, I bought a house that wasn’t properly maintained so I got it waaay below true market value. It’s now worth about $80k more than when I got it. (RIP property taxes.) While I know how to do a lot, I do call professionals to install and handle anything that’s out of my skill level. What I’ve personally done though these past few months:

Basement:

• Knocked down all the spiders and their webs

• Closed up the holes in the basement to the outside with sealing foam

• Killed the snakes nesting in the walls?!

• Patched the plaster that was cracking and allowing snakes to nest inside the walls

• Painted the walls so it had a smooth finish

• Painted the stairs and stairway

• Deep cleaned the concrete floors, removing all the creepy stains

• Made a work bench that holds all my tools and gave me space to work inside during the winter

• Fixed the basement door so there were no gaps and added new weather stripping

• Hung drapes on all the windows

• Installed more overhead lighting

• Installed new outlets

• Winterized the water line to the outside hose

Main floors

• Painted the foyer, dining room, living room, hallway, bathroom, and kitchen

• Redid the caulking around my front door to stop drafts, filled the cracks with wood filler, sanded, repainted it, and added new weather stripping

• Replaced the broken window above my front door

• Redid the caulking around my bathtub, sink, and bathroom window

• Scrapped off the moldy paint, repainted with kills and then the right kind of vapor barrier paint in the bathroom

• Changed out the faucets on my bathtub and sink

• Hung drapes/blinds over the windows

• Painted the trim and cabinet to match in the bathroom

• Added more lower cabinets to my kitchen with granite countertops

• Updated the doorknobs

• Fixed the pocket door

• Polished the hardwood floor

• Touched up the grout on the tiles in the kitchen and bathroom

Second floor

• Washed the mystery stains off the walls

• Deep cleaned the carpets (YES this is gross, but I ain’t got the budget to change them yet bc I’d also have to remove the phony fireplace stack that has been inoperable since a tree fell on it and they patched it closed yet left the stack??? So. It’s a HUGE $$$$$ project that will require roof patching.)

• Painted the bedrooms

• Caulked the windows

• Updated the door knobs

• Put up drapes and blinds

Attic

• Fixed the door

• Knocked all the spiderwebs down

• Added more insulation

Outside

• Fixed the broken spokes on the porch railing

• Changed out rotted wood on the porch with fresh ones

• Painted the porch

• Fixed broken siding and patched up holes

• Removed bad shingles

• Cleaned the gutters

• Finished the partial fence so the backyard is fully fenced in

• Built a gazebo (furnished it, too)

• Found a bunch of bricks in the yard when pros cleaned out the forest with a bunch of dead trees and made a lil patio.

• Unearthed a sidewalk around the home, too

What I left for the pros was installing my washer and dryer since it’s gas, fixing my HVAC because I have zero clue about anything HVAC, had ADT install security and fire/carbon monoxide alarms, and all of the landscaping since I cannot cut down trees nor knock down a bunch of underbrush.

That’s what I’ve done so far. I’m not even going to lie: I am EXHAUSTED. My friends and family helped me where they could, but it’s been mostly me. Not to mention I’ve had to unpack everything as well and still have about 15 boxes of things to still put away and more furniture I’ve yet to reassemble from moving. I decided I’d take a break during May so no more six day work weeks for that month, just the regular Monday to Friday and I’m gonna relax on the weekends. No more work. My family is insisting it’ll take about a year or two to truly settle into my home and make it mine, so I’ve kinda chilled out about it, but there’s still SO much to do. I have a five year plan.

Year One:

• All of the above and…

• Finishing unpacking and building furniture 💆🏻‍♀️

• Add solar lights to walkway, patio, and gazebo (arriving Friday 😈)

• Replacing the furnace (happening in Winter 2024, currently saving up for it🤞🏻)

• Build a linen closet in the bathroom

Year two

• Building a garage with space to have a workshop that also doubles as a pool house

• Extend the driveway with gravel to the garage

• Add a storage shed

• Build a flower garden in the back and a little walking trail

• Plant trees in the front

• Build an above ground pool (already have everything BUT the liner)

• Build a deck for the pool

Year three

• Asphalt the extended driveway

• Update fence to a 6ft privacy fence

• Paint fence pink

• Paint house pink

• Paint house trim dark green to match the roof

• Replace the pom poms around my home with hydrangeas and put hastas around my front porch

Year four

• Remove the fireplace stack, make it electric, and close up the roof

• Change out the carpet upstairs

• Add a master bathroom upstairs

• Get a hot tub for outside enjoyment

Year five

• Finish the basement as a home theater

• Make the current second bedroom home theater an at-home gym and the screened in upstairs porch a reading nook

These are the plans but they are always changing. So. We shall see! That’s my home update so far tho. ;) Any fun renos going on at your home?