What a Difference a Year Makes! These are the "before" House Photos

This time last year we were looking forward to moving into our new house BUT asbestos had to be removed first. The house is 30 years old and had popcorn ceilings throughout. In this housing market there is no bargaining to be had but if we have to sell the house at some point the market may be different PLUS who wants to live with asbestos? There is also radon in most houses so we needed to get that done as well. We did get a few thousand from the seller but it was $10,000 to get the asbestos out and then you are left with a bare ceiling that needs texturing and paint. We had some fake beans removed and a hanging kitchen cabinet taken out and these left gouges and holes that needed repair.

Line of holes from where the cabinet was (cabinet blocked the views and was wayyyyyy up there!




There was also some kind of bizarre sponge painting in the kitchen area and awful wallpaper in the bathroom. Downstairs had burlap bags as wallpapering (not really but looked like it - cat scratching post walls). All of this had to go. So in addition to the ceiling getting textured and painted we went for it - we had the wallpaper taken off, burlap walls taken down, and the entire house painted inside. There are still baseboards and window moldings and other wood items (doors) to be done but I can get to them later).

   

Lots of wood in the house - really old dark 70's style stuff. We couldn't move in while the asbestos removal was being done so we did some work removing junipers outside. I would drive a carload of our stuff from the rental and stuff it in the garage then work in the yard. Once the inside texturing and stuff was being started I could freely go in and out but it was stinky, a mist of paint, workers and stuff I just didn't want to see. The race was on...we had to find someone to rent the rental we broke the lease on, but couldn't move in our house yet, but were paying a mortgage and rent (which is the same as our mortgage) so it was stressful to say the least after the previous year being super stressful. Once the ceilings were done I could get started on sanding and painting all the dark oak cabinets in the kitchen. After going back and forth on wall and cabinet colors I went with a couple different greys and it has worked out well. This hanging cabinet was taken out. All the nasty old lights were removed and Jeff put new ones up (more decisions). It took forever to find drawer hinges for the cabinets.






So things were MOSTLY done when we found a renter to move in in February and had to get out. We had to move chickens, cats, and the rest of our stuff while painters were still painting. We had one room finished the day we moved in and the cats stayed there, we slept in there and painters finished up upstairs and finally a week later had everything done. What a relief to have the house to ourselves!

The chickens had to get taken from their "house" in Lyons, put in the car and then needed somewhere to be at the new place. We bought some extra chain link to at least have part of their pen made before the moving day. It was quite tricky dealing with them. We should have just had them in the garage and made our lives easier but painters were working from there. It all worked out and everything looks quite different now. There are still things to do but we have learned from all our other houses (4) that if it doesn't happen in the first few years you don't get to enjoy the changes!

While I was monitoring the painters and driving stuff to the house I removed a majority of these junipers. They were 4 feet high with trunks a good 8-10 inches across. Nasty things. We removed a hedge of them at the front of the house as well. There was a hidden split rail fence inside them that we took out too (once we discovered it). Haven't done much else on the outside but another year is here...