Geothermal / Hive Room

It has been a while......

Yes, I have been working on the house this whole time. I looked at my last post... August 22ish, 2012, which is 2.5 years ago!

You know what happened? That week I met the love of my life. Solo activities such as blogging fell to the wayside. She and I got married in September 2014, and she now puts just as much time into this house as I do these days! (Gay marriage is now legal in where we live, hooray!)

So from now on the projects documented most likely had (quite a bit of) help from my wife. Like this one...

Project: Geothermal Room

Approximate start & completion date: 5/26/2014

We wanted to liven up the basement room that the geothermal heat pump lives in. It doesn't have much of a purpose besides tool storage, but we have to walk through it to get to other rooms. Might as well make it look nice.

Again, not afraid of the dark colors. Natural woods, chocolate brown, bamboo green, chalkboard paint.

You can see the mess in the basement- we are still working on many projects!

Reclaimed wood door from The Rebuilding Center.

Always going to Home Depot...

Light switch gets an upgrade

The corner, it all comes together

The shelves are cut from timber from our own backyard. Yes, we chainsawed them. We use a Timberjig to cut the boards.

All bark, no bite.

This is now one of my favorite rooms. We love honeycomb patterns.

Kitchen First

After a brief period of feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start, I finally came to my senses and tackled the kitchen first. Now I am close to having it done. It actually looks safe enough to cook food in there! Unfortunately I discovered the range circuit breaker is broken, so I'll have replace that. Then when I plugged in the fridge (after letting it "settle" of course) it started shutting off (some auto-protection from overheating?). I don't know what the problem is. Tomorrow I will investigate it further.

Too bad I didn't grab any "before" photos. I am planning to remodel the kitchen in maybe a year... right now there is too much to do so I just need to get things clean and working.

Progress

I'm behind on posting, but here are some updates.

The Basement (AKA former Lower Swamp)
Carpet removed, most of the moldy sheetrock removed. Water is drying up, gutter propped up so it won't overflow onto the side of the house anymore (how the water got into the basement in the first place). Much of the garbage is removed. The water heater was not working properly but I got a new thermostat for it and have not had any problems since! Still smells like mildew, I have a ways to go.

Basement Common Room

Basement Common Room

Basement Bedroom #1

Basement Bedroom #2

Basement Bedroom #2

Main floor (AKA Tolerable with potential)
The wood floors have been scrubbed (to be refinished another time), walls washed, paint bought, wallpaper planned, stove coming in 6 days. A lot still needs to be done, but I'm officially moving in on the 1st of May so I've got about three weeks to get the upstairs livable (and to pass insurance inspections).

Front Room - Soon to be pained a light Sage Green/Green tea on the walls, with Cream trim and a white ceiling

Front Room - I also just bought two wing back chairs in a perfectly matching cream color. Yay craigslist deals!

Lots to do still!

Got the house!!

On March 16 I signed the documents. On March 21, the deed was officially recorded as mine.

Much cause for celebration! I all had a lot of doubts as to whether this transaction would actually go through. All of us involved are still surprised. It has been a year-and-a-half in the waiting but it is finally mine.

Now for the "fun" part: restoration.

Timing is everything. I had to leave on the 16th to go out of state for work for a couple weeks, so in the meantime my family stepped up to start tearing out the moldy sheet rock and soggy carpet in the basement, scrubbing the greasy cupboards and disposing of trash. I return home tomorrow to join in the fun. For your "enjoyment" here are some photos of the pretty gross situation... there's a reason this house was so cheap!

Before

After

Here's an update from my mom who jumped in to help (how awesome is that! THANKS MOM!)

Slowly but surely...
Last of the carpet removed from basement. Probably need a new hot water heater; we had a mini flood but it's better now. Worked more on the perma-grease in the kitchen - all upper cupboards are now scrubbed and disinfected even if they may not look clean. Lower cupboards should be easier as they are lined with linoleum squares.
Your father has now met neighbors behind (R and A with preschool son J) and neighbor to the right as you look at the house (D who has a small white dog that we met first.) He also met some other guy who came asking if we had found his gun holster, which we hadn't and the mail man.

That's it for now. Stay tuned...
Emily

Introductions

Hello! 
My name is Emily. I am a third-generation Portland native in my twenties. I work, go to school, and dream big. The recession housing market in particular has left many in undesirable situations, but the decrease in housing prices has simultaneously created opportunities for many others to buy houses for the first time. I am one of those people.

Reference to "This Old House"
Growing up, I remember the Public Broadcasting TV show called "This Old House." As a kid, I thought it was boring, but I remember watching people fix up old homes. As I embark on this enormous undertaking for a young, busy, ambitious person armed with nothing but my father's "fix-it" knowledge, a solid work ethic and the Internet, I think revisiting those old episodes will be a valuable tool for the challenges I will undoubtedly face.

The Foreclosure Process
That being said, I do not yet have my house. For the past YEAR I have been dealing with listing agents, Realtors, banks, more banks, the IRS, the seller, appraisers, etc, etc, etc. I think I have signed half a dozed addendums. They keep telling me I have lost the house, then the next week they say they're ready to close the deal. It has been a wild ride. Supposedly, I am now in a "days away from closing" era. The holidays are getting in the way of a speedy answer, but we should get the house soon.

One thing I have learned through all this is how inefficient and redundant the communication between all the involved parties are. It is simply ridiculous that this house is sitting, unused, rotting away, when EVERYONE involved wants it sold, and I want to buy it. My offer was approved a year ago. What's holding it up? Everything from 20k in liens (we're getting/have gotten them removed) to documents signed with "too light" a shade of black ink (really?).

Are you experiencing any ridiculous lags in trying to buy a foreclosed property? What have you run up against?

In the following blog I will provide updates on everything that happens from (finally) closing the deal, to the extreme home improvement tasks ahead. Videos and photos will be used to show my steps. Thanks for reading!

Emily