Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Sold Sold Sold on 6/16

Saylor Street Cottage is no more.  We closed on Friday 6/16 with no issues.  I'm so happy to have that part of the journey over.  It was a bit stressful living in the house while waiting for the closing day.  I'm not generally a nervous person but I kept stressing out every time it rained or was windy.  What if's kept coming into my head, what if the roof leaks, what if the chimney blows off, what if the siding gets damaged.  But thankfully nothing happened and we were able to hand over the keys to the new owners without a hitch.  I hope they'll be happy in our little home. 

Some pictures to remember her by from our listing.
 

Many a times we had two leaves in this table but still not enough room.  The little ones often sat on the stairs to eat!


I used to have an antique set in this room but my daughter took it for her home.  We had to scramble but got a free couch for the showings.  It fit nicely.

Yes, we had to show the house with the lizard in his tank.  This basement hosted many sleepovers and video game get-togethers for my son.  This was a new couch AFTER he left for college.

We didn't leave the punching bag for the new owners.  Often times Mr. Saylor could be heard punching it as he went into the laundry/workroom. 

Many dozens of cookies were baked in this galley kitchen.  I fed a houseful out of this room!
 
 
I think I've mentioned this before but Saylor Street was only supposed to be a transition house.  We were hoping to move into something larger along the way.  Thirteen years later we were still there.  We saw our kids go off to college or into their own homes, we hosted family parties and backyard bbq's and had some lovely memories in this house.  To be honest though, this house never spoke to my heart, it never made me excited.  Until the end and that's when I realized why.
 
Over the years we were just so busy, work, school, sports, family events and visiting friends.  The house was just a place to eat and sleep.  It was getting dated and in need of updates and it wasn't until we decided to move that we started to change a few things.  Pulling off the stained carpet and adding a runner on the stairs was inspiring.  We had to scrape, sand and stain the treads.  We pulled up carpet in the basement and painted every room.  I cleaned up my laundry room and added a white tongue and groove panel to the old drywall.  I painted my master bedroom with a cheery color and added fun pictures.  We updated the master bath.  It all came together so nicely and at the end I felt happy in the house.  That's when I realized that all this time I was decorating it in the colors and textures to fit the lake house I was hoping for. 
My sons room after he moved out.  It was never this neat when he lived at home.

Our updated master bath.  This one was hard to let go. 

The bright and cheery master bedroom.  We even did custom trim around the windows.
 
A happy backyard.  It almost felt like there was a lake behind it.
 


For two years I had been decorating the Saylor Street Cottage as if it were my lake house.  I made Saylor what I wanted my next house to look like.  You can see the nautical decor in the pictures. 

The last day before we left I walked through the house to say goodbye and realized I wasn't going to miss it.  We had built some memories but it was time to go. 

We close on the new house this coming Friday.  I have been homeless for a week and it's been stressful.  Thankfully my daughter has an extra bedroom! 

Our new house is going to need some slight updating but it will be fine.  I have all the décor pieces I need to make it feel like home almost immediately.  It's on a quiet channel that leads out to the Fox River.  There was a little glitch along the way with regards to flood insurance and I have become quite knowledgeable on FEMA and flood plains!

New beginnings are exciting.  I'm looking forward to making new memories. 
Now I have to find someone who is selling a boat at a reasonable price!

Come visit me at my new blog home @ https://dutchcreekcottage.blogspot.com/

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Officially On The Market

Saylor Street Cottage hit the market on Friday April 14th and we received 3 offers the next day.  We accepted an offer and today was the home inspection.  I'm a little nervous about it because we have an older home with older appliances.  I didn't replace the appliances because in my opinion if I would have replaced the appliances then I might as well have remodeled the kitchen.  The kitchen is dated but we made it cute.  We also have a home warranty and have had one for many years.  Whenever an appliance needs repaired we pay only $75 per visit.  They once repaired our refrigerator for over $800 which I thought was a waste of money on their part but we only paid $75.  If they can't repair they will replace so I suppose it's more in their favor to try to repair.

We of course had to leave the house during the inspection and it felt a little weird letting people dig through our home.  It's still ours until we close and even thought we're under contract it's still a part of us for now.   I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything went well.  I'm sure they will want some concessions for the older furnace and air conditioner but they're covered by the warranty as well.  We will be transferring the warranty to buy them time should they decide to replace them. 

So the hard part is over as far as I'm concerned.  If all goes well we will need to find our new home.  Nothing good has come on the market where we want to move and I may have to be less picky.  I'm looking for something on the water.  I get scared of flooding so I need to find something that is high and dry! 

This moving stuff is a lot of stress, money and sleepless nights.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Knobs and Other Hardware

Our kitchen cabinets never had any knobs on them and we were ok with it.  We decided to add some stain to the cabinets and I thought that some hardware would add additional character.  I went with venetian bronze and I like that they are on the darker black side.  The stain took a while to dry and we're going to clear coat them to protect for washing.  I can't wait to finish them.  At that point the kitchen will be complete.  Well, Mr.Saylor doesn't know it yet but I'm replacing our stove. The control panel was a black paint that has flaked off.  It looks horrible and I think it makes the kitchen look ugly.

We had some shelves in our master closet that I never used.  The old owners didn't have them set up and I didn't need them.  At some point I added a bookcase in the closet and it became the dumping ground.  When we had the carpet replaced this week I took everything out.  It makes our closet look huge so I really don't want to close it up by adding the book case back in.  Instead I'm going to put back the shelves.  I bought brackets today only to find that the ones I bought were too short. I have to go back to Home Depot and buy longer ones. 

While at HD I bought some shellac and sprayed it on my ASCP painted shelf.  I hope it fixes the chipping problem.  Well see tomorrow.  How did a little shelf painting project become a weeklong project?  I just have to stop myself from making changes.  It's time to get organized and get her on the market!

Sometimes I feel like we should get our own episode of First Time Flippers on TV.  We're not actually flipping this house but the little projects seem to be challenging!

We're almost there!

Monday, March 20, 2017

Almost Finished.

We're so close to being finished with the house.  I think now I'm starting to go overboard but sometimes those little touches just finish it off. 

Saylor Street Cottage is an older cape cod style home so nothing is perfect but I've tried to give her some charm.  Recently I decided to paint this ugly cabinet we have in the kitchen.  I tried to take it down but it's glued to the cabinets above the refrigerator.  I bought a can of ASCP Old White about 2 years ago and decided to try it on the cabinet.  It looks nice but started to chip.  Now I have to go get some shellac to try to get it to stop chipping.  A job I didn't need to do. 

We just had a new carpet put in our bedroom and need a plumber to fix a stripped faucet in the bathroom.  All these little extras add up but have to be done.

I just can't wait to get her on the market.  Deadline is 3/31/17!  It's coming fast.

Monday, January 2, 2017

A big 2017

I don't make new year's resolutions anymore because I honestly never hold to them.  I think it's important to set goals for the year like one does at a job.  Life really isn't a job but goals give us a road map to follow. 

This years goal is to finally lose enough weight to be healthy.  Looks aren't the goal but health is.  As I slide on into my mid fifties I can't fool around anymore.  This year won't be some epic lifestyle change, I'm just going to start focusing on making healthier choices.  I want to be at a weight so that this time next year losing weight won't need to be a goal.

We're moving along on the updates on the house.  We're so close to finishing and being able to list before the spring.  I want to replace a couple of windows because they're drafty and we probably should have done this a while ago.  We had the waterproofing guys in to fix the foundation, then replaced our basement carpet.  It didn't cost nearly as much as I thought so that was a win!

My daughter bought a house of her own and moved out about a month ago.  Now that I'm technically an empty nester the house stays pretty tidy.  I can remember when the house was in constant disarray and chaos.  I would get the kitchen cleaned up and the next thing I know someone would pull a bunch of stuff out of the fridge or cupboard. The basement family room was always a mess but now you can barely tell that we are even home.  I almost miss those messy days.  They were stressful but fun.

I'm hoping to post more pictures as we finish up our chapter in Saylor Street Cottage.  I've got lots of little things to do.  Paint trim, was out cupboards, polish and shine.  I really hope that we'll be able to spend Easter in a new lake house home!