Tuesday, December 11, 2012

House: pre-paint, pre-clean, pre-awesome

Let me first off apologize for not rotating the photos correctly. I just got back from a run and I don't want to go through my photo folder back to this day and rotate them all. I have too much to do!

Also, because I only own a 50mm lens, it makes capturing entire rooms impossible. SO, these are just to give you a taste for the filth that was in this house. These photos were taken before we had the keys, so I don't have any of the dreaded refrigerator... too gross to think about....

Hole in the bedroom
Max patched it right up! 
Ugliest fan in our master bedroom.
Bathroom sink granite. Hmm.. left over soap?!
Master bath. Nice mirror, bad color. Eventually we re-did that!
Just gross crap all over the walls, baseboards, and floors.
Fireplace! Love that we still have one. It was filled with dog hair.
Dog grease and dirt on the walls. Baseboards that were scratched at no doubt by the pups.
Another look at the disgusting-ness.
Filth under all the windows.
Sliding door. Can't see, but dog prints and mud were on both sliding door sets.
Kitchen
The only photo I did take of the fridge. Let me tell you. This is GENTLE filth in comparison to what I found underneath the drawers. YUCK. 
Lazy Susan! Haven't had one of these since living in the Cameron Park house in my youth. Kinda cool. 
Leftover bed. Yuck.
That was a black widow inside the house that Max smashed. At least I'm pretty sure it was one. I HATE spiders.
Fan in the fireplace room. We switched this over to the master and flipped the fan blades upside down because it was a totally different color on the other side (reversible!). Awesome. Look at the dust and dead skin cells and dog hair that accumulated on that fan! 
Fireplace sliding doors. It was a joke when people came over to say that was our new pool (not our joke, the joke of those visiting! ha).
Close up of sliding door. Cobwebs, mud prints. I swear there was dog poop in the inside tracks when I was cleaning. Nasty.
The white grout was covered by a urine and dog infested rug and thus you see what happened to the rest of the grout throughout the house when it went unprotected. 
Fireplace room lacked baseboards in a section of the room. Luckily we found the match and are able to finish it off!
The only other thing you're missing is the smells. Dog smells. And just layers of dog hair. As I was ripping up carpet, layers of dirt and dust would escape into the air. It was just sitting in that carpet! And the gross thing you see when you rip up carpet is all the staining underneath. With 3 dogs, I'm sure most of those were urinating accidents.

The other item was the termites. That was a real turn off and we got that fixed immediately!

And now for the iPhone photos.

Can you see where the area rug once was? Quite a contrast on the tile!



In the original house, that whole opening was an actual wall and you entered the kitchen (which has also been remodeled) from the fireplace room. We LOVE the more open floor plan with the remodeling that was done. Much more up to speed with the layout of newer homes today.


We do have the doors (everyone always asks). But we are leaving them off for now.

Guest bath
Laundry
Master shower 


We had to fix the fence before getting the loan. Thanks Dad for having ALL the tools and materials we needed!
Alright, there you have it! We have done a lot of work thus far. It's amazing what cleaning and painting can do to a house. That and getting new carpet! BTW we recommend Home Depot. We went to an actual carpet place and got a quote... Home Depot was LESS expensive by more than half the cost of the carpet place. It was very clear which route we were going to take.

K. Updates will come. Later. Much later. :)

Monday, November 26, 2012

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

This last weekend we went up to Apple Hill for some fun. I was taking a couple pictures of my prego sister and I handed her my camera to take some of our Christmas photos. (We are long over due!). Max wouldn't shave his mustache (Movember!), so we took'em anyway! Here are a couple I edited :)






P.S. House updates/photos are coming...

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

We aren't much into dressing up, except when it means you get $2 Burritos from Chipotle. 
P.S. Max has worn this wig every year since we first met (5 years!)
He loves it SOOO much. No exaggeration. 
Lucky for me, doing crafty projects like this is allowed since I nanny the cutest little 2 year old. 
Speee-i-derrrrs!!! (Anyone know that movie?)

$26 desk, and 10+ hours of Getz labor later...we finished Max's desk. Finally! We are just going to replace the hardware with something a little more suited to his tastes. So happy it's done though. And lucky for us, we will actually have a place to put it in (it's kinda huge for our apartment), which leads me to....

BEFORE:
AFTER:

The bank met the appraisal! Didn't really think, or expect them, to come down. So we were pleasantly surprised when we got this email :) So maybe, Heavenly Father's plan was theory 2 of my interpretation of our experience in pursuing this house... (basically all the little flaws leading up to the lower appraisal was enough to bring the bank back down, ultimately giving us lower monthly payments, who doesn't love that?!)

The deal isn't closed until the papers are signed and the keys in our hands! But I'm excited to get workin' on it. I'll be sure to take lots of before/after photos as we go :) Mm, projects... 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Let's get to the nitty gritty.

The appraisal on the house came in today. And it came in under the bank's asking price.

I've told Max that it almost feels like Heavenly Father is letting me down slowly on the bad news.
One thing after another, it feels more and more like this house thing isn't on our side. And because Heavenly Father knows how much I want it, he is slowly warming me up to accept an outcome I didn't want.

At least, that's my theory for now.

So, we're just a couple of sitting ducks. Waiting to hear the banks response to this Appraisal. We kind of feel like the bank won't budge because that seems to have been their pattern since not offering any assistance to fix the Termites... Yah, thanks a lot for that one Bank of America.

But, I feel more prepared to walk away and know that we gave everything we could give and did all that we could to get this house. If it isn't enough, that's ok. We'll get our deposit back and be "rich" again until we do find the house. In the meantime, we will be able to save more money for a bigger down payment on a house that we may love even MORE than this one.

You see? Heavenly Father is helping me see the good in what may seem like a disappointing experience. Hidden blessings...

And maybe...

Just maybe...

All the bad leading up to the lower appraisal price on the home will be enough for the bank to reconsider their purchase price, and they will bring it down to match the appraisal value. Which means less money from us, and a lower monthly rate. An even bigger blessing in the making? 
Hey, a girl can dream right?

"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck"
-Dalai Lama





Saturday, October 20, 2012

a first

Tonight I photographed a wedding. 
My first ever (being on the sidelines doesn't count!). 
I stressed and stressed. And studied photographs. And prayed. And studied more.
Let's not forget the constant worry I conveyed to my sweet husband who continued to give me words of encouragement. 

Man, I love him.

I rented my first lens just for this occasion. I was worried I hadn't used it enough to know how to get sharper images. 

So... I prayed more (this happens A LOT, especially in my car).

The couple was beautiful. Full of love, and kindness, and a little spunk! They made my job easier :)
I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to gain more experience as a creative photographer. It reminds me of how much I have yet to learn. I almost felt a little incompetent due to my lack of equipment for sundown, but... can't expect much from someone who is just dipping her toes in the field! (Or so I tell myself...)

I was pleased when I came home and found that I did get some great shots of the evening. I want so badly to please the families! You can't just re-do a wedding! :)