The House is DONE!

After seven LONG months our outside renovation is finally complete. WE are still in the paperwork process of getting it finished but as far as the work is concerned we are DONE! I'm so happy with how it turned out!

Here is the before:

 

And then the AFTER

I can't even tell you how THRILLED I am to be done, and how great it looks.  I LOVE the new colors. 

Before and Afters

I've been a busy little bee around my house. First we've still been in the process of the whole outside remodel (which thankfully is COMPLETE now...photos soon...) then we ended up flooding our den when our washing machine leaked. The carpet was bad to begin with and after water sitting on it all night long there was just no salvaging the carpet. At this time we decided to move the TV into the front room and make our den an actual den. We got new carpet, moved the computer out of our bedroom and it's wonderful!

Here are some before and after shots. (The before is when we first moved in and still had the BIG screen, but you get the gist of the layout, our flat screen was still in the same spot)

And here is the AFTER.  I LOVE it! I can't believe how BIG the room feels with that huge overstuffed chair out of the way of the entry.  (I plan to get rid of this furniture when I have some more money, but for now it stays...overstuffed furniture was SOOOO 2003...)

Next I decided it was time to take care of that UGLY file cabinet.  Nobody saw it in our bedroom, but here where it would be more prominent I decided I MUST take care of it.

 Before....

And after some ORB (Oil rubbed bronze) spray paint.

And last, we received some items from Aunt Blanche's home.  Our Aunt Blanche was almost ninety and recently passed away.  I can't tell you what an honor it is though to be able to keep some of her items in our family.  You can read all about Aunt Blanche on my Aunt Kathryn's blog here.

Here is a cute little handy stepstool we received. It will be used well in our kitchen by the little hands that like to help mommy bake cookies.  It was however, in need of some TLC.

Here it is after with some black paint and a coat of poly to make it easily cleanable.

Considering Aunt Blanche picked black as one of colors to paint her fingernails when the twins wanted to paint her nails, I think she would approve of the color choice.  MUCH better.

We got our windows installed in the house this weekend, but since they gave us all new trim on the windows we had to re-paint some of the outside.  I will have photos soon of that completed project and I have TONS of other items in the garage I'm currently working on!  Christmas is coming and we've started Santa's workshop in our garage!  It's going to be fabulous!  Can't wait to share it.

Renovation Nightmare

Two years ago my husband was driving to work and having a chat with God. He jokingly asked God to give him a new truck. Not five minutes later he gets plowed by a hit and run driver. Thankfully he was fine, but his Pontiac Grand AM was NOT. The car was totaled, and yes, my husband got his truck

This spring my husband told me we needed to paint our house. We were also in need of a new roof and some other outside repairs that we just didn't have the funds for. We jokingly asked God again to provide for us (we do realize that God is NOT a magic genie in a lamp). A few weeks later we were pummeled by a hailstorm. We had MASSIVE damage to our home. Looks like all those things we were needing to get taken care of insurance would cover.

God has a funny sense of humor when we ask him for things doesn't he?  Or is this just US?

I need to be a little more careful what I ask for. We are four months after this hail storm and still knee deep in the process of trying to get our house back together. Dealing with the insurance company and the mortgage company has proved to be a nightmare. On top of it I decided to be my own contractor to try and help save on my deductible. I've learned NEVER to do that again.

This is a long story so I'll try and keep it brief.  We had a claim for A amount of dollars.  B amount of dollars was our deductible.  C amount was our depreciation amount, so insurance cut us a check for amount A-B-C which I will call amount X.  We get our amount X Check and it is made out to us AND the mortgage company.  So, we called the evil bastards our mortgage company and they told us to get the check cashed we must send in the contractor information, their license, insurance the report from the insurance adjuster and a check for $35.00 for a home inspection when it's complete.  We explained to them we were working as our own contractor and that we would be completing some of the work ourselves and the work would be done by various companies.

Here is where things got messy.  Here is where I wish I would have thrown in the towel and just called a contractor.

The mortgage company said we would need a materials list printed from a supplier (Home Depot or Lowes), we would need insurance and license info for every company working on our house, and the estimates from all those companies.  So, we comply of course.  Problem is the people at Home Depot look at us like we have two heads when we ask for a materials list.  We decided to just send them a spreadsheet with the materials, the cost, and the item and where it will be purchased at.  10 days later, no word, and no money.  I have ROOFERS on my house installing a roof and I have NO MONEY.  I call the mortgage company and they tell us that they are missing information on a materials list.  The one we sent them wouldn't suffice.  Really?  So, my wonderful savvy husband prints a shopping cart from online and sends it to them.  10 days later we call and they tell us that a check has been issued.

Thank.  God.

So, we leave for vacation expecting a nice fat check when we come home.  We get home and yay!  We have a check!  We open it up and it is for HALF of amount X.  HALF.

I feel bile rising in my throat, and anger pulsing through my veins.  In the memo line it says "50 percent contractors material draw."  Really.  You have GOT to be kidding me. 

So, my wonderful husband gets on the phone to the mortgage company (because at this point I was about to postal on these people).  The representative explains to my husband that we can't get more money until the entire job is complete.  We ask her how we are supposed to cash flow the project and she is nothing but nasty to us.  She said we could release some of the funds for the roof, but we would have to pay to inspect ($35 remember?) every time someone comes out (roof, windows, paint, gutters etc...you get my drift).

So, we decided to get out of their nasty system, and pulled some strings to cash flow the project to complete it.   Once we get it done we will get the remaining funds from amount X from our mortgage company (granted that they don't need our blood type and a kidney from us).  THEN once it is all completed we will get amount B (the depreciation) from our insurance company.  THEN we will pay off the project.  Sigh.

It's October.  Hail storm was May.  My house is NOT done yet but we are getting there slowly.  My husbands truck was also damaged in the storm, when we found a repair shop insurance asked us "do you want the check mailed to you or the repair shop?"  I said "REPAIR SHOP."  I am backing out of the system and washing my hands of it.  I will let the repair shop argue with the insurance company and I will keep my hands clean of this mess ever again.

Here are some photos of my home and the hail damage it sustained:

Now we have gotten almost all the painting done.  We just need to finish the painting, do the gutters, get the windows fixed and new screens and we will be done.  I can see the finish line the end is near.

Here is where we are at so far:

One thing I can be completely thankful for is that through this entire process God has provided, and we have a gorgeous new roof, and we were able to redo the colors on our house and get a really great garage door.  The house looks a MILLION times better than it did and I'm loving it!  Final reveal of the home will be coming soon!