home sweet townhome

If you've talked to me lately, you are probably tired of hearing me complain about wanting a new house sooooo badly.
Truth is, I am always anxiously awaiting the next big thing in life and a new house is THE next big thing at this moment. I'm sure once we have the house, there will (hopefully!) be something (or someone!) else for me to anxiously await.

I do love this townhouse and it will always hold a special place in my heart.
In 2007 when I signed my name a hundred times and handed over the biggest check I had ever touched of my hard earned money, that is when I really, really felt like an adult. No more moving from one apartment to another with my friends and dealing with scumlords. (and boy, did we have our fair share of horrible landlords!)
Now the responsibility was all my own if there was a problem that needed to be dealt with. Yikes!

Fortunately, my best friend Lisa lived with me until John moved in after we got married. I know right?! people still do that these days?! So I wasn't all alone and had help with bills and taking care of the place. But after a bridal shower, wedding, and John's stuff moving in filling whatever space Lisa did occupy, there is no room left. I'm tired of not being able to find what I'm looking for, and something falling on me everytime I open the closet or move!
People think I'm joking when I say my basement looks like Bed Bath and Beyond. You be the judge.

while taking thes pictures two dishes fell and broke!
I told you something is always falling on me!

 

So if I want a new house, I must sell this one and that will require some work. All those projects I intended to do when I bought the place and never did are suddenly standing between me and my dream home. So it's time to make them happen! Sure, some of them can be scratched from the list but one there is one that absolutely can not.

The carpet has GOT TO GO.

No amount of steam cleaning or Dyson vacuuming is going to make this look better. If I had the money at the time I would have ripped them up as soon as I bought the place, but I didn't. Once the furniture was moved in and things got settled, I didn't really want to deal with a project like that, so I kept telling myself they weren't that bad.  But after 5 more years of wear and tear, they are that bad and I would be embarassed to show them to any prospective buyer, but I'll show you. Look at them!

Ok maybe the pictures don't do it justice, but if you saw them in person, you'd understand.

So we (actually John, my brother-in-law Justin and father-in-law, not ME) are ripping up the carpet and putting down wood floors the weekend of October 20th. Izzy and I will be packing our bags and heading to Washington DC for a girl trip to spend some time with Lisa and her dog Daisy and stay out of the way while the work is being done. Just like Extreme Home Makeover!

I feel a teeny bit bad about leaving all the work for someone else, but then remember John really likes projects like this. It's good quality MAN time. He's been analyzing his drawings of the floor plan, re-measuring, even ripping up corners of the carpet to take a peak at what he's going to find underneath (and it ain't pretty).

So tonight I played my part in this project and picked out the type of flooring we are going to use at Lumber Liquidators in Robinson. So many choices but this is what was decided upon. Brazilian Koa.
It's laminate, but you may not be able to tell if I didn't let the secret out.

So as we're ready to tell the friendly sales guy Mike to load up the truck with 400 square feet of this stuff, my father (the bargain shopper) in me comes out and asks... "So Mike, any chance this is on sale?" even though the sign clearly said it wasn't. And just like that Mike shared that they are having a huge sale beginning next Thursday. The kind of sale where they open early and stay late and it may be worth our while to wait to buy this. Well geez, glad I asked! If we can save some money, John will be there bright and early next Thursday morning when the doors open.

I wasn't really sure where we were going to store all of this wood in the mean time anyway!

Can't wait to show you before and after pics in a couple weeks!