Looks like we are closing today! Also, DRAMA.

Warning - wall of text!  But a lot has happened.

I haven't been posting because we have had issues in the house buying process.  I didn't want to jinx anything when there was already so many frays around the edges - but news is, today is finally the day.  I'll try to elaborate on the issues we have been facing but I think I have blanked some of them out of my memory, ha!

First, we love the property the house is on.  We have never questioned the state of the house itself because we know we can fix, change and upgrade over time whereas the land you sit on is in the "you get what you get" category.  Keeping that attitude in mind, you'll see why we moved forward despite some crapinstances.

The issues started with inspection day.  Two full months after we first saw the property we went in for inspections and the owners hadn't cleaned out one thing. No one was living on the property, but it came to light later that 3 households worth of stuff was being stored in the house - so we are talking about a lot of crap. This is also why I never posted any pictures of the place - there was just a lot of junk to see.  In any case, once our offer was accepted and time passed and we made appointments for inspection and show up - we come to find that not one thing has been moved out of the house.  Uhh... how are we supposed to do a proper inspection with your crap everywhere, people?

The inspections came back... not good.  Actually, some of it was good -  the roof is in perfect condition and has 10+ years on it, and the sewers look great and they also have 10+ years on them. So, woohoo!  On the other hand we have some serious "issues" - serious enough that cutifying the house is on a back burner until the living conditions are sorted, thusly:

• furnace is shot, all ducts under the house are rusted and needs replaced; furnace is located in a dangerous area and not up to code. - solution - the bank is actually paying for total replacement and relocation as part of the FHA loan stipulations
• We have termites, and a small amount of mold 
• Dry rot found in a lot of places, necessitating the need to replace 2 bedroom windows (and the siding/sheet rock) the side door, and the mysterious door to nowhere that wasn't properly sealed off the deck, a front post, under the tub, etc.
• Electrical through the house is not grounded and we are computer people, so basically we need a full house rewire.  The box the electrical comes in from is top of the line though so that's the good news.
• Excessive moisture under the house - we have to put in a moisture barrier, fix a couple of vents, and reroute the downspouts from the gutters
• The bathroom needs some simple plumbing and re-caulking since leakage from the tub has led to more dry rot
• The house is in bad need of sealing and repainting (I'm actually happy about this one: butter yellow and turquoise house, here we come!)

So, I guess all in all not terrible, but its going to eat up every penny we have saved, and we will have pretty much NOTHING left over to get the gross carpets out, or to do the stuff I really wanted to do like adding french doors off the deck in the dining area and knocking down the wall from the kitchen. Sadness.  Oh well. Time will fix that ;)

Then we came to another pickle... the sellers were going out of town on July 10 for a vacation and would not return until July 17 - smack dab in the middle of when we were all supposed to be signing, doing final inspections and whatnot.  And we came to find out that these people STILL hadn't cleaned the house out!  In the end, the sellers agent paid to have someone clean the house out for them!  It was the only way that the sellers agreed to sign before leaving on their vacation. SO scummy.

The other part of that story is that the Jacuzzi tub was still sitting on the property.  The sellers owe $6500 on the unit, it is not included in our documents that we get it (although, it is not excluded either) and they want to take it with them.  We don't care, we wouldn't use it anyway.  But we were supposedly going to take possession of the property on the 18th and they "didn't have time" to move the unit before leaving for vacation.

Very begrudgingly we agreed to sign a document that allowed them until the 24th to take the unit.  We got a deposit check from the sellers agent (not even the scumbag sellers...) for $500.00 to cover any property damage during the move - yeah right, like $500 is going to touch a broken down fence.  Anyway. The 18th rolls around and it doesn't close because there are some issues with the heater being funded, but now being required by the FHA loan.

Oh, I should mention that we have a cut-off date to close by the 21st or the house goes into foreclosure - so we are really up against a wire in dealing with all this last minute shit.

By Tuesday the 19th, the spa still hasn't been moved, and the sellers aren't responding to calls from either of the agents to find out what's going on.

Then shit really hits the fan.

It comes to light that there is a judgement against the seller to the tune of $4300 lien against the house dating back from 1999.  Why this was not found out MONTHS ago when the title company was doing the paperwork is completely beyond me. The title company cannot close with a lien on the property.  Everyone starts running around like a chicken with their head cut off.  The sellers straight up REFUSE to pay this lien off.  Finally, an agreement was made on the lien to buy it off for $2000.  I am told that in cases like this, those funds are split 4 ways between the 2 agents and the seller and buyers.  Which sounds like complete bullshit to me (why should we play this douchebags debt off!?!  It's asinine!)  But so far, our agent has not heard whether or not we would be having to pay out of our pockets.

For the curious, this judgement is because the seller refused to pay medical bills for her husband's illness once he died.  Really lady?  You think people didn't work on him before he passed, resources weren't used, people's time wasn't taken?  Just because he passed away doesn't mean you don't have to pay the bills!  Of course, in her case, that is exactly what it meant.

Anyway, back to the spa.  We signed all of our final paperwork on Thursday the 14th (while the sellers were on vacation and before this lien stuff came to light) and in the pile of paperwork was a hand written document that said "blah blah blah we will get the spa by the 24th and we are responsible for any damages to the property".  The sellers had not signed it, but we were told that the sellers agent had their copy with the signature on it.  So we signed our copy without their signatures.

Fast forward to Wednesday the 20th, during the lien fiasco, and it comes to light that the sellers never gave the spa document to their agent before leaving on vacation, but on Wednesday they handed it to her with the  date crossed out and the 31st hand written instead.

The freaking NERVE.

I swear to all that is noodley I am LIVID.  If the jacuzzi situation (since it is now a Situation [not to be confused with The Situation]) was the only issue, I don't think we would care.  We are pretty mellow, open, honest, people and often go out of our way to help out fellow citizens.  They could have until the day we moved in and it would be fine with us.  But no, this comes at the tail end of rude, self-centered, tacky, disgusting behavior and we are not having it.  As long as we close today, we will honor the 24th to allow them to get the damn thing out of our yard.  But on the 25th, we are calling the people they owe the money to and telling them to come get it.  The whole mess sickens me.

Anyways. Hopefully pics by the end of the weekend, and I'll do some updates on the immediate plans. Right now I am spent. That was way too much writing, but I needed this to be down for our memories sake ;)

edit: I forgot to mention that since we didn't close on the 21st, we now have to pay $500 dollars a week to extend the closing date.  Such BS.  And you know the sellers won't pay any of it, even though it's their fault (what with the lien) that we didn't close yesterday.  Jerks.

Plywood

So, apparently we are in escrow.  How cool is that!  Wednesday we go in for our inspections and picture taking, so look for an update soon there after with lots of photos!

Today I am thinking about flooring, and have been on the mad search for CHEAP but BEAUTIFUL ideas.  There will be no carpet (the cheapest option, truthfully) because we do not live a carpet life style.  Multiple doggies + carpet = no me gusta.

I have done some looking into bare concrete flooring  and acid staining, but that costs quite a bit and is not really a DIY.  I was on the phone with my pops last night and he mentioned plywood flooring.  I had not thought of this aspect (I have always been thinking laminate, see earlier posts).  So in doing some searching, I found some pretty great stuff:

Found at http://design-crisis.com/?tag=painted-floors 

Pretty, right? Hard to believe that that is just plywood that has been sealed; no stain or anything.  We would definitely stain ours as we agree that dark wood is what we are going to be doing in the house.

A person who has done this to their flooring commented as follows "I cut 4×4′ sections of 1/2″ birch plywood, glued it to the sub-floor using a high-quality wood flooring glue (there are quite a few), then for an industrial look, countersunk stainless screws at each corner so they were flush with the top of the my birch “tiles” but left them visible, sanded the floor and then sealed the floor with 3 coats of hardwood floor polyurethane. Five years later they look great, are easy to clean – same as a regular hardwood floor"

Seems super doable, right (says the person with no hand tools, experience, or time...)?

Then again, lots of folks saying it is so soft that everything dents it, which also doesn't match up with our idea of easy living.

Ho hum.

Where all Women Belong

If you guessed this post was about my future kitchen, you would be right.

Whats with the insanely sexist title you ask?  I'm feeling silly.  Overtly and overly sexist ridiculousness is a running joke in my house so I figured I would bring it to the blog, too.  You're welcome.

Anywho. I started writing down what I want to incorporate into the kitchen in the new house.  Then I remembered I started a blog for these sorts of ideas. Derp.

In a nutshell, what I want in the kitchen is practical, usable space, as much storage as possible, light, bright and airy with the whimsical beach cottage slant.  Pretty much like the rest of the house.  Color-wise, I am going white walls, colored cabinetry (shades of celery green), the same dark flooring as the rest of the house and I already have stainless steel appliances.

Now, onto the nitty gritty:

I will be doing 2-tones of the same color on the cabinets.  I am going to reuse the cabinets that currently live in the kitchen as much as possible, and otherwise will go out to ReStore and try to get cheap-o ones.  They are going to be painted anyway, so as long as their bones are good, I don't care if they mach.  That is what paint is for.

There are two ways I can go with getting two shades on the cabinetry. My first thought was to go with something I saw on  http://www.centsationalgirl.com

It is a very subtle difference here. I think doing the faces in one color and the frame in a lighter version is so sophisticated and lovely.  But maybe it is too sophisticated for a casual cottage?  Then I ran across this picture:

Here is a kitchen that is the wrong colors, and too busy for my taste, but there is something so warm and wonderful about it.  Is it the light coming through the window?  The glass shelves above the sink (I might have to incorporate that for a little mini herb garden)? All the greenery (plants, not paint) they have about?  Maybe it is the way the owners have incorporated the 2-tone cabinetry.  I am really leaning more towards this version of 2-tones.

Plus the added fun bonus... Adding glass to some of the cabinet doors (or leaving the doors off completely) and painting the interior of the upper cabs the same color as the lower, darker cabs would be so delightful.  Observe:

Does that looks like they might have painted over beadboard wallpaper inside the cabinets to you, too?

from Martha Stewart

Now, I know that the inside do not match the lower cabinetry in these pictures.  I just wanted to show how cute it is to let insides show like that.  I couldn't actually find a picture of what I have in mind, but I'm pretty sure it is going to work.  Also, how about the farm sink (I think that is what they are called?) in that second photo?  /dies

As far as counter tops go... it's been a real thinker.  I currently have Corian, and I am not happy with it.  It scratches. And it leaves marks if you put something hot on it.  And it just looks cheap. Not as cheap as laminate of course, but I still am not happy with it.  I am against the idea of tile too, so that is just out.  I have never had to live with grout, but I am guessing I would hate it. A lot.  We aren't the cleanest of people, and just the idea of all the little bits getting stuck in the grout-tracks gives me the willies.  I need a nice flat surface that I can run a cloth over and know I got everything up.

Granite and marble are probably out of the picture, even if we find remnants or go to liquidators.  It will just be too much cash to put out at the get go.  So, I have turned to the idea of butcher block counter tops.  The more I think about it, the more I LOVE the idea.  I would not seal them so that 1) they could be usable - I am a cook. I love cooking, and the idea of a counter top that is not food safe boggles the mind 2) the raw wood has natural anti-bacterial qualities 3) although I probably wouldn't cut on them much, over time, the roughening up of the wood surface would totally fit in the with rest of the house decor and 4) it's cheap.  I have been reading you can do the whole kitchen in butcher block from Ikea for $300 bucks in materials.  Yes please.

This one looks to be sealed, but I am not sure.

http://www.theletteredcottage.net/

And this one is not sealed - that or the owners don't care if they poison themselves from the bread sitting on  the sealant (as an aside, how adorable is this kitchen overall?! They even have my farm sink...)

Decorpad.com

Additionally, I am going to re-purpose a JC Penny Kitchen Cart I already own to fit the decor of the room.  The unit I have looks along the lines of this, but it is a bit longer, and is all dark cherry stained wood:

My idea is to sand and paint the unit white, add some feet instead of the wheels, then get a remnant of granite or marble for the top in order to create an island on the cheap.  I hope to find a topper that will overhang enough so that I can tuck a couple of stools at one side and have this double as a food prep (insta cutting board!) station and casual dining space.  Not that we EVER eat anywhere but at the computer desks.    In the house we are looking at, there is a non-load bearing wall in the way if where I want this beastie to go, dividing the kitchen from the dining area and living room.  I smell demolition in it's future.  Barring that (my pockets, they are not so deep), this will just get pushed up against where the wall currently is. I guess. Psh.

Another detail: bead board backsplash.  So adorable!  I have been seeing the look a lot on decorator blogs.  Honestly though, how can you not love it.  It is no wonder it has caught on with gusto.

http://kleypas.blogspot.com

The place we are looking at does not have a pantry, so I thought that this was a great idea when I saw it on  http://kleypas.blogspot.com (her redone kitchen sure looks a lot like what I envision for my future home...).  Using free-standing cabinetry as a pantry, and then replacing the solid door with curtained frame is such a good idea.  Plus, you can make the curtain tie in colors to your liking, easily clean it, and change it on it whim.
Not that I would get that whim very often.

Finally, lighting.  I hate how dreary my current kitchen is, and it isn't even that dreary.  I am just in the kitchen for most of my free time on weekdays and having fun creating fun foods on weekends, so I demand LIGHT. I want recessed lights all over the ceiling and over the sink (or maybe a pendant lamp there, but husband would hit his head on the rare occasions he does dishes).  I want undercab lighting.  And I want a pendant lamp in lieu of a chandelier or whatever over my island seating.  If it is half as cute as this one, I will just squee:

from Coastal Living

House by the beach? Make it a Beach Cottage. Duh.

I'm caught up in the Pinterest craze. Holy smokes what a great little tool!  I don't really browse other people's boards so much as pin my own stuff incessantly.  Up until now I have been keeping several Google docs that have images of things I like, and to keep track of links to tuts and whatnot.  Pinterest is much easier!

The great thing about it is that I learned what the style of the new house will be - well, this is after a discussion with the hubs regarding his choices for paint tones (the man is colorblind and ergo gets no say on the color, but I allowed him to choose brights, versus whites.  I'm effing generous, right?).  We are going pastel, with the dark floors (probably not the black) and I am going to try my hand at beach cottage style.  It's so easy! It will just take time...

The last week I have been reading a lot of "how do I make my house beach cottage style"and I read the best tip ever: white slip covers.  Now, knowing our life is the dogs, you might think this is a crazy notion, but this is where the tip (that never even occurred to me) comes in:  white can be easily bleached, which means stains are easily removed, never fades, and keeping it spiffy is a quick fix.  So awesome.

As an aside but related, I saw this yesterday and I couldn't agree more! I am glad there are more people out there like us, at least enough to necessitate this awesome sign:

Looove it!

Anyway, my head is starting to fill with actual plans now that I have tones decided, colors semi picked (waiting on some more paint chips to arrive, and might have to hit Ye Olde Home Depot this weekend if the chips I got don't satisfy me), and a style truly decided.  The weird thing is, I think that this has been my style and I just never knew it.  I am always drawn to plain white ceramics, or clear glass (which all my dishes currently are).  I hate clutter and knick knacks.  Casual comfort is the way I choose to live.  I am drawn to ocotopi, jellyfish and mermaids like no ones business. I think I'll survive the whites.

I am not sure why I didn't lean towards "beach cottage" sooner.  Probably because plain white bores the bejesus out of me, but I am learning the way to get my color in is with 'pops'.  White can be fun and dramatic if you bring enough eye candy in.  As long as I stay away from beige and tan I should be quite happy!

Taste the Rainbow

Mmmmm colors colors colors.  One of my favorite things in the world is just playing with color.  I am one of those freaks that can color match anything to anything else.  I can "see" shades of color within other colors.  I am the dope who looks at something purple and can honestly tell you there is too much orange in it.  The color thing is pretty much my only natural talent.

And that means that when it comes to picking paint colors, I am having a hell of a time.

I know the general colors I want and where I want them to go.  The trouble lies in whether or not it will fit with the feel we want for the house: casual, cozy, whimsical, cottage, low-maintenance and airy.  That IS a style right?  haha!  What I envision for the style of this joint will be the subject of a future post (I just deleted an entire paragraph of info I decided to save for later).

Anyway...

The majority of the house is going to be the same green I have in my current place.  I love it so much. I have also decided that most of the new house is going to have faux wainscoting with white or off-white on the bottom so I can go bolder with my colors on the upper half.

Here is my green. So yummy! (by the way, my home monitor makes this look way different from my work monitor, which means who the hell knows what it looks like on YOUR monitor.  If I were to name the color this should be, it would be Asparagus Tips)

And just an idea of what it would kind of look like in a room with the dark floor:

Of course, I would never, ever have a light-colored couch.  That is a recipe for disaster.  Any couch we might one day have will be in a dark version of the green, or possibly brown/neutrals. The majority of the wood furnishings in the rooms will be white.

Kitchen, dining room and hallways are all going to follow the same color as the living room since chances are they will all be touching anyway.  I want white cabinets in the kitchen, dark counter top to match the floor, white backsplash, and then a stronger version of the green on whatever walls show, which won't be very much.

Under Foot

Well, we are still on pins and needles waiting to hear about the De Solo house.  The yucky news is that we found out the package STILL hasn't gone to the bank. Apparently the sellers went out of town the day after they accepted our offer, and their agent is "very part-time".  Sometimes no news is good news.  And sometimes no news is no news because nothing is freaking happening.  Our house is a pile of paper sitting on some nimrods desk.  le sigh.

Regardless of which house we end up in, we have to get it furnished and decorated and all that good stuff.  I am already working on my paint colors, and I know the wall treatments I want, both of which are subjects of future posts when I get some prime examples to post up.  Today though, I am pondering floors.

I have long hated the carpets in my current house.  I am sick of carpeting at all.  We have dogs.  WEll, that is an understatement.  We pretty much live for our dogs and they are the only children that we will ever have and so we have planned this move around them for the most part.  With that in mind, there is no reason to keep carpets.  So we are doing the hard flooring thing.

I have contemplated doing concrete floors, but I think that will cost an arm and a leg compared to good ol' laminate flooring.  It is not the best, but it is sturdy and easy to clean.  That about sums up the way we live too. We need something that will last, that we can be lazy with, and not have a heart attack over when the dogs poop on it.  Which they will.  With gusto.

So, I looked at colors today of the popular name brand and I have picked out my favorites. Luckily, one of them is also Eric's favorite, too!  Here is what we were looking at:

Madagaskar Teak (LF 000052) Nice and dark with just a hint of cherry to it.


Dark Cherry (PH 4710) I love the warmth of cherry woods. This is the darkest I saw.  But i'm leaning towards it not being quite dark enough:




Charleston Oak (080110).  Might be a little grey maybe?  It is sort of lacking warmth, but maybe that is because the first two I am drawn to have so much red in them:

And finally, Ebonized Oak (080107).  This one may very well end up being the winner. I love it.  Eric loves it.  It really depends how its going to look up against the walls and whatnot.  I need to do a style board before settling on anything.

So, there is that.  Seeing them all together like this is helpful.  Of course, I have not seen any of them in person. And I haven't put them next to my colors yet, so it is really up in the air as yet.  But hey, at least it is a start.

Stalking

No, not in the insidious way.

I think it is fairly normal for people to stalk the house they are trying to get (please tell me it is...).  I have driven by twice since it is on the way home from the market.  And I keep looking at it online.

This morning, however, when I began my stalker routine, the (my!) house is gone.  Gone from Redfin. Missing from Zillow.  401'd on BayAreaHomes.  I did find it on a couple other sites though after my mini heart attack.  The status changed from 'Active' to 'Pending With Release'.  As a first time home-buyer, I have no idea what this means.  I'm waiting for Pete's reply email with the answer.  From what I can gather though, it's a good thing and just means they aren't going to accept other offers on it.  Can I get a woot woot!!

Today marks one week since we submitted to the seller.  They accepted on Monday of this week, and I hope they have forwarded our offer to the bank by now (this is a short sale home, like almost all the homes that are currently on the market in our area).

Sitting on pins and needles for a full week sucketh.