Well I have been officially a homeowner for 1 week! And it has been a crazy week! Before I even had the keys in my hand, my dad had an excel sheet printed out with everything that needs to get done. His program manager background is going to keep us on track! Friday: Just Signed My Life Away…Now What? After opening the door to my new home, my parents and I were ready to get started. Little did I know that the electricity was already shut off, and there was no way for me to get it turned on until the following day. So in the little bit of daylight, my mom started peeling of wallpaper because she hated it. Using our phone flashlights, we peeled off wallpaper until we could not anymore. Saturday: Fun-Filled Day My dad was ready to get to work bright and early in the morning…I was not! So I handed over my keys and let him have fun.I, instead, decided to go with my mom and sister to a flea market (miantiquefestival.com). If you live in Michigan, I highly suggest going. They only hold it a couple of times a year, but there are so many vendors that attend that you are sure to find a treasure. I watch way too much of Flea Market Flip on HGTV, and always hope to find something that can become a statement furniture piece. My shopping list consisted of finding a burlap sack and a railroad cart. After making the rounds, I did not spot anything. I saw a railroad cart that was cheap but not in great shape. I decided to buy it; however, I found out people take antiquing seriously and some lady yelled at me for looking at it. Apparently, her daughter was going to buy it, but was still debating. Doesn’t that mean I could buy it? I guess not. As we were walking out without any purchases, I found a burlap sack in perfect condition with the colors I was hoping for (I will post what I do with it in the future). Then…literally the last vendor we visit…I found a railroad cart in perfect condition! The downfall, it was $400! So I tested out my negotiating skills. I talked the vendor down to $280. I took it and never looked back! Then came the task of rolling it to the truck. My mom and sister (who act like the Gilmore Girls) told me that they would get the truck and pick me up. Well 10 minutes later, I get a phone call saying “Bethany, we don’t know how to get to you. So can you just wheel yourself to the car?” So here I am with a railroad cart that probably weighs 200-300 pounds rolling it about a half mile up and down hills. When I get to the truck, I find the two of them sitting in the car laughing at me pushing the cart. It probably was a funny sight, but I could have used some help. At least I got what I wanted (I will post how I restore the cart in a future post). ![]() After spending the morning at the flea market, I finally headed to the house. I found my dad had already cleaned out the crawl space (Thank goodness because I was not crawling in there), took apart a few bookshelves, and removed wallpaper in one room. A man with a mission! So the first thing I really wanted to do was remove the carpeting. This was the first surprise. Upstairs under all the carpet, there was hardwood flooring in great condition. All the flooring needs is a good sanding and new stain. My job for the day was to remove the tacking along all the walls. To do this, I used a crowbar and hammer. Aim for the nails and pry the tracking strips off the flooring. It is tedious task but needs to get done. This is how I spent my whole afternoon. Sunday: Looking for Windows I got to the house bright and early in the morning. I wanted to surprise my dad with a “clean” house. We started piling everything in the living room. I wanted to take it outside while we waited for a dumpster. I was in the process of prying more of the tacking strips off the floor when my dad made it to the house. I think he was impressed that I got everything out the house. I asked if we could finally see if there were windows behind the built-ins in the living room around the fireplace. Many homes in the area have beautiful stained glass windows next to the fireplace. We could see that at one point there were windows around the fireplace, but they had been covered up. We thought we were going to get lucky again since we already found the hardwood floors and the previous owner thought the windows were just covered up by the built-ins. So we started demoing. To prevent cracking to the plaster ceilings, we sawed the selves in half and pulled them out. This was mostly due to the way they were built. Next came a layer a plaster. As we started peeling it away, we saw wood. My dad thought that this was possibly protecting the glass windows. He then decided to try uncovering the windows from the outside. We hit more wood there. At this point, we were guessing that the windows were not there. And we were right. Both pieces of glass were missing, but the original windowpanes were there. So now I know the size windows I need and can start searching. After this disappointment, I went back to my tacking strips. That didn’t last long because my dad decided to start working on leveling my floors. This meant that jacks and poles needed to be placed in the basement. What we found was that some of the wooden structure support below the basement floor on a pier was rotted. We cut the rotted wood and started jacking up the house so that we could prepare for the addition of new beams and structural support. Let me tell you…it is not a great feeling hearing your home cracking and settling. Most of the upstairs walls above where the basement was being jacked buckled and will need to be repaired. We were expecting this, but it is still scary. Once this was done, I thought that was enough for the day. My dad left me a list to complete while he was away for work. Overall, it was a successful weekend. And throughout the week, I was able to remove wallpaper in another room and got all of the tacking strips up and staples out of the floor. When I got home from work on Friday, I had no energy to go work on the house. So I took the night off to prepare for full Saturday…hopefully, more good surprises!
5 Comments
Emily
5/7/2016 06:47:22 am
Looks like you're making great progress! Can't wait to follow along and see the final results!!
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Bethanh
6/10/2016 08:44:30 pm
I think you'll be shocked now...I was just looking at the before pictures and it's starting to look like a whole new place.
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Mrs. Bronson
5/7/2016 09:01:35 am
I am so proud of you!! I'm living vicariously through these posts! What fun!! I would live nothing more than a food "fixer upper". If you'd like help this summer, I'm in! Give me a job!! Can't wait to see all of the adventures unfold! Xo
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Bethany
6/10/2016 08:45:13 pm
Thank you!!! I have to say you helped bring out my creative side!
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Tom
5/17/2016 06:20:26 am
Hey, isn't that guy jacking up the floor, the same guy that stared in a Netflix documentary. He is now a social media star :) Thanks Tony for all the help on the floor.
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AuthorA twenty something about to embark on one of the biggest adventures of my life…buying a fixer upper. Archives
September 2016
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