Laminate floors: 0, Catee and Dave: 1

Dave and I spent Sunday afternoon removing all of the baseboards and the laminate flooring on the first two floors of the house.  Saydie supervised.   There was so much dust that it was impossible to get the photos to come out any clearer. When were done we sat and soaked in our empty house / construction site - it was the first time that we actually felt like it was ours.  I want to remember what it looked like today, and the feeling of having no idea what it will look like in the future. 

What lies beneath

Yesterday we visited the house for the first time since closing. Our goal was to figure out how our ceilings, floors, stairs, and walls were made.  We did so by making huge holes everywhere.  We learned that our stairs were literally being held together by the carpet that was stapled to them (our first stair broke in half when we took off the carpet), that under the laminate floors are 4 inch wide pine planks, and that the joists holding up the parlor and third floors just might be strong enough to do so without any of the structural walls that we currently have. 

Budget Kitchens

We need a new kitchen.  Big time.  Here is what ours currently looks like:

The kitchen is the most important room in the house for us. It's also the most expensive to redo.  We need to find a way to make it a) functional, b) pretty, and c) cheap.  We are thinking that doing it almost entirely white or black and white might be the way forward: you can find nice, affordable shaker cabinets at Ikea, we probably won't get sick of the look too quickly, and we can add color with art and accessories. 

Here are some ideas. 

Home Sweet Home.

This is our new house.  I won't lie:  it kind of looks like a dump right now and needs a lot of work. Someone commented on Brownstoner's house of the day  that is was "gross".   Due to an extremely tight budget, we will need to do almost all of the work ourselves, and find creative ways to save money.  Needless to say, we are psyched.

PS: We did not pay even close to the asking price.