Jumping in "Head First"

I like to think of this photo as "The Calm Before the Storm." 

 

Sean and I had our celebratory lunch after getting the keys, snapped some before photos, and treated ourselves to a beer on the rose carpet of OUR NEW HOME!  We considered this a celebration of sorts, and a little boost before we dove into the wallpaper in the kitchen.  These next photos are also a little ironic looking back now...

That is me smiling taking down the first sheet of paper.  Let me rephrase that: That is me smiling, taking down the first LAYER of the first sheet of wallpaper. 

That's one excitable and clueless face!!

Check out those steamer skills!!  What we did not realize was that we were dealing with very old, very layered paper on very originally plastered walls. 

 

While the two of us were working on the kitchen's first layer, we received help from Sean's family.  I need to take a second here to say a big THANK YOU for every second of your time, every blister you received, and every hunk of sticky glue you had to pick off of yourself.  They were a huge help and we will always be grateful for that time.  After we realized the paper situation we were actually facing, here's what happened:

 

 

Looking at the shreds still gives me shivers.  Every inch of every layer needed soaked, scraped, soaked again and scraped again.  And not just with those spackle contraptions that you see the guys on HGTV using.  Oh no.  Our scrapers had blades...blades that dulled faster than you would believe when facing goopy, latched-on-and-I'm-never-leaving adhesive and paper.  This was the first time in my life where I cursed an old woman.  (Sorry Pat, I take it back.  Thank you for selling to us)!

 

After a long night of scraping and picking with an unbelievable team, we had tackled the downstairs!! So hours after getting the keys in our hands, this is what the house looked like.  August 9th was a long day, but gosh darn it was it productive!  We gathered up the scraps, picked the stuck-on paper off of the bottom of our shoes, and flopped our tired, home owning selves on an air mattress in the middle of the living room.  After all it was our floor to finally sleep on...

 



The "Befores"

As soon as we got the keys on the 9th, we headed to Bogart's for a celebratory lunch, changed our clothes, and dug right into wallpaper!  Before the sticky & sweaty uncovering of the walls, I snapped a few "Before" pics so we would always remember how we bought the house and how far we have come.  Here is the house exactly how we bought it:

   

 Dining Room

Our dining room was equipped with plush rose-colored carpeting, blue & white floral wall paper, & a crystal chandelier.  The space is HUGE and has the character with the arched doorway and loads of light due to two nice sized windows.  You can see the kitchen peeking in the left hand corner.  We would love to chop that wall in half and create a breakfast bar (super way into the future plans!)

 

Living Room

 

The living room is another large room where the rose carpet continues.  When we looked at the home the previous owner had at LEAST 15 pieces of furniture scattered throughout.  So what a refreshing sight when we opened the door on this day and were able to see just how big the room really felt.  This room is also plastered in wallpaper, every centimeter (even inside the window frames!) and has a gas fire place which adds more charm & warmth- AND above it a perfect place for Sean to hang his ginormous TV.   

 

Here's a view of the living room from the stairs.  Another arched doorway :)

 

Kitchen

Here's a shot of our kitchen.  The interesting bits of this room are the glazed blue & pink bathroom tile, wallpaper, Lady Kenmore appliances, ceiling fan, and lack of functionality.  The room is actually a really good size with the cabinets being in great shape.  The kitchen is right next to the dining room and has a door outside to the back of the house and a door to the basement.  This kitchen is screaming some day potential, and has been an interesting little "catch all" while we work on the house.  I love the big window by the sink, and the back of the kitchen is a great amount of space. 

 

Office

The office is a really long room where the previous owner put an extra closet next to the original.  We were blessed with more yellowed wallpaper and the carpet could use a little TLC.  This room is also a great size with high ceilings.  Now that we have our little computer desk in this room, you can see just how much space we really have. 

 

Master Bedroom

Another good-sized room with lots of character with the slanted ceilings.  You can't see very clearly here, but there is also wallpaper in this room that matches the theme throughout the home as well as the carpeting. 

 

Guest Bedroom

The guest bedroom makes for the exception in the home in that....(wait for it...) NO WALLPAPER!!!  I love the little nooks & crannies in this room & I feel like this spot in particular is screaming window seat!!

 

Bathroom

Ahhh our bathroom.  Also no wallpaper (very lucky!!) but a continuation of the pink theme.  I love the originality of the tile on the floor, but we need to make a few adjustments in here some day.  As you can see the toilet is extremely close to the vanity, making certain things a little too cozy for my 6'4" boyfriend.  The vanity is also kinda sinking in and while I was one of those kids that enjoyed the taste of Pepto, seeing it on the walls in glazed tile form is a bit much. 

 

So that's our little slice of Delco heaven!!  My brain spins with ideas as each day passes, and keeping my OCD under check has been a challenge, but I'm doing just fine!  We feel extremely fortunate to have been able to purchase a home and every little inch by inch we are happy to make this place ours.  I plan on posting our progress, so stay tuned!!

 



And Here It Goes...

Hi everyone!!  Thanks for coming to take a peek at my blog.  I thought this would be a nice way to keep everyone up-to-date on our home, our updates, and the crazy times we call our daily lives in Philadelphia.  There have been a lot of changes recently.  Oh, you know, the usual....us buying a house, us buying a FIXER UPPER house, me transferring in my job, Sean getting a NEW job, and me moving into a completely new city.  It's a lot of new things, good things, but new nonetheless.  Transitions are exciting, but can also be crazy and scary at times.  Our mission is to take everything in stride, take our time, and keep smiling through each new challenge.  




Here's us smiling (Note: We haven't tackled wallpaper yet at this point)  

Our new home is a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom (it was listed as 1 1/2 bath but I'm going to be fair and not count a toilet in the corner of the basement placed out-of-code in front of the electrical box a half bath) Cape Codish/Colonial in a beautiful suburb of Philadelphia.  I'm officially a Delco resident and Sean is happy to be back in the town where he grew up.  Without further ado, here she is:




Us on the morning of our closing

On August 9th we walked into closing, signed our lives away, and walked out with the keys to our new home :)  We jumped right into our reno, and I can't wait to share what we've done so far.  There will be more pics to come so stay tuned!!