Sorry I've moved...

It didn't take long, but I've moved this site to www.northofmlps.com.

Thanks.

The Inspection

Well, that was a learning experience. Nothing was too bad, but there were some things to deal with, as there always is. Mainly the place just needs a serious cleaning, my hands were sticky after leaving the place (and no, my hands were not sticky before I got there).

I was lucky enough to have my mom join me as well as my Uncle Mark. The plan is to have him help with the work that I am going to do, so it was a good chance to get familiar with the place. I won't talk about too much, since I don't even get my report till tomorrow morning, but there

were a couple things that are intesting.

Even though I plan on re-doing the Kitchen, there is one piece that will be staying and that's the oven. It's this antique oven/range from the 40s, and it's beautiful. I will have to do some work to restore it, but I believe it's going to be worth it. Here are the pictures my mom took of it.

My mom so kindly found a web site that carries manuals for these old things, and I think it would be awesome to have this in a new kitchen. These manuals have tips on restoring everything from the porcelin finish to the door hinges. Sounds like another project. I should start a list. Again, I think it really just needs to be cleaned.

Another thing we learned is that the first purchase after the house is going to be a dumpster. Lots of old crapy stuff needs to go. I plan on having a distruction party, if anyone's intersted, I'm guessing I will be paying in beer. Plan sometime in late September or early October.

Ahhhhh

Inspection in one hour. Wish me luck, as I've accepted this place "As-Is".

(insert cheesy kitchen quote)

As they say the kitchen is the heart of the house (I'm not sure who they are, but I'm sure I've heard that somehwere). Since I plan on doing some re-modeling of the kitchen in this house, I have been looking around for some ideas of what I would like to do.

I spent a bunch of time a few weeks ago browsing through rate my space on HGTV's website. I looked for a long time, and I just kept coming back to one in particular. Now, take in to account that it's got a completely differnt layout then I will be able to do, but it's got some design elements that I'm looking for. Here's a link to the design and a picture that draws me in.

I'm not sure what exactly draws me into this, but I know I like it. I don't think I will exactly mimk this, but I will be taking some elements of the design.

• I really like the dark cabinates below with the white above, and will be doing this. I probably won't do navy below, like they're doing here (at least that's how I'm seeing it, tell me if I'm color blind). I'm could definitally be talked into the navy though, it does look really good here.
• The simple design of the cabinate doors. I think I will be doing something similar, but the insert I'm thinking of will have the look of a classic bead board, not the smooth finish that they have here. (see this link)
• You can't really see it in this picture, but I really like the glass tile used in the back splash.

Anyways, this is a just a start. There is much more that I will be thinking about and going through. Like the range in the house is this really cool old stove that I would love to restore, and keep. It has dual ovens and 6 gas burners. Hopefully that works out and maybe I'll be able to sprinkle in a decorative eagle.

Decorative Eagles

This will be the third blog that I have started, although the last one didn't make it past the 3rd post, yeah I know I'm lame, but I think this one could be quite fun, so let me explain my plan.

Just last week, I found out that I am getting a house. I had an offer that I put in on June 14th accepted (only took like 8 weeks, short sales are not short). So needless to say, I will be going through a lot of new experiences in the near future. Next week I have my inspection, and then it'll only get busier after that, as I plan to add some remodeling onto my mortgage. That will require me to figure out what I want to do, what I can do, how much it will cost, and who's going to do it.

So with this blog, I plan to document my experiences as a home owner. At first it will have much to do with the whole process and will turn into design stuff and eventually become about life. After I get that initial home stuff done, I have many other plans like building a shop in the garage, tearing out a deck and installing a new patio, etc. I'm sure I will probably lean into subjects having to do with cooking and gardening too.

So here is the house I'm buying, as you can see the yard needs some serious work.

My head is full of ideas, so with lots of hard work those ideas hopefully will come to fruition. If anyone has a need for a decorative eagle, let me know I'd be happy to let you have them (I think there is another on the garage in back).