Even though we had a long day of driving and spending more money than either one of us had ever done in our lives.... we still had a lot of work to do. We unloaded the cleaning supplies and got to work. My dad had to go back to Western North Carolina but Ryan, my mom, Stefan and I got to work. We put Dippy, my mom's old golden retriever, and Rylie in separate rooms and started scrubbing. The house sat empty for a good six months and before that the owners got divorced, leaving the husband here on his own. I think the guy just stopped caring before he left because some things were GROSS. The bathrooms were so gross I refused to take a "before" picture of them. Ick. Press and peel vinyl was tearing up, the toilet and bath tubs were ringed with grossness and it was just not pretty. The oven was so caked with grease (and it is SELF CLEANING) that when we cleaned it the house reaked for hours. There was also the general dirt of six months sitting empty, so we were busy. We knew all the stained carpets had to be replaced in the bedrooms before the furniture arrived and we had to paint before the carpets got replaced. The list seemed pretty long!
The living room became home base for all our cleaning supplies and the trash bags, we used a lot.
The dining room was our eating area during the day and the bedroom at night, as you can see from the air mattress.
The office.... looks dark but I was hurrying to get the pictures and it isn't that bad I promise!
The spare room, very stained carpets.
The master bedroom, worse stained carpets and stained ugly powder blue walls. And gross drapes. Those are gone!
But that first night we just cleaned our butts off. Ryan and I set up our air mattress in the dining room as the wood floors were cleaner than the carpets as you can see! Then things moved quickly. We had to order new carpets and have them in before the furniture arrived Friday and we had to paint the bedrooms before the carpets were replaced! We ran out and got our paint and then ordered carpets and vinyl for the bathrooms and laundry room. While we ran all over town my mom and my brother helped clean and set up the rooms with frog tape so we wouldn't make too much of a mess. Then the painting began.
The kitchen was going from white to red, so priming had to happen and then red paint... I was nervous about it but it came out GREAT!
Check out that frog tape!
Rylie slept in the master bedroom, actually she still does. Spoiled little thing she is!
Stefan helped keep Rylie entertained and took her on long walks, which we ALL appreciated!
The menfolk painting... so cute!
I was definitely not looking my best.... oy!
We decided to do an accent wall in the living room, gray popped out at us from the fireplace and we ran with it. It looks awesome.
Painting with one hand behind his back.
In between the painting we made many trips to the store in various pairings. My mom and I hit up Walmart and the boys hit up Lowes and Home Depot. And we switched. For those few days a lot of fast food was ingested, my tummy was not happy with me. Finally we cracked and got some sandwich stuff and fruit to enjoy and give our digestive systems a much needed break. We'd start early, by 8 or 9, and work all day until hunger made us stop. There was one night we were at Applebees at almost 11pm getting dinner! We'd then pass out and repeat.
But it was worth it!
The floors looked fantastic once they were in Thursday and Friday. Then Friday our furniture arrived...
More boxes! Luckily everything made it. Yes my bathroom trash can got packed with trash in it (I swore I emptied it but I was wrong) but everything made it pretty much unscathed.
My mom and I tackled the kitchen, and while I am grateful the movers who packed us up did so with care, there was a dead forest in my kitchen. Even the SPONGES were individually wrapped in three full size pieces of paper. Overkill gentlemen. Overkill. But it was fun to play in!
Once we unpacked and settled a bit, it started to feel like home! My dad came back on Friday and he and Ryan spent the weekend getting the yard and garage door in order. My family took us out for a nice dinner to celebrate our new home (and both our anniversaries that were coming up) and then they were gone. It was a busy busy week, but we got a LOT done!
After pictures will hit tomorrow!
Thank goodness you have family close enough to help! My parent's helped me move a few different times and it was a blessing! I had to do this last move myself. I think the only reason I did it without any issues was because more than half of our stuff was left in the states.
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