New and Improved

We don't even own the house yet and its looking better already! As it turns out since we are buying the house "as is" we have to do any repairs it may need for our loan to go though. This included fixing a broken window and some peeling paint. Big deal, right? However, it does seem so silly to me that they would require us to fix the paint. I especially did not want to put any more of that yuck mint green paint on the house when we are just going to have to strip it back off to paint the house the color we like. Anyway, enough complaining its all taken care of and the window is shiny and new. Here are some pictures as proof. 

Before:

During repair:

After: 

Ordered Our New Appliances ;-)

We walked into Sears on friday afternoon expecting to pick out our appliances and wait for them to go on sale during the fourth of July however, it turns out Sears was having a 20% off fathers day sale! So as you may have already guessed, we ordered everything that day and even qualified for a Sears master card with zero interest and no payments for the first twelve months. yay!

What we purchased: 

Stainless Steel Kenmore Elite 40 in. Dual Fuel Self cleaning and Convection Oven

Ultra Satin Kenmore Elite 25.5 cu. ft. Side-by-Side Refrigerator w/PUR water filtration 

Neat White Samsung 4.0 cu. ft. Hight Efficiency Front Load Washer
                      

Neat White Samsung 7.3 cu. ft. Super Capacity Gas Dryer 

We Have Fruit Trees!

A few days ago we were having fencing estimates done on the house and the first fencing contractor (an older gentleman) pointed out to us that we have a Cherry and Pear tree! Low and behold I get my camera out and zoom in on the tree to find it covered in cherries. I am so excited! The tree has to be pretty old, its about 25-30 food tall so Im defiantly going to need a ladder for cherry picking. The pear tree is also covered in fruit however, someone chopped it down almost to a stump and now it looks like a big bush because of all the off shoots. For the time being we are going to let it continue to fruit this year and then decide if it should stay or we should start over with a proper tree. 

Fencing We Finally Like

Over the past five months we have been trying to decide on fencing options for our new house. We knew we would need a fence that was tall enough to contain our very athletic dogs without making it look like an unwelcoming fortress. The only thing we could think of was a tall picket style fence of some sort but that just seemed kinda boring and not really secure enough. Then, a couple days ago Bob drove by a house on his way to work and found this awesome fence! It has a security style bottom half and a nice decorative top. What is so awesome is how deceiving this fence is, it looks like its about 4 or maybe 5 foot tall however, its actually over 6 foot. Perfect for keeping the puppies in the yard and maintaining an open airy feel to the front of the house. 

Here is Bob (6" tall) standing next to the fence which really gives you an idea of how tall it is. 

Here is a pic I put together when I was being silly on the computer and wanted to see how this fence might look with our house. We are thinking the top is more intricate than we would like so we are going to do a simpler square pattern. It will also look much better once the house it painted a new and improved color. ;-)

We Have Interior Pictures!

Last Wednesday the tenants moved out of OUR house, Yippee! So the first thing I wanted to do was go get pics of it without all their stuff obstructing our view. 

Here is the living room. I just love all the old thick craftsman woodwork and big windows. As you can see we need to replace one window but at least its a small one.

Click on the pictures to see them larger.

Our realtor and Bob standing in the living room. OH, how I love french doors! The doors lead into the dining room. 

Dining room china cabinet. I plan to strip that awful white paint off the outside and match it to the ordinal finish that you can see on the inside. 

The Kitchen's 1960s Orange paint and wood paneling has GOT TO GO! I have great plans for this room: mahogany stained cabinets, dark green granite counter tops, stainless steel sink and appliances.

The bathroom is also in need of some updating. Luckily that awful cream, hot pink swirl, and burgundy tile is actually a roll of faux plastic tile! Easy fix! Now the linoleum is going to be a different story. 

The One Thing I love About Credit Cards

The reward programs that allow us to get cool things for free or nearly free. The thing is we use our credit cards as cash substitutes and pay them off every month, that way we don't accrue interest. So, after we spend a certain amount of money we can get gift cards among other things. In this instance we got a Crate and Barrel gift card for $50. Yay. Allowing me to get some white ceramic bakeware I have been wanting! 

It all started after I purchased a ceramic pie dish last Christmas and discovered how amazing baking with ceramic was! Not only does the food come out better it is a breeze to clean. For example, whenever I baked chicken in the oven I would dread having to clean the baked on grease off the metal (non-stick) bakeware. However, this is not the case with the ceramic ware; it just washes right off in minutes. Moral of the story: I will never go back to using that non-stick (that everything sticks to) metal bakeware again! ;-)

I Love Our Town's Architecture

The William Carson Mansion, built in 1884, Eureka CA. Now used as a private club called The Ingomar Club.

The Pink Lady sits across the street from the Carson Mansion. Built in 1889 by William Carson as a wedding gift for his son. 

Just a neat house in Arcata, CA. I bet when that tree is full of leaves you can hardly see the house.

The Victorian Village Inn, built in 1890. Ferndale, CA 

The Gingerbread Mansion, Bed and Breakfast. Ferndale, CA

Great big yellow Victorian and other nice old homes. Eureka, CA

Abigail's Elegant Victorian Mansion, built in 1888, Eureka, CA 

Another cool old house in Eureka. 

Exterior House Tour

View from the street. We are in between an old Victorian and another Craftsman style bungalow both with dark purple trim. Hmmmm

View from our front porch looking across the street. Oh, look another house with PURPLE trim! I like purple and I'm all for fitting in well with the neighborhood but seriously. 

Our realtor standing in our backyard. Can't wait to get a nice new shed and some privacy fencing.

Anther view of our overgrown backyard that Im so excited to get my hands on. 

 

We are buying the house!

THE BAD: Let me just put it out there: Buying a short sale sucks! After five months of waiting on the answer from the bank we finally got an approval. YAY! The bank gave us a deadline of June 30th to close escrow, yet they will not provide a contract saying the offer has in fact been accepted. This makes perfect sense right? In addition our bank requires that our loan application be singed by the seller, which we sent him the forms about three weeks ago and have not gotten anything back. What the heck? They do want to sell this house right? On Friday our realtor told Bob that the seller is going to sign the paper work, as if  there was any doubt? Our loan officer told us we could not start the processing till we had all the signed forms. Yet, a week later after rates went up told us that we really need to come lock in our rate before they go up even more. So, apparently we can start the process without the forms. Anyway, we now have the loan in the works and are just waiting for an appraisal and inspections. Wish us luck! 

THE GOOD: This house is awesome! They say it was build in 1940 yet I feels as though its older than that and it just may be. It is almost 1400sf with 9ft ceilings, large rooms, and indoor laundry room. All the original woodwork is intact however, they painted it all WHITE! Grrrr Even though its a huge task we plan on stripping all the woodwork and bringing it back to its original beauty. All of the doors are original including the french doors that lead into the dining room and for the the icing on the cake: original crystal door knobs! ;-) In addition there are hardwood floors under the awful office style carpet and 70s linoleum. YUCK.  Anyway, I guess what I am saying is that this house will be worth the long wait and frustrations!