We own it!

Finally, after a year and a half of hoping, dreaming and holding our breath, we signed for ownership of our new home this morning. Hubby and I were both a bundle of vibrating nerves and excitement, so coffee'd up that we didn't know which was reeking more havoc on our stomachs. When it was done, I just wanted to have a good cry. I'm over it now and ready to move forward.
I drove up to get the keys and remotes this afternoon, take measurements and make sure the heat was on high enough. It's been incredibly cold the last two weeks for this region. With daytime temps struggling to stay in the low 40's and overnight lows in the 20's, I was starting to feel like I never left Maine. It was, in fact, warmer in Maine all week than it was here. It finally surpassed 50 today and it felt positively balmy. We are destined for the 60's this weekend. It should be good project and moving weather for the rest of the month. We are hoping to have enough done to move in before the end of the month.
I have a meeting with our flooring installer tomorrow to talk about the kitchen tile pattern and get his measurements so I can order flooring for the living room, hallway and master bedroom while he gets busy on the kitchen. I've designed my own tile pattern and wanted to do the install myself but realized that it was a huge job to do alone and relented to Hubby's insistence that it would be quicker to hire someone. Since I'm a bit of a control freak, I'm fretting over whether it will be done the way I want it. Deep breath...
I also lost the battle over laying the flooring in the rest of the house but I didn't fight that hard. The last time I tiled or laid flooring of any kind, I couldn't feel my right arm for two weeks. I have a little issue with nerve damage that I try really hard to ignore but big projects get the better of me. So it's goodbye linoleum and carpet, hello tile and wood!
We will be having a few unexciting things done as well but I don't think there's much interest in before and after shots of the water heater, water filter systems and roof work. We've got a page full of little jobs to get out of the way before and after we move in.
I have been trying to weasel more work on the kitchen out of the money we have to spend but, once again, being a responsible adult wins out. We need to put the money where it needs to go first.
I spent some time looking closely at a few details in the house to get some idea of what lays ahead in terms of work. I checked out under the counter which seems to be a hack job. I found that all the cabinets were installed as a 5th grade field trip project apparently because there is nothing professional or polished about it. I had discovered they skipped the underlayment beneath the laminate counter when we first looked at the house because I couldn't fit my fingers above the drawers to open them. They didn't line anything up so I will be unscrewing and resetting most of them next week so they don't mock my OCD. I need to remove a couple end cabinets and replace them with narrower ones before the floor is started and appliances arrive. We have exactly 34.5 inches in which to squeeze a refrigerator and that doesn't work for me. I plan to take them apart and rebuild them to the right dimensions.
I wanted to see the quality of the cabinets as well because I plan to refinish and re-door them. I am perplexed that the drawer fronts feel plastic while the cabinet facing is obviously wood. It definitely bears further investigation, as the home inspector would say. I wanted to make sure the bathroom vanities were also solid and well made so I can refinish those as well. That turned out to be less of a disappointment. They are surprisingly well built. New stain and counter tops will do the trick.
The showers in both bathrooms are another story. I'm still collecting ideas from Pinterest on that one. And speaking of Pinterest...I am trying to figure out how to add the "Pin It" button to my blog. I scanned a couple web pages that were helpful. Now I just need to try it out. When I have a finished project, I will give it a whirl but for now, it's off the dream about all the fun we are going to have.