In the new house (almost)

So we went to our new house today, just to get a couple of things started. It was really good to show mom and dad the house, and to get just a little cleaning started. Wendy was largely on baby duty, as the cleaning shift really coincided with a feeding shift, but she did it in one of the bedrooms of the new house, so I guess that’s exciting? My parents, of course, worked too hard. My mom got into the kitchen and tried to make it clean enough for a dutch woman.

Dad and I tried to get the garage clean, so I can set up my tools there and have a spot to work from while cleaning out the rest of the house. We made excellent progress! We filled my trailer and emptied it in an undisclosed dumpster…amazing the things we found. Some highlights: 5 doors that had been punched or kicked in (more on this later); a cool tricycle that I’ll clean up; baby formula that expired in 2006; a leather coat with a fur collar; all of this is in addition to the 5 or 6 garbage bags of dirty diapers I took out of the garage earlier this week. It was a stinky job.

So, Wendy went about and took some pictures of things that are less than lovely in our new place. Some fine examples:

Fireplace with strangely dark grout. And one of the 7 televisions the previous owners left behind. This room has sexy faux wood paneling soon to be replaced with drywall.

Remember the doors in the garage? Almost every door in this house has been kicked or punched in. Note the damaged door and the splintered door frame. Seems like a lovely couple who lived here, no? Both of these doors are in the master bedroom – one goes to the upstairs hallway and the other to the ensuite bath.

Perhaps the strangest thing is that the previous owners took most of the light fixtures out of the house. Again, this is the master bath.

One of the more discreet examples of the lovely condition of the carpets. Every carpet will be out of the house by Tuesday.

Yes. Jet black bathroom fixtures. Sexy? You bet.

They did such a stupendous job of blowing insulation into the attic that when the attic access panel was opened a huge amount of insulation fell out. Believe it or not everything from the attic up was rebuilt – trusses, roof sheathing, shingles. New trusses, everything brand new wood. I think they blew in insulation while the roof was off, covering the access panel. Yes, that’s it. For sure. Cause it is either that or the people doing it were idiots. You be the judge.

So yes, a lot to do. It also made this pretty lovely home affordable for us, and we can put some sweat equity into it and feel great about it as our own home, one we made into what we wanted it to be. Thanks to my parents for their help today.