The evening after purchasing my new home, Brian brought over a bottle of champagne, flowers, and a hammer (he always knows how to steal my heart). We immediately popped open the champagne (which - word to the wise, do not drink unless you have glasses) and got to hammering. It took me a minute to feel comfortable enough to actually hit the wall, but once I got started it was hard to stop! The plan is to open up the space between the kitchen and the living room. The current galley kitchen feels claustrophobic and small, and the hope is that by opening up the shared wall between the kitchen and living room, it will give the illusion of more space. After we made a small dent in the place, we called it a night and went home. The next day, a few of my students were at school (B.T.W - it's summer vacation already, why are they still hanging around at school?!) and were bored, so they followed me back to my place and I put them to work with the promise that they would get to destroy stuff. They ended up being very handy and helped take down my first layer of melamine cabinets. The boys then went to town destroying my wall. I would only let the guys bust through certain portions of the wall because I was terrified of any plumbing that might be contained in the wall. When Brian got off work, we continued where my students left off, and tore through the rest of the wall. We did end up finding one pipe, however we are still unsure about its purpose or use (the current theory is a vent pipe). We have pretty much left the wall here, and the next step is to take down the joists. I was already given the OK by an engineer that the wall is non-load bearing (whew!), so hopefully we will demo the rest sooner than later!
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Last Thursday, I finally purchased my very first house in North Carolina. So very exciting! After what seemed like a thousand little hiccups in the buying process, everything worked out in my favor and I now own a 1700 square foot, three-story townhouse. The house is HUGE (especially in comparison to my current apartment), has three bedrooms, three full bathrooms, three fireplaces (even one in the master bedroom), and a completely unfinished walk-out basement.
What the house doesn't have are floors. Or a kitchen from the last two decades. Or paint. Or a front door that opens easily. Or bathroom vanities that come up past my mid-thigh. Or a lot of things.... all of which make this house exactly what I like because I can mold it into exactly what I want. Of course, apparently what I want are the expensive things from the Home Depot (cough, $5/square foot hardwood floors), which, if you haven't figured out yet, I realistically cannot afford. If you can believe this or not, teachers are still broke in the state of North Carolina. All of this leads me to my new blog - Twenty-Something's Design. The blog is for friends and family who want to follow me on my house renovation journey, laugh at all of my mistakes along the way, and smile at the (hopefully) amazing transformation of my home (on a dime). With lots of tips from my mom and contractor dad, help from friends and students (yes, I said students are helping me), and maybe even a few visits from my brothers (hint - hint), I have a feeling this summer is going to be a lot of fun. I hope you stick around for the ride. :) |
about meHi! I'm Lauren! I'm a twenty-something teacher and homeowner in North Carolina. I love math, decorating, and getting down and dirty learning new things about home renovation and repair. Categories
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