You'll have to wait

So instead of putting up a large amount of photos, I thought I would wait until many of you show up for a visit to reveal the current state of the house. But I do have a couple of stories to tell. During the past couple of weeks we have been focusing on making the house "livable" and "visitable." We have a large portion of the rooms painted (though the touch-ups remain) and the vast majority of items have been put away. I have been side-tracked lately with getting free mulch from the city and fixing up the outside of the house in preparation for the visit - I'm hoping that the first impression is a good one. However, we are finally done with fixing up the outside of the house and you won't believe the large amount of stones we found under the previous layer of mulch. I think I could put the local quarry out of business! Our other large project has been the full bath, which has given us many surprises! Just last night we had a bit of excitement when the cold water valve sprung a leak and water gushed forth soaking the ceiling, walls, and the subflooring. Of course this had to happen around 11:30 p.m., so it was a late night for us! The bathroom still needs new flooring and we need to put some things away, but other than that we should be in pretty good shape!

First time

Perhaps you remember the line from Forrest Gump when he explains how he met Jenny and he's talking about not remembering some things he did for the first time like his first outdoor picnic, etc., but does remember the first time he heard Jenny's voice. Well James and I will certainly the last month as it was our first time buying a house! We bought an old (1915) house in our hometown and have spent the past 2+ weeks fixing it up (to make it liveable) and will be spending the next couple of years continuing that process. We still have quite a few things to work on this summer, but at least there is new paint on the walls, the kitchen cabinets are almost finished, the carpets have been cleaned, and the overgrown bushes have been pulled out and the trees have been "tamed." However, we have MUCH to do yet this summer including the following...
- Finish putting away our belongings (this may take the remainder of the summer)
- Fix a couple of minor electrical issues/install ceiling fans upstairs (no central air)
- Finish removing wallpaper from the upstairs hall and extra bedroom
- Finish the bathroom renovation and have a cabinet/linen closet built for it
- Install new flooring in the kitchen/pantry/bathroom
- Clean up the flower garden areas, plant some perennials, prep next year's garden/compost areas
- Find/make and install window coverings for the main floor and part of the upstairs
- And the list goes on!

We're having fun and so far we haven't had too many major issues pop up. We can't wait to show off what we've accomplished thus far! We'll have pictures for the next post - perhaps some before and after!