Our New Castle Awaits...

What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been! But we officially have a new home to go to after we celebrate Christmas. Woohoo! Knowing we were going to be replacing carpet in the new house, we attempted to get a guy out to measure but it never happened because our realtor wanted to make sure everything was good to go with the roof.

The timing of closing the week following Thanksgiving couldn't have been worse. The roofers worked on the roof the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but Perry and I weren't notified of that Wednesday. By the time we knew we needed to call the company, they were closed until the Monday after Thanksgiving so we lost quite a few valuable days. We had received a copy of the bill from the roofer for $300. We were under the impression that it was going to cost A LOT more to fix the issues with the roof. When we finally were able to contact the roofer himself, they went back out with the inspection report in hand to address any other issues the seller forgot to mention needed fixed. They ended up just giving us a quote for a new roof, which we didn't realize, so the $10k number Perry saw sent him into a panic and then me into a panic, because I was supposed to leave in the morning to sign papers on the house! Chaos and unknowns, but eventually Perry and I decided to just forget it and take the house as is.

Throughout Tuesday I finalized plans for the kids - who would take them where and who would be responsible for picking them up and such. I hate planning stuff... But it worked out so the kids could go see Grandma for a few days, and then hang out with Robin at home for a few days. Unfortunately for Robin, HD caught the flu bug and was sick Friday as soon as he got home. He sent it along to Ms. Gail and then to JP. Poor kids just wanted their mommy and daddy. Luckily they were sick with Robin because Grandma doesn't do well with that. Such trooper Robin is! But seriously, what luck is that? I leave them for five days and they all get sick...

I left bright and early Wednesday morning to fly to Seattle and then to Portland. My flight from Seattle to Portland was a little delayed; I'm not sure why but we sat on the tarmac for about half an hour. I fell asleep during that time, but woke with just enough time to tell Perry I'd be late. "What?! You're supposed to be landing in 15 minutes!" Yeah...and then when I landed he was out getting coffee. He apparently didn't have time for that in the extra half hour I gave him. We made it to our signing appointment maybe five minutes late. Not bad if you ask me!

We killed time in the late morning by going to IKEA. I was surprised to have Perry suggest we go. Terrible idea on his part - I loved it! We did resist buying everything and settled on only getting a couple pillows. We swung over to Home Goods and found a comforter for our bed. Our stuff was going to be delivered the next day, but Perry was adamant we were going to stay the night in our house, even if we didn't have a bed. I however, am a little weird when it comes to other peoples feet, and knowing that old man Philip probably had his feet all over the carpet was too much for me...

The house was recorded that afternoon around 2pm, so we met up with our realtor at the house to get the keys. This would have been only the second time walking around in the house and I immediately was overcome with a sense of regret. They left it so so so dirty. The carpets were dirty and stained, and the kitchen was caked with grease. I don't even want to think about the bathrooms... They also left their cat box, washer and dryer, and a fridge in the garage that didn't have a handle on it.  There was sooo much cleaning to be done that night before the movers arrived in the morning. With the buyers remorse weighing on me, probably because of how dirty it was (and all the wallpaper), I took advantage of the screw-off-lid on the bottle of wine and numbed myself for a while.

So without further adieu, here's the before pictures of the house. 

 Words can't describe how excited I am they left the wagon wheel, windmill, and trough. Seriously! The trough is turquoise too, it's like they knew me!

The entry way is HUGE compared to our split entry. And there is a sky light!

 Walking straight in from the entry takes you to the living room. It's not huge, but hey. 

 Complete with fireplace and doors to the deck. (The carpet is leaving SOON!)

 This is the dining area, again, complete with door to the deck, incase you didn't want to walk 20 feet to the other set..

The kitchen. So much nicer than what we had, though the appliances are a bit mismatched. The fridge has water and ice in the door, but it's not hooked up to water. And its tiny. 

 At the other end of the house, you'll find our master bedroom, complete with another set of doors to the deck. 

 While I don't like the placement of the toilet, the master bathroom is ENORMOUS. Double vanity sinks. Two sets of walk-in closets. 

 Remember how I said it was dirty? The shower was virtually uncleanable. I scrubbed for what felt like an hour...The gold has got to go though. (Side note: I don't know if the wine was impairing my judgement a bit, but I'm embarrassed as to how hard I tried to slide the door open. I recall a lot of grunting. Clearly it's and open-out kind of door.) 

 On to Ms. Gail's room, which is at the same end of the house as us. She's also getting new carpet. And paint. 

This blue beauty is the upstairs bathroom, which won't be blue for too long. 

 Finally, downstairs. this little room area will be my office space/sewing center. Through that door is a bunch of storage shelves. 

 Another fireplace and main downstairs living area. (They had an entertainment center and painted around it instead of just moving it...)

 This is through the first door - JP's room. Puke. 

 Next door is the bathroom/laundry room. Again. Puke. 

 And finally, HD's room with this awful carpet. I don't know which is worse, the red or the blue. Side note- all the closets have lights in them :)

This is what HD will see when he leaves his room. I think it's a bit scarey. We're going to wall things off and make an extra room down here. It won't have a window, but it'll be a room for guests when we have them.  

The downstairs outside patio. I'm anxious to explore the yard some more!

 Here's that fridge they left in the garage... 

And finally the back deck. One side of it anyways. That's the entrance to the dining area.

In just the couple days I was there, we got the place feeling more like home. And knowing there will be new carpet in by the time I come back makes my heart happy. Later this week, I'll give you the video tour! I'm too tired to wait for them to load tonight :)