We're Back!

It’s been too long since my last post. We’ve been busy with family visits, weddings, and work is getting in the way of my projects. Our foreign subsidiaries merged and it has kept me quite busy making sure there were no accounting emergencies - yes they exist. As mentioned in our very first post we mentioned the awful blue carpet. I just knew I had taken “before” pictures before we moved in and could not find them anywhere – the pictures you see in our first post are after we removed the blue carpet and painted some of the walls. Luckily for me I was whining telling my mom that I could not find those pictures anywhere and she mentioned that they were still in fact on her camera (cue the angels and hallelujah chorus). I took the pictures using her camera when we brought my parents by the house before we moved in. These are true before pictures – it does not even reflect how heinous that carpet really was.

I haven’t seen these pictures in a while…some of my favorite things:
1. Obvi the ugly blue carpet - I was so satisfied when we threw it out.
2. I kind of forgot that there used to be a fully functioning sink with garbage disposal (gross) in the basement - that is where we have our washer and dryer now.
3. The kitchen looks totally different now and I love being able to look back and see its entire transformation. We were able to get rid of the appliances that came with the house and get them to people who really needed them.
4. A reminder for HB who has lost 40lbs since this pic was taken - he is going to be super embarrassed that I mentioned this but I am proud of him.
5. This is before we painted every wall in the house.

Like a Rock

As you can see from our last post we replaced the countertops in our kitchen. What a difference it makes. I will never forget when we saw the house for the first time that was one of my biggest complaints about the house – the gross white laminate counters with gashes and knife marks on the surface.

We always knew we wanted granite. I thought for a while that I wanted marble but then quickly realized we are not wealthy – and not in Italy. Maybe someday when we buy an Italian villa I will be able to fill it with marble staircases and floor to ceiling marble, right, in my dreams.
When shopping for granite we did a lot of online research learning all about the benefits and pitfalls of granite.
Pros:
· Durability - hello its made from rock
· you can put hot pots right on them without damage
· they are nice to look at and easy to clean
· don’t house bacteria like other surfaces
Cons:
· Expensive
· I am sure there are others but this is really what comes to mind (cha-ching)

First thing we did is measure how much square footage we would need and in our heads set a budget. We’ve never bought granite before so we really only had an idea based on our own calculations and advertised square footage prices. As with all major home improvement projects we wanted to get 3 quotes and go with what we felt was the “best” one; not necessarily the cheapest.

We started at Home Depot just because we were there and figured they would be a good benchmark. They frequently run specials on certain types of granite and price ranges from $39-$50 per square foot. There are of course higher grades of granite but we liked the ones that were less expensive (thank goodness for that). What we did not factor into our budget was installation – which can run more than the granite itself. We had also decided we wanted a 4 inch granite backsplash that would extend up the wall (more square footage).

Next stop was a local granite shop that had an advertisement in the newspaper. They specialize in kitchens and had a wall with samples of about 100 types of granite. Their square footage price ran $50 and up for the types that we liked. I think at this I realized how many different types of granite there were. Thankfully for us we knew what colors and wood tones we were already working with and knew we wanted to get something that coordinated with our yellow walls and that helped narrow down the choices. I highly recommend doing this because there really are hundreds (probably thousands) of different types of granite.

Third and final stop was another local kitchen remodeling granite mecca warehouse. We walked in and they had all these little made up kitchens with granite countertops and sinks with a few staging items thrown in for good measure. We were greeted by a salesman and after we talked about what we wanted he showed us back to their granite yard. I wish I would have taken a picture of this because it was truly incredible to see all these slabs of granite organized by color scheme; which I liked since I could ignore the areas that did not fall into ours. I also recommend this method because you can see what the granite will look like overall and not just on a small sample. Our kitchen isn’t big so we didn’t want the granite to be too “busy”. We asked for the pricing on the two slabs we liked the best and the salesman informed us that one of the slabs was on “special” this week so we took it as a sign that it was the one for us. We also managed to negotiate a new sink to be included and installed with the granite. This was kind of the deal-maker for me since our old sink was all scratched up and I was not a huge fan of the configuration.

We then scheduled for their installation team to come out and measure – they come out with a high-tech machine that digitally measures the countertops and properly calculates them (even if you have an uneven wall which we had).

We also asked them if we could keep the granite that they were going to cut out of the slab for the sink hole. We use it as a cutting board now (and it is heavy) so I put some felt feet on it so I can slide it around the countertops without scratching them.

That granite makes me want to spend hours in the kitchen cooking up a gourmet meal – I’m sure HB appreciates that.

FAN-tastic

I have always had a ceiling fan in my room and like falling asleep to the sound of circulating air so when our home did not come with a ceiling fan in any of the bedrooms I panicked a little. I compromised with an oscillating fan in our bedroom – the sound wasn’t the same and the air circulation was not up to my expectations either. Not to mention, people were tripping all over the place because of the fan’s location. Not ideal.

I had always thought it was strange that there was a ceiling fan in our kitchen, I mean, who wants dust falling from the fan into dinner? Then one day we had the brilliant idea to move the fan from the kitchen to the bedroom upstairs while replacing the fan with a chandelier over the kitchen table. It was a huge “light bulb” moment. Considering that there was neither a light fixture nor a hole to install the fan in the ceiling of the bedroom my “light bulb moment” quickly dimmed…until it got really hot and everyone was so over late-night tripping.

We knew that messing with electricity was not something that we were really into. The idea of being juiced by electricity is just not pleasant. Again, we consulted our friend “Craig” for an electrician. We had some other electricity issues around the house such as light switches not connected to any outlets, outlets that were too big for plugs and outlets that were not even; hiring someone to help us out was the perfect solution. To help save time and money (since we were paying this guy by the hour) we disassembled the ceiling fan and made it ready for re-location. We also asked the electrician what kind of supplies we would need – again save time and money. He came over and helped us out with the electrical outlets first and we showed him our fan situation. He suggested that we go out and buy a new fan – I tried explaining that the whole point was to use what we had and he countered that if I truly desired the air circulation that I dreamed of we would need a bigger fan. Electrician: 1 ME: 0.

Off to the hardware store we went in search of a fan – HB wanted to buy the cheapest option but I went with the whole “would you rather lay in bed looking at this ugly builder grade fan or this fancy dark wood with a pretty light fixture schpeel”. Of course we got the fancy one – it was only $20 more than the builder grade one since it was on sale. So now here you have it… We have a ceiling fan in our bedroom (finally) and a nice chandelier in our kitchen. ME:1 Electrician: still 1.

Lessons Learned:
There are lots of great contractors out there who are looking for extra projects, our friend “Craig” knows a lot of them
Installing a ceiling fan really is worth every penny and I am thankful for it especially on really hot days

Kitchen Before and After

Bedroom Ceiling Fan Before and After

Fruits of our Labor

Kitchens are the #1 most used room in the house – well most people’s homes and we fit right into that category. We like to save money which means more meals at home. For me that meant more time spent staring at awful countertops, ugly fruit motifs and horrendous cabinets – ew. Not the most appetizing sight while preparing meals. I mean seriously…what were they thinking with the fruit tile backsplash?!

I think I lost my appetite again…

Once we finally saved up enough for granite countertops we wanted to make sure everything else was ready for them. First thing to go was the tile backsplash. On TV and in home improvement articles they make the removal of tile backsplash look SOOOOO easy. I thought I would have in done in a mere few hours. Here was how far I got after only ONE HOUR…and a sliced finger.

NOTE: I was taking the tiles off in tact one at a time – which later I realized was stupid since we were not going to keep the tile anyway. So I took the hammer to it.

The Details:

Tools required: Hammer, Chisel or strong putty knife, PATIENCE

I started at the end that was most accessible and placed the putty knife at the edge of the tile (right under that cabinet to the right of the stove) and began to hammer the handled end of the putty knife to wedge it under the tile enough to allow me to pry the tile away from the wall with the flat end of the hammer. This is the best way to do it if you want to keep the tile to re-use. In order to loosen the tile you may need to carefully chisel away the grout around the tile.

If you don’t want to re-use the tile then the quickest way to get the tile off is to simply take the hammer and go at it.

We made sure that the floors were protected from flying debris and if you can’t stand dust you should wear a mask. We should have worn protective eye wear but that was an afterthought – what can I say hindsight is 20/20 just like my eyesight. Another note of caution… tile is sharp so watch your fingers!

With the fruit gone how am I going to get my five-a-day?!

a little artwork

I have always felt like our half bathroom was missing something...it just needed something more. So I finally pulled the trigger on a little artwork on the back wall - gives the men something to look at. What do you think? The monogram is on the wall with a frame (no glass) around it and the picture frame above it is from my college days with new pictures I found in magazines.

Before

After



The mongram is a vinyl wall decal that was purchased at Wallquotes.com. Check them out they have some great products over there!

What is Urban Renewal?

You might be asking yourself what is Urban Renewal? Beside being the name of our blog, when you google Urban Renewal you might find definitions like this...

• the clearing and rebuilding and redevelopment of urban slums
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• Urban Renewal is a tribute album to pop singer Phil Collins, released in 2001 in most European markets and in 2003 in the United States, containing re-produced remakes of Collins' songs by R&B and hip hop performers. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Renewal_(album)
• the acquisition of run-down city areas for purposes of redevelopment.
  www.cyberhomes.com/content/allabout/glossary.aspx

If you are one of the very few lucky people to have seen our house before we moved in you might agree with many of the above definitions...all except the Phil Collins album. I bet they sing "In the Air Tonight" definitely one of my faves.

But really urban renewal is the tag line used by my father who would call and ask what kind of "urban renewal" projects we were up to. My father knows a lot about property and understands that the best return comes from those found in "up and coming neighborhoods" which is exactly where we bought. We thought it would be fun to choose our own upgrades and updates. What nobody knows is all I cared about was the fact that the place had a red front door...always wanted one. Unfortunately in our earlier post with the "before" pictures you don't have the luxury of seeing that there was a doorway at the bottom of the basement stairs for the other apartment and the blue "elementary school carpet" (dubbed by a friend) that was torn up before I had a chance to capture the memories with my camera. HB and his dad tore the doorway off since it was creepy (to me) and unnecessary. Also, since there were beautiful hardwoods under the "elementary school carpet" (seriously the lowest grade of ugly carpet you have ever seen) why keep them covered?

So there you have it, Urban Renewal was born as our tag line for our rehabilitation techniques for this house that was in desperate need.

From the Beginning...

Welcome to our blog...Here you will find the story of our little house in the 'hood. We bought our first home and before we turned 25 (a goal we both shared) and are working to make it feel more like home every day. We purchased this home as a foreclosure and according to our neighbors it was being used as a rental and 14 people were living there (?!).
The Details:

• 1050 square feet
• 3 bedrooms
• 3 full and 1 half bathrooms
• finished basement

From the minute we walked into the house we knew it was exactly what we were looking for. It needed a LOT of work and good thing for us we were ambitious enough to tackle the project - maybe a little too ambitious... Here is our home before any work had started on the gem we now call home.

Home Sweet Home

Living Room

Living Room

Living Room

Dining Area

Kitchen

Basement