Over the Last Month…

Greg’s 29th birthday and my 31st have gone by, his parents came to visit (it was great-thank you so much to them for the help), we got a loan to finish the rest of the house, we were asked to be featured artists in Minneapolis, a handful of pieces were finished and a few were even sold in the time we’ve been gone around here.

Lieutenant Dan (the free dresser without legs on the curb last year) was finished a few weeks ago and I love him so much with his dark blue Miss Mustard Seed milk paint, chipping and two beautiful walnut crotch veneer drawer fronts. Oh, and his “new” antique legs are a perfect match.

We picked up another dresser at a garage sale that required very little work to fix. The rustic, natural wood peeping through with the green spoke to me so I left it.  Not to brag (okay so I am) but the last four pieces we’ve picked up cost us a total of $8. 3 were free.

This curb dresser was repaired, refinished and sold within a week.  It went to a great couple in St. Paul for their nursery.

The sideboard sold to a lovely lady in Red Wing.

I had a garage sale over the weekend. Just willy nilly hey, I’m going for it with about 4 hours of prep the day before. I should have kept it one day but was in the groove and tried again the next day which proved a mistake. I closed after 90 minutes with only 4 visitors and $.50 then went around town to the numerous garage sales. No luck finding anything but better than sitting and staring into space.

Summer is back after a brief glimpse of fall-like weather. Minnesota is reaching record temps today. Later this week will bring more fall-like temps again. I’m ready this time. I love fall.

Things started to look like we wouldn’t be able to come up with the funds to get the house completed in our timeline which started the crazy cycle of negativity, paranoia and melancholy. Things were slow going, too slow, to achieve the goal to be done in spring. Pretty much everything that could go wrong did. That was when we sat down and decided to get a loan. We just paid off our car, the rate is good and we plan to pay it off when we sell the house. We wish to let it go and move forward. We’re in better days.

So, Greg was on vacation last week and we worked on the house.

Greg and his dad 

With the help of his parents and then just us. The basement bathroom was tackled. Still being tackled. For months it sat untouched. Not since my parent’s visit because we simply did not have the money.

We can now do laundry upstairs instead of down in the dark utility room…although we can’t afford a stackable washer and dryer. It’s a nice feature though.

Before

After

The “new” front door we picked up for free is up after all the trouble with the paint sprayer.

We put in new outdoor lights too.

And a new mailbox.

With the handleset and other supplies the project cost less than $125. I’m pretty proud. Plus we’ve had many neighbors tell us how great the place looks these days. Minus the neighbor boy (who has most likely never even been by our house since he doesn’t live on the lane but on the main drag) who told his friend that when he looks at our house it makes him glad to have his. That was not a good day.

We picked up these cool chairs from the same woman we got the patio chairs from in town. $40 and home they came. I’m in collecting for ourselves mode, looking for things to bring with us from Minnesota to Washington.

When we bought the house…

I’m aware that I blurred the house numbers in one photo and left it for the others…don’t stalk me please.  And don’t pay any attention to the wilting azalea…it’s very hot and I did not prep the plants before this shot.

A trip to Lowes and Home Depot yesterday provided us with the new tile for the bathroom and supplies for a future project using the butcher block maple top we picked up for $2 a few months ago. I ordered a new pedestal sink for downstairs, new light for the dining room and bought new running shoes so I can get my butt back on track. A good deal of that stress would have been remedied if only I kept to my treadmill routine.

So, I stepped back for a month (intend to continue that from time to time) and came back to you fresher, clearer minded, focused and determined to get the house finished and on the market so we can begin a different life near Seattle.

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7 Responses to Over the Last Month…

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