Monday, January 7, 2013

New Home: Before Pics

During my hiatus from blogging a lot of things have taken place in my life. One of the biggest things has been me buying a house. Not only did I buy a house completely by myself but I also did a total overhaul on it. Below are a lot of Before and During pictures. 


The house was a foreclosure and I got a steal on it. 


I started the offer process in July and finally got the keys in September. I had the worst Realtor in the world. 


I am so mad that all these pictures are not turned the correct way. They aren't like that on my computer. Does anyone know how I can fix this? 
Above is the back door that comes in off the deck. This house has a huge yard. the deck that is currently on the house will be torn down and a new one will be built come Spring. 


Laundry closet. 


Master bedroom. I love the fact that the house is a split bedroom plan. 


Living room. The previous owner had put in ceramic tiles in the living room and dining room with a  hardwood square at the front door. It was a huge pain to get all that ceramic tile broken up and out of the house. 

Master walk-in closet


Master bathroom. This room was gross!


Kitchen


bedroom 2

Kitchen. 

2nd bathroom


bathroom mirror and light 


3rd bedroom or office


Kitchen again

Let the renovations begin!


new counter-tops waiting to be installed


Carpets have been ripped off. Even though the house was a foreclosure the former owners are the ones that had it built and didn't mess up the house when they left. The house was built in 1998 so it just needed some general upgrades. There were a lot of little holes in the wall where pictures had been hanging so all of that was filled in and sanded. 


All of the work was completed by myself, my family, and my friends. I saved a lot in labor costs but it was a very hard task to get all that completed.

In this picture all the ceramic tile has been taken out and the sub floor has sanded down. There were a couple of soft places in the floor that had to be fixed. 

This house was a huge undertaking but I could not be happier with my decision to buy it. After renting 2 apartments over the past year and half I was more then ready for something permanent I needed to make the decision to move on with my life and start a new chapter and buying this house was a symbol of that.

  I can't wait to share the after pictures with ya'll tomorrow. 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Long Lost Blogger

There is absolutely no excuse for popping in 6 months ago and then being gone again. I promise I am going to try much harder to be a better blogger. Basically I missed all of 2012 as far as blogging is concerned so here is a quick recap of my last year. 


January: celebrated my mom's birthday


February: girl's dinner (we have all been friends since jr. high)


March: completed my first 5k


April: Peeps in tuxedo's from pinterest



 

May: spent come time at the beach with my parents and celebrated Mother's Day


June: graduation and the end of my 6th year of teaching



July: went to Atlanta for a couple of Braves games and Carolina Beach 





August: got a precious puppy, visited my brother in Kentucky, started my 7th year of teaching, and went to New York for the first time with my mom aunts and cousins.


September: Cheered on my Gamecocks in Columbia


October: bought a house and moved in after doing a complete overhaul (post to follow)






November: Celebrated a sweet girls 5th birthday and my own 30th birthday




December: saw Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert, my cousin got married, and my friends had a surprise birthday party for me (my birthday is the last day in November so my party was actually in December)

2012 was a lot better year for me then 2011 but my life is still drastically different then I expected at this point. I am very excited to see what 2013 has in store for me. 

I am not sure why a couple of the pictures are turned the wrong way. I have been away so long that even Blogger looks different.