Friday, March 15, 2013

Painting Our House!

*The bottom color is the new color*

I have the best workout anyone would ever want! It is better than any class you have taken at the gym. Painting a house! Not just any house, but a stucco house! Last weekend we started painting our house and actually got most of it done within a 3-day time span. I have no desire to paint my house again in a very long time! However, the interior walls are begging for color as I write this. They’re just going to have to wait.

Last Saturday we pressure washed the house, sidewalk, and driveway. There was so much dirt that came off! Our water bill is going to be through the roof but it looks great. By the time we finished washing everything, we were running out of daylight so we decided just to paint the trim. It seemed like a good idea at the time and we love how the trim looks in Pure White by Sherwin Williams. Looking back, I would definitely save painting the trim until last. We are going to be going back for touch ups this weekend.

Sunday was spent prepping with Frog tape and our two best friends came over to help us paint. While Daniel went around putting on the Frog tape (great stuff by the way!) Allison, Steve, and I painted most of the front of the house and the front of the garage. The wall color is Colonial Revival Gray by Sherwin Williams. At first I thought that it would be too light since it looked almost white in the paint can. However, it was much darker once it dried and looks great! In certain light it looks like a soft gray and in other light is looks bluer.

When we were painting the front of the house, it began to get frustrating because the roller covers we were using weren’t covering as well. We had to go back over with a paintbrush to fix the spots that the roller was missing. This frustrated me because I bought the rollers specifically for rough texture and this was taking a lot more time than I thought it would. On Monday morning, we went over to Sherwin Williams to get some more paint and I happened to mention to the guy about the covers. He had us buy a different cover and it made all the difference! We were able to get the other three sides of the house done in one day!!! The cover we bought, which I highly recommend, is Purdy Colossus. It was a huge lifesaver for us.

This weekend’s project will be to finish painting the alcove area right above the front door and also go around and finish all the small touch ups. I can’t wait to have the house fully painted and done! Then once we get the landscaping cleaned up and the garage door repaired, we will be done with the HOA to do list and the house will be looking more like a home. Even though it is a lot of hard work in such little time, it is so gratifying 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Our New Home!

We finally did it!! On February 15th, we purchased our first home. It has taken over a year to finally get the house that we truly believe the Lord had planned for us. We went under contract on two different houses before getting this one. The first one was a short sale that we waited for about 6 months before pulling out. The house is actually part of a large fraud case and was wrapped up in the court so it was taking too long to get the title cleared so we could purchase it.
The second house we tried to purchase was a foreclosure. However, once we had an inspection done, even our inspector told us to run away from this disaster. It would cost too much money to repair for what we had budgeted. Also, since we were using an FHA loan, it did not pass the FHA inspection. The Lord had a plan in that though. My dad passed away only days after we walked away from the house. With the last minute flight expenses, we would have been in financial trouble with closing on a house at the same time.
We went under contract on our current house at the end of September. Since it was another short sale, we were prepared for waiting another six months or so until we would be able to close. Surprisingly, on January 4th (the day after my 29th birthday) our realtor called me telling us our offer was approved by the bank. It was the best birthday present I could have imagined! The weeks after moved so quickly between the inspections and getting our mortgage loan finalized. Before we knew it, we were sitting in the title company’s office signing a mountain of paperwork. The house was actually ours!
Looking back over the past year, I can see how the Lord had a plan for us. He already had this house picked out and it was, by far, better than any of the others we had tried to buy. It does need some work but overall is in great condition for being vacant for years. The Lord truly has a plan for our lives and it is important to trust in Him. We may not know why things happen the way they do, but we need to trust in our faith that the Lord is in charge and has something better than we could ever possibly imagine.

Stay tunes for updates on learning to be first time homeowners and fixing up our house! I promise some very entertaining stories!