We finally got access to our house on wednesday. The previous owners were allowed a month ‘leaseback’ so we were worried that they would take their time finding another house and moving out, but they were pretty fast and now its all ours, folks.
So the quotes have started coming in and now i’m like … maybe renting isn’t so bad …. If I wasn’t pregnant and if we didn’t have 7 weeks til baby arrives (if we are lucky) then we would do a lot of the work ourselves, but even I know that trying to live in a construction site with an infant is beyond me.
Here’s what we have to do before we move in:
1. Skim coat and smooth out all walls – It has the thickets layer of orange peel ever and while it’s probably the least obvious change (and most expensive) that we are going to make, it will drive me nuts if we don’t. Don’t put orange peel on your walls. PLEASE. I understand that its easier and takes less time than properly mudding and taping your drywall, but smooth flat walls are just so much prettier. Ours is really badly done, too – super uneven with lots of clumps and cracks and just generally looks cheap.
2. Paint all walls – this seems like not that big of a deal, but somehow its still going to take like 8 days and cost a lot. And of course I’m going white in the main areas so of course it’s not that much of a transformation. But the beige on the walls is just so dirty and it is literally sooooo dirty and baby can’t come home to that kind of filth. (I’ll show you pics next week).
3. Paint cement floor and the ceilings. Welcome to ‘Emily and Brian’s debate over painting the ceiling’ 2013. And when I say ‘debate’ i don’t mean like in a cute way where we take turns presenting our case to each other. Brian wanted to keep the wood – I LOVE the idea of the wood on the ceiling but this wood is cheap pine and actually painted dark brown NOT and ‘natural’, not natural wood. Everybody that I trust agreed that it should go white but he still wasn’t budging. Thank god the quote to strip and stain was twice the price and time than it was to spray white. Some of you people are gonna hate on this, but I am not. Its going to be so bright and airy and beautiful.
4. Demo out a few things. Brian and friends think they are doing this this weekend. Like a really manly type weekend. I’m very skeptical that is going to happen, but we’ll see.
5. Put down all new wood flooring. We are keeping the cement, but demo-ing out the tile and then anywhere there was carpet we are replacing with wood floor. (i’ll show you samples and decisions next week).
Ironically I’m too slammed to really do much on our house so luckily I have a very cute project manager, Brian, taking over the case. We are choosing the wood and the paint colors together, but he’s been getting the quotes and will be managing the labor. I’ll be sharing as many details as humanly possible with y’all – whether you like it or not.
Let the adventures in home-ownership begin …
****Also all you Angelenos, don’t forget about the garage sale tomorrow. Its at the Dekor store wharehouse in Silverlake. 4222 Santa Monica blvd, Enter on Hoover Street. 10am – 2pm. No early birds … 🙂 Don’t expect a vintage extravaganza, folks. A lot of this is just like 2 year old West Elm stuff, extra vases from shoots, and yes a bunch of vintage stuff, but temper those expectations. You know how i like to under-promise and over deliver ….