Smith Kitchen Renovation

I finally found the time to get my kitchen all cleaned up and staged for some beautiful photos. Here it is.. our kitchen. Over the course of about ten weeks, we painted, put down a new floor, and got new appliances and dining furniture.  I am so pleased with how it turned out!

I want to point out how pretty the light fixture above the sink looks.  It is original to the house.

Decking the Halls

Oh Christmas.. my favorite time of year. Snowball fights, sledding, decorating.. Except really it's not. I don't like the cold, the snow, and I don't like putting up Christmas decorations.. or do I? This year, having my one year old Ivy to share Christmas with and owning our own home, has changed my perspective on holiday traditions. Especially decorating!   I realized that Christmas decorating isn't that much different than regular decorating, just more festive. Since Ivy makes it difficult to get much done at once, I'm working slowly through the house. And, since I am cheap, I knew I had to do most of my decorating on the cheap. Here is what I have come up with so far. (Sorry my camera skills leave much to be desired!)

a retro kitchen addition

A couple of weekends ago, Tim and I went to a sale in Goehner, NE at Plainview Vintage and Thrift. The owners were clearing out garage space for new goodies. Tim and I scored some goodies of our own. Behold: a gorgeous set of fabulously vintage canisters!

Starting the kitchen update.

Hello, all! There has been some progress in our humble abode!

After years of pinning and pining, I knew our kitchen would be the first place to get a facelift, and I knew what kind of kitchen I wanted.  I have a whole Pinterest board of retro/country/modern kitchens, but there is one particular pin that has inspired me. It's from blogger Jen Johner.  Her kitchen was even featured on apartmenttherapy.com. Find her blog here!

So cute. I cannot resist yellow.

FINALLY

Well, we finally closed on our first home. Even though it was a long (long!) time coming, everything seems unreal still, like it's not a permanent move.

There are plenty of things that Tim and I really want to update and renovate and change into something special to us, but since the bank took it's sweet damn time getting everything in order, we had to move in quickly, set all our stuff up, and prepare for miss Ivy's birthday party this coming Sunday. I have been so dang busy unpacking and arranging our things, and doing all the things needed for the best first birthday party that we can give, that I haven't had time to worry about the ugly kitchen floor or wallpapered master bedroom.

Even if we had planned on doing some quick painting or something, we have had a couple issues pop up already. We've had water problems in the basement.  I should  have known when the previous owner had a dehumidifer running, that there was a moisture issue. First the basement bathroom toilet overflowed (twice!). And, the AC unit wasn't properly draining outside, so we have wet carpet and padding and drywall. Son of a bitch. Down the line, these issues are going to need a more thorough clean up; for now we are running fans (and the dehumidifer).  Tim is fixing the toilet and we re-routed the AC drain.  Ugh! That was not a nice welcome into home ownership.

The first few things on our list are:

• new flooring in kitchen, hallway, and bathroom
• stainless steel appliances (weee!!)
• a new main floor bathroom (which is a lot worse off now than I remember from looking at the house before)

Yikes. Well, before pictures of our dwelling will be included in the next post. And maybe some pictures from Princess Peach's party.

The waiting is the hardest part..

Seriously, Tim and I have been waiting since freaking May to close. We were initially getting an FHA rural development loan which had to be approved by the USDA.  Well, the USDA has income guidelines set for the loan which our bank told us from the beginning that we meet.  We waited almost FIVE MONTHS for the bank to process our loan and send it on to the USDA, which is ridiculously uncalled for. Finally, the USDA received our file, and reviewed it only to come to the conclusion that we make too much money to even qualify for the loan! So technically we waited five months for nothing. The bank really screwed us over first by taking so long to process our file, and secondly by assuring us we qualified for the loan when in fact we don't.

I don't know of anyone else who has ever waited so damn long to close on a home.  It wasn't even a short sale! Pretty much everything that could have went wrong in this process has.  Now we are changing the loan program from RD to a conventional NIFA loan, and have to come up with $6,000 in assets for closing costs, taxes, a down payment, and two month reserve, which is also a huge pain in the ass.  In the meantime, Tim, Ivy, Raul and I are all staying at my mom and dad's. 

All this time I am trying to stay optimistic that we can close by the end of August and have Ivy's first birthday party on September 1st at our new home. I have talked Tim into putting down a dark laminate hardwood in the kitchen, hall, and bathroom, and getting new stainless steel kitchen appliances.  For now we're just waiting to close so we can freaking move in and start putting our touches on the Smith House.  Stay tuned  :)

Pinterest, my one true love

Well besides Tim, Ivy, and especially Raul. Most of my pinboards are homage to my (new) home. I have been virtually renovating it for at least a year! All of my inspiration, all of my plans, painstakingly organized.

Oh how I love thee!

Mackenzie Smith (thekenz88) on Pinterest

What's the holdup?!

Well, we should already have closed on our loan and moved into our new house, but somewhere along the line, we got snagged. We're projecting our new closing date to be June 20.

I really hope so because I can't freaking wait to move!! I was just telling Tim last night that I can't hardly remember what the heck the place looks like.

Man this has been a long and frustrating process! Until next time, here is a link I saw with some helpful moving tips.

33 Moving Tips That Will Make Your Life So Much Easier - http://pinterest.com/pin/7670261838326155

In the beginning

Well, Timothy and I officially have purchased first house! Closing isn't for awhile still, but I am already freaking out with a million ideas on  how I want to renovate and decorate each room! It's not that the condition or style of the house is terrible, but I know we can make it much better, and hopefully we can do it inexpensively and easily.

Here I will document and record our journey into home ownership and home renovation.  

Goodbye linoleum floors and wallpaper! Hello beautiful home that screams TIM AND THE KENZ LIVE HERE.. with baby Ivy  :) 

& for good measure: