Our new home

Well, the last two weeks have been filled with packing, moving out of the old place and into the new place, cleaning, fighting a cold, and finals, along with the normal work schedule and getting Jayla for the summer. It was a lot to go through, but finally we are in our new place and starting to settle in. Tah dah... here's our lil piece of Cali!



We bought the house that was in a short-sale so it was sold "as is" which means we inherited some problems and the house was not move-in ready:

1. We fixed the leaking faucet in both the front and the back of the house where you attach your hose to, plus the kitchen sink faucet . Well... that must have put some pressure back in the pipes because when the painters flushed the toilets the toilets flooded. We got that fixed ASAP.

2. We had the inside painted. You will see why in just a little bit.

3. We had new bedroom and bathroom doors installed.

4. There were two previous leaks on the water heater which caused the floor below it to rot and water heater to cave in. Jay and the handyman replaced the floor, scraped the closet of the popcorn and painted it, plus replaced the water heater.

5. We had a guy come out and remove the popcorn from the hallway and bedrooms.

6. We replaced the wooded garage door we a metal automatic one that rolls up.

7. Jay and the handyman closed up two door ways, one from the master bedroom to the garage and another from the entry way to the kitchen.

8. Plumbers came out to snake the bathroom tub and their camera guy came to see where some obstruction was occurring. Pretty cool that they can stick a camera down the pipes and record for us to see.

9. We had carpet and base boards installed in the bedrooms. Which meant almost a week of Jay pulling up tile in the rooms and sanding the concrete foundation and long days!!

10. We had a guy haul away a truck and half full of a whole bunch of crap that the previous people left behind.

11. Ordered shutters for the living room and bedrooms. In 6-8 weeks they should be in and installed.

And this is where the work pays off with before and afters
BEFORE: This is what you call running out of paint and never caring. Can you believe this was a little girl's room?

AFTER: This is now our guest bedroom. New baseboards, painting and carpet. We used Behr paint in all the rooms and this one is Peanut Butter color. We ordered shutters so have temporary shades up.

BEFORE: This is the master bedroom's closets, tile and door that we closed off to the garage.

AFTER: We need to add closet doors and rods, but it looks SO much better already. The paint is Quiet Veranda. Jay was too cute and said I could pick out the color to our room. Thanks LOVE!!

BEFORE: This is still the master. I can't even begin to explain how much dirt was in this house. i kept saying over and over again "how do people live like this???"

AFTER: But now it's in good hands that are giving it much TLC! I love our room!!!

BEFORE: This was another little girls room. There was a huge Rot and Mastiff outdoors that left dirt and paw prints on the outside window.

AFTER: But now it's out office to be. Once we get furniture in here. This room is Peanut Butter too. The painter's tape was just touch up spots for the painter, but now all fixed.

BEFORE: This room house a older son that was the last one to move out. He didn't have a job, smoked pot back here and waited until the eleventh hour to remove the dogs from the property. Arrggg! Seriously, we closed Escrow late because he couldn't find a place to live.

AFTER: This is Jayla's room now and we still need to put a closet rod up and closet doors in each room. Her room is a little darker because she is young and will touch the walls, so we didn't want to have marks all over, so thought it would be safer to have a darker color. It's called Burnt Almond. What a difference from the top, huh?

BEFORE: Living room before, was this dark Tera cotta with yellow mustard ceiling with dirt EVERYWHERE!!! Even gum on the floor and dead flies...GROSS!!!

AFTER (in progress): We removed the greasy and filthy ceiling fan and painted. Excuse the mess.. we still haven't unpacked. Next weekend we are replacing the sliding door.

That's all for now. The neighborhood seems nice and we have friendly neighbors which is always a plus!

We have some upcoming projects:

- Add A/C (yes, we living in the desert of CA with no AC...YIKES!)

- Add ceiling fans in each room (being done next weekend)

- Add recessed lighting in the living room and kitchen

- Replace the back sliding door (next weekend)

- Remove the big ass tree in the front whose roots are breaking through out PLUMBING PIPES!!!

- Replace the front plumbing pipes (being done this week)

- Remodel the kitchen (maybe in the next two months)

- Remodel the bathrooms.

- Landscaping

- Re-stucco the outside and paint

- New front door

Oh the joys of being a homeowner. I hear the projects never end LOL...