We used this theme a few months ago on our regular blog and I just had to bring it back for our home blog. I love the sentiments it represents. Tom suggested yesterday that we refer to our new house as our “playhouse” as that would make all the renovations and projects seem more fun.
“We’re getting new plumbing for our playhouse!”- Doesn’t that just sound exciting!

Today was my third day at the house. It was a great day. I was so focused on all the projects I had listed out in my head while trying to fall asleep Sunday night, that I didn’t even stop to eat lunch, or even get my Ipod from my purse. We have about 40 things that we have to complete within 90days in order to bring the house up to the cities standards. They include things like making sure all the locks and handles are functioning properly, making sure there is no peeling and sagging wallpaper, replacing broken windows, tacking down curling linoleum, and other possible safety hazards. As soon as we finish the list of upgrades we will get back the 8,000 dollar ESGROW fund we gave the city. So we are eager to get that done right away. Today I am happy to say we checked off several things.

-In stead of tacking down the loose carpet on the stairs to the second floor- I just tore the hideous lime green carpet off. The stairs are now a beautiful wood with the white box underneath.
– I used the nails from the carpet tacklets I pulled up last week, to tack down the linoleum on the stairs going downstairs that had started to curl up on the edges, it was a quick job and fairly painless until I smashed my finger with the hammer!
-We have a wall of sandstone that lines the back flower beds. It was originally in front of a cement wall that provided the support for the raised beds. Well over the years dirt has crept between the cement wall and the stone wall and the stone wall was about a foot away from the cement wall in places. So I disassembled the stone wall, dug out all the dirt from behind and reassembled it. It was a hard and exhausting project, but the finished project was reward enough. I got so excited with the results in fact that I decided to move over to the other side of the flowerbeds and dig out the dirt where I made a sandstone path into the center grass area for the lawnmower or as an invitation to come picnic on the lawn.
-One of the other point of sale violations was that part of the wall on another side of the flowerbeds had fallen down. I decided that I don’t want a wall in that area however, and will finish getting rid of the stones and making a simple short border there tomorrow.
-There was peeling wallpaper in the front entrance that was to be “reglued or removed.” While I’m assuming just pulling the top layer of the wall paper from the wall is not going to satisfy the inspector, I went a head and tore it off. I’ll get some wall paper remover and finish the task tomrrow.
-When Tom came after work, he recapped the gas line to the stove with a new 1/4 turn cap. Check!
-He also removed the electrical boxes that prevented the sunroom door from being opened. After we had removed them, we tried to open the door. Even after we had unlocked all FIVE locks, we realized that the door had been caulked shut! We broke the caulk around one side of the door but will have to finish removing the caulk from the side with the hinges some other time. (Who caulks a door to a sunroom shut??!!)
-We moved our washer and dryer downstairs. (Did I mention the three appliances I bought for $420 on Craigslist?) Yup! I got a washer, dryer, and stove all for 420 and they are fabulous! They look brand new, and though I haven’t used them, I think they are going to work great.
-I took one of the electrical face plates that we removed from the sunroom and put it in the front room, CHECK!

We’re flying through the list. My plan is to finish everything that I can do, and then I will feel free to work on other projects like removing wallpaper and painting!

Good news: Tom and I had noticed there was a smell of sewer while we were working on Saturday. I called the Public works department this morning on our drive to Cleveland, and they were there snaking out the pipes before I even got to the house. It turned out the whole things was clogged and they were there the entire day snaking out the entire street!
-Our house passed the electricity inspection by the city, so they should be turning our electricity on in the next couple of days- which means we can get going on the plumbing!
-Also when we arrived all of the stuff we had left on our tree lawn from our demolitians Saturday had been removed. There wasn’t a sign of them! Wow, what service. (I guess that’s why we pay such outrageous taxes.) The guy that was doing the sewer work also told me that we can take other large garbage pieces like carpet and old appliances to the public works office downtown on Saturdays and they will take care of them for us. What a great town!

Sorry I don’t have pictures yet, I keep forgetting to take my camera. I wish I had a before and after of the stairs because the transformation was quite magnificent. I’ll be sure to get some proof tomorrow.