So! It's been a couple of months since I've had the time to update this thing, and for good reason too. At the last update, we had just discovered that the over-tightened timing belt caused plenty of damage that I needed to fix. The motor blew up just a mere two weeks before we closed on our new house, so we didn't have time to fix the car right away; bigger fish to fry in the coming months.
(Caution: non-car related update to follow, which will lead to a car update, I promise)
We closed on our house on 6/29, and I feel we did pretty good for our first house. Single story, 1500 sqft, 1/2 acre, in-ground heated pool/spa, 3bed/2 bath, 2 car detached garage. The interior was a bit dated, so we decided to remodel a few (re-read this: a bunch) of things before we moved in. ..... I guess I'm a glutten for modding punishment.
There was huge fiasco with ending the lease at our rental house, and it forced us to move all our stuff 3 weeks ahead of schedule into the hosting garage while we worked on the inside. It was a hassle at the time, and a huge headache, but now that everything is done, it's all worth it. The inside of the house has turned out awesome so far; I love it.
When we first bought the house, the walls were a very mildly tinted baby blue ish color, with sparkly popcorn ceilings everywhere, a drop ceiling in the kitchen, and zero lighting in the living room. The house needed some help, and we were about to just tear into it.
Here's some before shots of closing day before we touched anything.
First step: remove the popcorn ceilings and retexture them. WHAT. A. MESS. I never want to touch ceilings ever again haha. We also removed some beam caps in the entry hallway and master bedroom.
I mentioned that there was zero lighting in the living room, to include no switched outlet either. So, we had to add lighting in that room. Not only did we add lighting there, we replaced the chandelier in the kitchen area and added more lighting in the kitchen, front entry way, hallway, and the master bedroom. A total of 26 recessed can lights went in. We also added a 3-way switch for the living room lights. I feel sorry for my boyfriend, who is the poor soul who had to climb into our crappy, over-insulated (yes, that's a thing..) cramped attic in the middle of summer to run the wiring for all these lights... Turned out great though.
We also removed the drop ceiling in the kitchen, removed one section of cabinets, and added 2 pendant lights there.
And then we painted. Everything. Ceilings, every wall everywhere. The finishing touches were the replaced lights in the bedrooms and closets, and then we swapped out every outlet and switch in the house.
While we were stringing up wiring for the lights and whatnot, we decided to run network cables to a few spots in the living room and the master bedroom. We also ran the wiring for our 5-piece surround sound system. Our entertainment cabinet is PACKED, but very well cable managed (my OCD thing..).
Needless to say, it's been a busy couple of months. With the house remodeling finally complete, we were able to move everything in, get settled, and move toys into the garage. Car update to follow in next post.
) I figured I'd introduce the community to my new lady.
