What we've accomplished so far

So it's been a busy, busy last 7 days at the bugalow since we closed and moved in, and I wanted to post a list of all of the work we've managed to get done so far. I'm back in the office now after a week off, so I'm hoping I can still keep some of the momentum going while it's still fun and fresh.

I want to clarify that nearly all of my plans for the house involve aesthetic improvements and minor upgrades to the existing systems, rather than any complete overhauls. We don't plan on doing anything structurally for a long, long time. Eventually I would love to add a bathroom to the second floor, making it a master suite, but this is not something I'm going to have the budget for anytime soon.

So here's a list (and pics) of all we've accomplished in the last week, obviously in addition to moving in and doing a fair amount of cleaning:

1. Removed all of the curtains left by the previous owners (POs).
Every. Single. Window. had either sheer lace curtains or frumpy multicolored ones. The bathrooms had floral curtains that matched the shower curtains. The elderly love their curtains I guess. These all had to go - I boxed them up and gave them to my mom, who wanted them for reasons unbenknownst to me... I'm not going to be thrilled if I see any of these in my parents' house when I go to visit.

2. Replaced dusty sticky blinds in kitchen windows with bamboo blinds.
They look much nicer now and go really well with the wood.




3. Put in GFCI outlets and added a grounded outlet to the office.
My dad did all of this for me! I wish I could do a vulcan mind meld and get all of his home maintenance and repair knowledge downloaded to my brain. Though I am pretty afraid of doing stuff with the electrical - I will leave that to the expert.

4. Put liners in all of the kitchen drawers and shelves.
This was Adam's mom's idea and execution! I never would have thought to do this, but she did a great job of getting everything lined so I could finally put our glassware and dishes away.

5. Acquired a lawn mower and mowed the lawn.
As the previous owners lived in Poland, I'm not sure who they had taking care of the house. So the lawn wasn't in the best shape, but after my dad brought me a spare lawnmower he was able to refurbish (!) I mowed the lawn and it looked tremendously better. We're still going to need to re-seed or sod the back yard, as it's not in good shape and there are apparently grubworms that need to be addressed. I'm hoping not to have to worry about that until spring, but I need to do a little research and see exactly how one gets rid of grubs.

6. Removed ugly floral border from downstairs bathroom, got new shower curtain, replaced wooden toilet seat with white one.
I don't want to totally diss on the POs, because they took such wonderful care of their home, but their decorating style is, umm, really different from mine. Anyway, the downstairs bathroom had a bit too much going on with the floral curtains, border, and bright blue tile, along with the faded bamboo tile on the floor...so I removed the curtains and border to tone it down a bit, and got a more modern looking shower curtain. Thankfully the border peeled right off. The toilet also got a makeover - no more ugly wooden seat!