Welcome Jen!

That sounds just like my house! Isn't it amazing that people can live that way? We also wore white plastic overalls and full particle masks to do ours but we just rolled up the nasty carpets with the dog & cat poop in it. Yuck I never want to do that again!

I love your house! It really is a little farmhouse and so cute. I love the colors you chose for it during your first reno. Wow, you have a lot of work ahead of you. Have you set the 6 month move in date because of winter in a trailer?

I can't wait to see your progress on this house and hope you take lots of pictures along the way.

I'm sorry you had such a bad health problem stop you, but soooo glad it was benign. Take it easy now!

Jen, good looking house. I sure wish I was closer, I'd offer to come help with my limited handyman skills. But SC is a looooong way away! As a Banker-By-Day, all I can say about the added debt is that mortgage rates are at or near historic lows. If you shop around, you should be able to get 4.75% on a 30 year, less on a 15. There are refi/renovations products out there. Depending on what your current rate is, you might be able to finance the repairs and come out with a similar payment. Maybe. Find a good lender and run the numbers.

I have a friend who is trying to sell her house but it smells of cat litter and cigarette smoke. It's only about three years old but I cringe when I go in. Smell can be a big deal breaker.

So the word Navi....are you a navigator or Navy?

Scott

Jen, what a nice house and wonderful job you have done on it! Sorry you've been so ill, but take good care of yourself and before you know it you'll be back to your old self.

It boggles my mind how some people are filthy with their homes and animals. I can't imagine someone living with poop all over the place!

I have cats and when someone walks in they are amazed that I have them....no smell. I scoop the litter twice a day and disinfect weekly. Hair is kept vacuumed up. I believe using the more expensive, and non toxic, corn kitty litter helps. I think it is ground up cobs. When we sold our last home, our realtor said the kitties even went and hid. The prospective buyers never knew I had pets. THAT'S the way they should be cared for.

I commend you for buying a home and the willingness you had to clean it up and make it special. I'm not sure I could have done what you did. You're an inspiration.

Sandy

OH your house is so pretty. Looks really clean now. Really pretty colors too. Hope you get your strength back soon.

Chris

that is such a darling little house! and surrounded by park? super!
it takes a good yr to recover from a surgery. It's an assault on the body so take care and don't overdo. that'd just put you more behind in the work.

do what is necessary to get in for now - it looks very livable to me.

my dirty place is looking a lot cleaner compared to what you had to deal with there.

Jen - What a cute homey-looking house, inside and out. I was expecting pics of the devestation, and sure can see the incentive to get it back into shape. Good info from Scott.......

Jen it looks like a great little house. I was expecting lots of devastation too in the pics but it looks in much better condition than my 60s house! :)

What an adorable little house. Be careful, Jen. I had similar surgery about fifteen years ago, and you may feel like you can do more than you should do. Go slowly and take things easily, for your own sake. Winter's still a long way away.

Thanks all....for the compliments on the house and the well wishes. I'm trying to take it slowly (n'dank & n'dank in Wolof) but that's not easy for me :-).

In regards to the house, all of the pics were taken prior to my purchase. So the owner's belongings and their love of teal green is apparent. What is not so apparent was the amount of crap (both literally and figuratively) they had stored away. When this house first came on the market, I said to myself, "There is no way you can afford it. It's already a bit past my price range, and it's so cute, it will go in a bidding war" (also because the neighborhood school is one of the best in the state). That's when my RE agent called and told me about the broker open house and the zoo that was the basement and DR. And, so, 8 months later, the house is empty, the kitchen and bath are down to the studs, and I'm planning its rebirth.

Marti-Thanks for the compliments. The teal is the previous owner's favorite color...which will go away, along with the white paint on the trim, sometime in the foreseeable future. And yes, I have a 6 month expiration on the trailer. First snow is usually around early December here in New England, so I figure by then, I need to be somewhere with thicker (and insulated) walls. Particularly since my current electric bill (with the trailer running off it) is approx. $200 a month...can't imagine those utilities with a trailer heated by electric. And isn't it amazing what people will live with? The PO's son lived in a ramshackle basement room, with the bunny rabbit cage right outside his door, with unimaginable smells and mold. Unbelievable.

Scott-Thanks for your offer. My Dad was up here during the first month of recovery to finish off my half-baked projects, and I'm hoping my cousin (who is a contractor is Saint Croix) will come up, since he's slow right now. But hey, I'll keep you in the Rolodex! In regards to financing, I hate to think about taking out a second or personal to finance the repairs....particuraly since I'm financially exhausted, having to carry both the house & condo for 8 months. My lender, who is very good, just contacted me about a refi, which I might do, then take the extra $$ per month and sock it away for repairs. I'd rather take it slow, and live in a half finished house, then worry about more debt. Oh, and Navi comes from an previous company, although my Dad is a sailor and my brother was in the Navy. Maybe it's karma talking. And I completely understand about the smoke...my friend just bought a certified pre owned Audi A4, and I could tell within seconds that the previous owner was a smoker. How I lived 18 years with 2 smoking parents is beyond me.

Sandy: Thank you for such kind words and good advice about pet cleanup. One of the first post-construction tasks is to get a dog, and I want to keep dog hair to a minimum. Good to know there are things out there to battle the smell on a regular basis :-)

Chris, Steph, Retire: Thanks, but the clean is yet to come. I lost my camera in the move and pre-surgery hysteria. I'm buying one today, and will post pictures of the demolition site that is my current house.

Writers: I hear what you are saying...thank you. I stop now at the first twinge of discomfort and sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Heck, I had to sit down between cutting my 4 shrubs and raking up the shrub-kill. Hard transition from someone who worked 12 hour weekend days doing demo. But hey, I'm not going anywhere, it's the house I could to grow old in, and I keep trying to remind myself the GW & Old House Forum Motto of "not letting the house demolish your life". So, bit by bit.

Current state of house to follow tomorrow. Thanks everyone, and have a great holiday weekend!

Well you see it is a good thing we can not SMELL what the pictures do not show. The house did look nice in the pictures. If it looks this great I can just imagine what you will be doing with it. Just get it live able then you can work on all the cosmetics of the process. Consider your health first. I had surgery many years ago and over did it and had to go back and have more surgery four months later. THEN I was really laid back, So please do not let that happen to you.

Chris

Well you see it is a good thing we can not SMELL what the pictures do not show. The house did look nice in the pictures. If it looks this great I can just imagine what you will be doing with it. Just get it live able then you can work on all the cosmetics of the process. Consider your health first. I had surgery many years ago and over did it and had to go back and have more surgery four months later. THEN I was really laid back, So please do not let that happen to you.

Chris

I'm really sensitive to smoke too and also grew up with 2 chain-smoking parents. But it bothered me then too. Probably why I got married so young. Anyhoo, I like your house and think you have some great ideas for it. I especially like the half bath by the back door. Soooo handy.

How did you get the musty smell out? That wasn't apparent in our house at first but it really bugs me now and everything I have tried has failed. I think (I hope) it's years of cat & dog stench in the a/c ducts. I mentioned to dh getting them cleaned (after reading here) and now he wants to just go through & replace all of them because some of them have loose insulation around them. Of course, we haven't priced that.

Marti, I missed your comment here about the DH wanting to replace your insulation. Maybe you can ask him to try taking out just ONE which you figure might be the worst, and ripping into it. Know how bad it is before you go the costly route.

Knowing what is inside is I think a very good idea. You remember all that Legionaire's disease stuff? That was from the hotel ductwork, if I remember correctly.

That's a good idea ML. Thanks.

navi jen, Welcome, I'm in Ohio. (Me, waving.) Your lovely farmhouse could be our next door neighbor. Is that why you were attracted to it--it reminds you of home? The floor plan is very similar to the original part of our house, except our stairway is in the dining room, on an interior wall. Our upstairs BRs have less headroom--small rooms with no attic space, and we don't have a basement. Sounds as if you had a time with yours! I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

Jen sez: "can it be a farmhouse if it is in the city?"

But of course....You think about it, the Boston Common was grazing land for the cows way back then. Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond was in the wilderness back then.

But not now. So your house is still a farmhouse even if the surrounding land has stopped being farmland a long time ago.
If you continue to think of it as a farmhouse, you will be doing yourself a favor....because thinking is a creative act. So think about it. :)

What a sweet farmhouse. Glad you've taken a sad sack and turned it into the lovely place you now have.

Do take care of yourself and do what you can when you can.

FlowerLady