We bought a house… 
….. almost four years ago (yes, it’s been awhile since I posted here). While the house was mostly structurally sound, there were many cosmetic upgrades we wanted to execute – like immediately. As we were walking up to the front door for the first time as homeowners, we met one of our new neighbors who dispensed the following advice: “You don’t have to do it all at once.” Maybe the paint cans in our hands gave us away. We promptly ignored her suggestion and got to work. Click below for “before” pictures of our house (courtesy of Zillow), along with a really awesome photos of our front yard getting dug up for new sewer pipes on Christmas Eve (hey – I said the place was mostly structurally sound).
Originally, our house featured vivid colors; approximately 80% was mustard yellow (kitchen, sunroom, bedroom #1, and the entry way, stairway, and the upstairs hallway), with green (living room), blue (bedroom #2), turquoise (bedroom #3), and orange (dining room) sprinkled in. We found this palette a little vibrant for our tastes, and had a hard time relaxing. So, first order of business: paint! Other goals included: replacing dated light fixtures, complete renovations of our kitchen (no way would I be willing to bring children into a house with no dishwasher) and both bathrooms. Stay tuned for blog posts on each home improvement project!
Additionally, our new home had a just a touch of sewage backing up in the basement. This first came to our attention two hours before we were about to have 50 people over for our annual Kentucky Derby party. We were able to get away with flushing out the pipes – that time (and thank goodness we found an emergency plumber who was able to come before the party – nothing says “fun” like “Here’s a mint julep. Please don’t use the bathroom”). This became a chronic issue and we had to replace the pipes leading from our house out to the city sewer line. Turns out, this is a common homeowner woe; evidently tree roots are attracted to moisture (read: sewage water) and penetrate small cracks in the pipes until they are completely clogged. We now have PVC pipes leading out to the street which are more robust in protecting against invading trees. Nothing says Christmas like dropping 6 grand on the ability to flush the toilet. View the joyous holiday scene below:
City Mouse 