- Installation of new kitchen counter tops. This occurred a couple weeks after we moved in but seems like a lifetime ago. Ben had to unexpectedly go out of town the day after this occurred, so I had to live without a kitchen sink for several days until a plumber could come to install the faucet.
- Replacing doorknobs and hinges (Ben is particularly obsessed with this because they are cheap, ugly 1970s brass. It's a fair point. Also, we only had working keys to one of the exterior doors, the sun room, which for some reason Harriet had 8-10 copies of. But none of the other keys to the house worked. Somehow I managed to get the door from the garage unlocked right after we bought it, but I never figured that out again. To date, Ben has replaced two of the exterior doorknobs and locks, including the front door, which has two deadbolts and was a multi-day undertaking.)
- Replacing all switches and sockets with white ones. This required turning off the electricity and rewiring each individual item. It was an annoying few days, but Ben managed to finish it mostly in one weekend.
- Putting another coat on trim and doors (Still in progress, but I would say mostly done.)
- Repainting the entire ceiling in the living room and our bedroom. (Done!)
- Putting all the folding closet doors back on and painting them. (Not yet.)
- Finding hinges that will actually fit the vanity in the hall bathroom and putting those doors back on.
- So much caulking.
- Removal of yellowed 40 year old smoke detectors installed precisely in the middle of the ceiling in each bedroom.
- Et cetera.
We also bought and hung up curtains in all the rooms, hung all artwork, bought rugs, and have begun ripping out massive quantities of plant life from Harriet's overgardened lawn. Sorry, Harriet.
Other things that have happened:
- The gas line for our cooktop couldn't be installed because the crawl space underneath the kitchen was too narrow for the guy to fit into. After weeks of delay our contractor found "a skinny guy" who was willing to do the work. He came over on a Saturday and brought his friend, and they ended up running the line alongside the exterior of the house instead. This cost us nearly twice as much as the initial gas line quote.
- Ben passed me a note while I was on the phone that said, "Kitchen sink pouring directly into crawlspace." It was a Sunday afternoon, naturally. We called a plumber and while he was fixing it, I discovered the garbage disposal was also leaking, so he fixed that too. By some miracle this only cost a few hundred bucks. Our best guess is that someone kicked and dislodged the pipe underneath the house while they were crawling around trying to figure out how to run the gas line, because it didn't appear to have been leaking for very long.
- We've had slight cupping of the sun room floors essentially since they were installed - just enough to notice, or if you are me, to obsess over for 78% of your life. This means there is moisture below. I had the crawl space guy come back out to look at it. He said someone had boarded that part of the crawl space up so the dehumidifier couldn't reach that area. We have had so many people working on this house that I can't figure out who might have done this, or when, or why. Anyway, Ben went down there and opened it back up, and also discovered there is an open vent that for some reason they built the brick patio over without sealing up, so water pours in when it rains. This is actually a huge relief, because there was clearly something going on and this will be an easy one to fix. There don't seem to be any other noticeable moisture sources. Ben has been wanting an excuse to mix up some concrete for years now, so here we go. Perfect solution.
- The air conditioning quit working right before bed on a Thursday night when it was 92 degrees. Fortunately I remembered we have a home warranty (!!) so I called and someone was able to come the next day. UNfortunately, the first three times they tried various fixes, the fixes quit working immediately after the techs left. The following day, the owner of the company came out and "rebuilt the inside of the machine" with all new parts. This cost us $100. The home warranty, man. I also discovered during this incident that the AC unit was installed in 2001, not 2011 as the realtor had mentioned to me during the open house. SIGH. This is clearly stated in the inspection report but neither of us noticed. So far it's still functioning. The guy said it could last ten years or quit tomorrow, so we have that to look forward to.
After all this, we have a bit of the PTSD. We knew this would be a lot of work. We knew unexpected things would happen and unexpected expenses would arise. But I must say, this summer has been A Bit Much. The air conditioner really pushed us over the edge, I think.
Sometimes I get glimpses of how much I will love this house when I stop spending my life worrying it's going to disintegrate into the ground. This has been made a little easier with the events of the past week, when we have at last had someone repaint the exterior.
If you'll recall, it looked like this. While it was handy to be able to tell delivery people "it's the yellow one," it was also a lot to take. The day after we closed on sale of the townhouse, I started calling people to get quotes.
Two days before painting was to begin, we found out from our neighbors that Harriet painted the house these colors because she was given a bad breast cancer prognosis but she survived, and wanted her life to be as cheerful as possible. Unbelievable. I told this story to a friend and she got literal goosebumps! Alas, unexpectedly sharing life experiences with Harriet doesn't make me like this neon green trim.
It's safe to say we are the most popular people in our neighborhood right now.
Every time we're in the front yard, people walking by stop to talk to us about how great it looks. Someone even sent me a private message about it on NextDoor! This has also afforded us the opportunity to meet a lot of neighbors, all of whom have been great and seem to value the same things about the neighborhood that we do - the trees, the uniqueness of each house, the quiet, the proximity to the greenway. Everybody calls it a hidden gem! It honestly seems a bit too good to be true.
The difference seems most stark in the back yard, I think - I feel like somehow you couldn't even really see the house before.
We still have a lot of work to do, but (and I am afraid to type this right now, knock on wood) we seem to be getting a handle on it. I'll be relieved when the summer is over and I can stop worrying about the air conditioner failing again - if the furnace goes out, after all, you can put on some extra clothes and it'll be fine.
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