Kitchen

I'm starting a list of the things we want to change in the house. Lets start with the kitchen. I love its length and counter space. I love all the cabinets...for space but not their design. I love the light in here, especially in the mornings.

So, here is what I'd like to change:

1. Get new light fixture
   
2. Change the facade of the cabinets and drawers and replace hardware.
   
3. Change granite counter top. I can't see any of the spills on here because of all the damn variances in color. It's also just too busy.
   
4. Change out the faucet.
   
5. Get a fridge, washer and dryer.
   
6. New oven and over head vent which doesn't work. The vent also allows so much hot and cold air to come inside. It's wasteful.
   
7. Get AC vents to come into the kitchen. The previous owners did a redo and pulled out the soffit in the living room which had the air ducts on top of it. Without a soffit there is no vent.
   
8. The dish washer will eventually need to be replaced. It does a "fair" job.
9. Dividing door between laundry and kitchen needs to be done differently. The space could be used better and the door should be stylier.
10. If we should ever do a total redo I'd like the kitchen cabinets to go higher on the side where the fridge should go. Amazingly enough, I could use more storage space.

Some things like the washer, dryer, fridge are essential but the others I'm not sure how soon we can afford to do all this. Also there are big projects that need to be done in the house. For starters, the electrical needs immediate attention. Keeping the entire house from short circuiting and starting a fire is always a good place to begin.

Pool Problem

       

Here is the story of the pool. Because the house was a short sale purchase we were accepting it in an "as is condition". We've had our eye on the house since June and even though it wasn't ours we worried about it and would visit it on a weekly basis. Yes, we're crazy like that. I've been visualizing ourselves in this house since we first saw it. You know the saying "you can think it true". 

On one visit we noticed the green, abandoned pool had mosquito eggs. We bought mosquito fish and put them in the pool to prevent a mosquito infestation which would cause further delay with the bank.

I don't understand all the details of these deals but once our offer was accepted we had days to get the loan approved with the bank. The bank wouldn't approve the loan with the pool in its abandoned condition. They needed "the pump to be running, the water to be clear so you could see the bottom and the pool gates had to be self-latching". We had 24hrs to fix the problems.

My husband did it! My hero drained the pool and scooped God knows what kind of filth out of the bottom. He scrubbed the walls and filled it with fresh water. Here's the kicker. The power was shut off on the property. There was an outstanding bill. We couldn't open a new account without loan documents. We couldn't get loan documents without the pool working but we couldn't get the pool pump working without power. So, we paid the outstanding $400 and got the pool pump on because we only had 24hrs to get all this done or else we would lose the house.

Thank you Boo for making it happen. We would not be in the house if it wasn't for you!

Whoopie! New Home!

OMG! We got the house! We saw this house located in Woodland Hills back in June.  It was on a short sale with the bank. We put an offer in immediately  and it wasn't until now, September that our offer was selected. 

So, besides the long wait and frustration of not hearing anything for months I'm 9 months pregnant.  Yep, all summer long I've been getting bigger and bigger and feeling homeless.  I've been in the nesting phase for a while now but I had no place to settle down.  I couldn't fathom buying all this stuff and then having to repack it to move.  

Besides buying for our former apartment and buying for this house are two entirely different experiences.  In our old apartment there was no one room for the baby.  Here with three bedrooms and two baths I get to choose which room will be the nursery!

There's alot of work to be done.  The house was abandoned for months. The yard is dead, the pool is kind of ok...more on this later, the inside of the house is filthy and we need a fridge, and washer and dryer.  We'll need new paint and carpet.  I'm overly sensitive on how dirty the place is because I'm about to bring a baby into this world.  It's got to be clean.  We move in October 20 and although there is so much to do before then I'm so elated we got this house!!! It's a Mid-Century Modern that has had some upgrades...some we like, some we hate.  

What matters is that we love the architecture, it has space for children to grow and a pool.  For now I'll focus on the essentials and getting the place as clean and organized as possible before my due date:  November 12th.  Yep, November 12th!!!