Last Night on Pearl Street

It was bittersweet spending our last night at 415 Pearl Street. We'd moved out all the big furniture w/ Jason's help on Sat. so didn't have anything to sit on or TV to watch. Luckily, we were able to watch Netflix on the laptop. We ate supper cross legged on the floor in front of the computer.
With the help of some amazing friends, we moved everything out of the house on Sunday. Eddie and Carsen are loving the new house although it took Eddie a few days to adjust.

We moved our bed frame on Sat. and left the mattress to sleep on that night.

Day Seven - No new Carpet

We had the floors sprayed for fleas this morning and decided to postpone laying carpet in the living and dining room until Monday. That way if we see any "activity" over the weekend, it will be easier to treat b/c no carpet. The whole experience has been depressing. Moving will start tomorrow w/ hauling more boxes and furniture. Please pray that our flea problem is behind us!

Day Six - Carpet, Trimming, and Touching Up

We were so busy yesterday trying to get painting done before Carol and Aaron left, that I forgot to take any pictures. Painting is done in every room except for the trim. Since the carpet was ripped out in the living room, we were able to paint the trim in the living room w/o worrying about the carpet. Eric fogged the living room for fleas b/c he saw more while replacing part of the sub floor in the dining room. Our bug guy is coming tomorrow to spray and said it would be safe to lay the carpet after he was done. I thought I'd gotten poison ivy on my ankles b/c on Tues. they were itching like crazy. Come to find out they're flea bites!! Yuck!


The sub floor in the dining room Eric ripped up and replaced. In the left corner was where the cat pee smell was strongest and had soaked through.

Carpet in the master bedroom.

Carpet down the hall.

The living room w/ new trim awaiting flea treatment and new carpet.

Stairwell is done! A lot of leaning over the railing and careful rolling b/c of the new carpet on the stairs.

Day Four - New Carpet, Clean Air Vents, and more Painting

Today we had a guy in to lay the carpet in the basement and on the stairs. Steamway was also there to clean out our air ducts. Because of the vent cleaning, the AC had to be turned off for most of the day. It got pretty warm while we were working.
We couldn't paint much of the stairway b/c of the carpet being laid, but we were able to do the upper part which took a lot of maneuvering and some trapeze artist moves on everyone's part. The kitchen, dining room, hallway, and master bedroom are finished. Tomorrow will consist of ripping up more carpet, painting the spare bedroom, and Carsen's bedroom and then finishing in the stairwell. We're all exhausted but it looks so good we're proud of ourselves too!

It was hard to get way up to the top. A few of our positions were pretty uncomfortable.

The outside of the staircase in the entryway.

Love the new carpet smell!

Day Three-Painting and Carpet

Today we finally started to paint. After lots of scrubbing and steaming wallpaper, it finally came off. In the kitchen there were three layers of wallpaper so that was lots of fun to get off. Aaron and I were covered in texture and paper.
While getting ready to start painting, Carol saw a flea on the carpet. We had debated about replacing the carpet b/c it was stained and had the smell of cat poop in some places, but we planned to get it cleaned professionally and thought we could live w/ it after that. After finding the flea, the plan changed. We went in to town and picked out carpet for the upstairs and carpet for the basement and stairs. We got a price estimate and scheduled to have it laid this week which was awesome since we are on such a time crunch.
The paint stick we bought works great! Plus it's fun! We were able to do the walls in the living room in about 30 minutes. Not counting the trim and above the sliding doors. We decided to paint the walls a gray color. They were pale pink so it was a big improvement.

The entryway where the striped wallpaper used to be.

Carpet ripped off the stairs.

The 4th bedroom in the basement.

Day Two

Today we stripped most of the wallpaper, Eric and Jerry put a new toilet in the master bathroom and pulled up the carpet. Our baby gate was installed at the top of the stairs and vacuumed the closet doors and ceiling. The cobwebs were that bad.

Tearing up the carpet in the master bathroom.

Eric on the old toilet before taking it to the trash pile.

The new toilet!

Aaron and Carol washing the window inside and out.

Day One

It has been a rough week. First, we found out the woman we bought the house from didn't know she had to be out by the closing date. Second, our closing date got pushed back a day then moved again to the original date. Third, we signed closing papers on Thurs. and the woman still hadn't moved all of her stuff out. Finally on Friday afternoon she had enough out of the house for us to come in and start cleaning. Today is Sunday and she is still moving trash out of the garage. Eric's mom, dad, and sister came on Friday and we have been working our butts off cleaning, ripping wallpaper, vacuuming, scrubbing, etc. I've tried to put together some before and after pictures of what the house looked like before we moved in and what it looks like now. The final after pictures will come in the next week.
Aaron and Carol steaming the wallpaper and border in the entryway.






All the paper that was stripped.

A clean wall! Ready to paint!
Eating lunch in the living room.

Scrubbing the grossest toilet ever.

Garage Sale Success

We planned to start on Friday at 2 p.m. but the public had other plans. People were showing up as early as 11. Eric and I were scrambling to get tables set up in the driveway. We had our biggest rush before 2. Sat. things weren't quite as busy but we still did pretty well. It was a lot of work but definitely worth it.

Even though we got rid of a lot of our stuff we still ended up taking a load to the secondhand store here in town. We'd been talking about buying a little table and chairs for Carsen when we moved into the new house. I'd looked online and found a set similar for $25. This set was sitting out in the parking lot for $5. What a bargain!

Countdown: 7 days till closing

In 7 days we will be closing on our new house. As of right now everything is on track but something could always go wrong (cross your fingers!). We're having the carpets cleaned then a big 'ol cleaning/painting party. Our house is full of boxes both packed and half packed. I have come to terms w/ the fact that our house will look like this for the next several months and that I may be an emotional mess. Trying to take it one day at a time.