The Big Move

A week ago today, we moved into a new house!

It's an adorable little Cape Cod built in 1940. We are the third owners, after the people who had it built and the family we bought it from. They moved in in 1949.

It needs work! We had to order all new windows because the existing ones were original and not energy efficient, to say the least. The window guy quoted $11,000 for 14 new windows installed. I told him I'd pay $250 a month for 18 months with $1000 down and he made a phone call and approved it. So we got the windows for $5500. 

We had to have the inside painted, because I don't like white walls except in hospitals. The first two guys quotes $1500 and $2000 respectively. Uh, no. I found a really great guy for a LOT cheaper (much less than half) and he also had great ideas for the rest of the house issues.

There was still orange shag carpet (not tacked down, just being used as a rug) in the basement. I'm pretty sure it had been there since, ohhhh, 1949 or so and I don't think I have to tell you it was gross.

The electric is still from Way Back When, and 60 amps of power just isn't enough for 2011 and all its Magic Bullets and Ninjas and Toastmasters.

We are having carpet installed because it would have been more expensive to have the hardwood floors refinished, and frankly, I am tired of hardwood. It makes your feet hurt, it makes bare feet feel dirty unless you mop constantly, which you cannot do with Drew DeGreif living with you, and it makes for sore noggins and butts when your kids fall, which mine do routinely. We went with top of the line Mohawk Smartstrand, which was used in a rhino pen for 2 weeks and then cleaned with just hot water - and it was still brilliant white. The carpet is made from 37% renewable resources and has built in stain resistance in the fibers, which means the stain resistance can never wash off or fade like Scotchgard. It's also the softest carpet you can find, so it's all-around pretty perfect. It was a LOT less money than I thought it would be and I can't wait to get it. You should have seen the kids stomping all over the samples of carpet. They thought it was the coolest thing.

There was faux wood paneling in the kitchen and actual wood paneling in the basement. The painter painted the kitchen and it looks AMAZING. It's like a new room - so bright and cheery now. The basement paneling hasn't been painted yet but that will be soon. I thought about pickling it since the wood is really pretty, but whatever. I'm just going to prime it, slap on some paint (probably white, maybe yellow) and be done with it. 

We need a new washer and dryer and there are a couple of places I've found for scratch and dent or display item stuff. One is Refurbking.com and the other is Pecca Wholesale. They both have great prices for display appliances.  

Other than that, the boxes stacked in the basement go to show how much crap people have that they can actually live without. I wish I could just chuck it all.

I wanted to keep the vintage feel of the house, which we did with the bright, cheery paint colors (1950s, woo! No more wars! Everything was bright and colorful.) and the vintage chrome outlet covers, art deco door hardware, etc. It's like the previous owner decorated in 1949 and never did again. To me, this house has a very, very special feel which would be diminished with new, trendy things. Granite counters? No thank you. Formica all day.

From the time I first stepped foot inside, it felt homey. I was talking to the previous owner's sons (they moved in when the youngest was Drew's age - he's now retired and living in KC. The other one is a retired Chicago cop) I mentioned that they must have had a lot of good times inside. They were both pretty emotional at closing, which made me emotional. I promised I'd take good care of their mother's house.

The movers came last week and moved all our stuff in. Joe asked them to take the thousand pound Zenith Color! TV outside to the alley and they did. I asked Joe if he wanted them to move the mattress and box springs (They left almost all the furniture when they sold. Pretty awesome, for the most part.) from Mrs. D's room and he said, no, we could do that later. They left and Joe went down into the basement to work. I was organizing upstairs and decided I could move the mattress on my own.

When I pulled the mattress off her bed, I saw a blue bag. I knew immediately what it was. I moved the mattress outside and came back in and opened the bag. 

I found $23000 inside.