Photo update

Chip and I are off to grout the upstair bathroom tonight so should have some pics to share soon but to get you through the lull here are a few ditties of the Dining Room.

First day looking at house before we bid on it

such pretty walls! 

walls and ceiling patched/fixed, molding stained and polyed.  Floors still not refinished yet

Floors done, furniture moved in and began painting (my favorite color in the whole house so far!)

lighter coat of grey color going on the top above the molding

Living in two houses can be very confusing

We saw, we came, we conquered.  The big move that is.  We set a date and stuck to it and now we're currently living out of two houses which can be very confusing, frustrating...well, you get the picture.  Since our "grand plan" is to rent our old house in Malta there wasn't a sense of urgency to move everything.  But the hubby surprised even me by moving all the "big" contents of our house to the new Saratoga house last Friday.  Granted we have a ton of work still left to do but the house is pretty much livable as long as you don't need a a working shower and kitchen to live!!  As my mom would say, "god help us and save us Joe Davis." 
So here's the current situation - the girls rooms are done, less moulding and some painting touch ups.  That made me feel good about bringing them to the new house.  Our bedroom has a ways to go but the bed is comfy and we slept like babies our first night there (sure it had nothing to do with exhaustion!)  The upstairs full bath is still being renovated.  Shower is in the middle of a tile job, the floor is prepped for its tile job and the sink and toilet are picked out and ready to be placed.  Hopefully that all goes well and will be complete by Friday. 
The downstairs is in pretty good shape as of today.  Kitchen:  appliances were delivered on Saturday morning and the cabinet installers started yesterday (and made amazing progress.)  Hope to have a working kitchen by Friday minus the countertops which can't be fitted until the cabinets are in.  Dining room was painted by brother Mark over the weekend and we were all ecstatic over the color.  You just never know until you put it on the walls!  Living Room is painted and the couch fits perfectly - big YEAH!
Certainly the best part of the house has to be the original hardwood floors which were a mess when we bought in October.  HUGE shoutout to the Hardwood Floor Guy out of Ballston Spa, NY who did such an amazing job.  If you ever need your hardwoods renovated or want to install we would highly recommend this company.  Consummate professionals!  Wish I could link to their website but they don't have one so here is a link to their contact info.
Sooo, yes we are currently showering in Malta and "living" in Saratoga but shouldn't be too long before we're all in.  Below are some before and after shots.  We did good if I do say so myself :-)

KITCHEN

Kitchen the day we decided to bid on the house.

Original window and door

Kitchen Design

During renovation - old window gone new pretty window in :)

Old door gone - new French door to backyard installed

BIG TRANSFORMATION!!!

Began installation of cabinets yesterday

 

Will move onto other rooms in my next posts.  Need to get some good shots of the hardwood floors.  You can almost see a glimpse of their beauty in the above pics but they don't do them justice.  Until next time....Peace!

And the Beat goes on....

Somedays (ok, recently, most days) I would like to stop that ticking clock but there is something to be said about giving yourself a goal and trying, REALLY HARD, to reach it.  So here it is, two days before Thanksgiving and our goal of moving into Regent St. is looming like a dark cloud over our heads.  I'm honestly not trying to sound so ominous, it's just that there is SO much going on.  Thanksgiving, a family wedding (which i cannot wait for), packing up our entire house, working a full-time job, taking care of 2 kids and Christmas all during which Chip is working his butt off at Reg.  YIKES!  December 16th is sooo close.  Oh and did I mention that we have to get our house in Malta ready and rented for Jan 1st.  Do I sound stressed?  Valium anyone???! 

Well, with all that being said, the progress at Reg has been nothing less than astounding and I say that without having been there in probably 2 weeks.  Chip and I had the pleasure of designing our own kitchen.  A first for both of us.  Chip actually let me do most of the "designing" which was beyond cool after I took a deep breath and stopped being so overwhelmed by it all.  I mean, where the heck do you start???  We had little choice in stores in which to purchase so off to Home Depot in Latham we went.  And I'm so glad we did.  We met Kristen who couldn't have been more helpful.  She took her time, gave us many different options and when we finally decided on the color and cabinet look she went out of her way to make sure that we got every "deal" that was out there.  I would highly recommend her.  Here is a sketch of our new kitchen (Thomasville cabinets in cream with an Ameretto glaze)

I'm in love with the different heights of the upper cabinets and the little upgrades we added (garbage pull out, rolling shelves, pull out spice cabinet, toe-kick drawer for kiddie stuff, etc.)

Another reason for my infrequent posts is lack of a working computer at home.  So hopefully I'll get that remedied soon and then post some new pictures.  Till then......wish us luck!

It's Official!

We closed on 210 Regent St., Saratoga Springs on October 7th at 1PM (10/7/11/1 - future numbers to play in Vegas!)
The renovation has begun.  Chip is so gung-ho that he already has the kitchen ripped apart and I still haven't gotten up there to document the progress. (note to self:  must send Chip up with camera or leave camera at the house)
The man has a plan and after this weekend we should actually have a brand new french door for the back entrance into the kitchen and a new window in the kitchen as well.  That will certainly change things up quite a bit. 
Looking forward to decorating the porch with at least a couple of mums and a pumpkin or two.  It's the little things...right?!
Until next time!

It's September 6th with no closing date yet....anxiety is starting to set in.  Our inspection came back with no major defaults, all cosmetic, which we obviously knew going in.  Our Radon test came back today and passed with flying colors (thank the good lord!)  Now we are just waiting on the bank. 

I've been addicted to Pintrest, hoping to come across an entryway that looks exactly like ours so we can just copy the idea or a picture of a front porch that's similar to ours - only decorated and looking pretty.  I've come across some great pictures....future inspiration.  My pintrest page - click here.

Fingers crossed that the next and final stage goes smoothly and we can finally get our "sweat on!"  Holla!!

More Pictures - before renovations begin

August has proved to be another CRAZY month for us.  Mostly due to Verizon going on strike and Chip forced to work 100 hour weeks.  We haven't stepped foot near 210 Regent St. except for a quick drive-by.  I almost forgot that we are about to embark on another adventure in our life. This post is to finish putting up the "original" photos I took; pre-renovations.
Hopefully the closing will take place by mid-September and our dearest friend, Junior, can help us begin this journey!!!  (Junior - don't forget that I agreed to Key West!!!  Just the boys!  That should at least guarantee your ass is upstate for 2 weekends.)

Living Room looking through door into Dining Room - that will be GONE!

Living Room - bye bye radiator!

Dining Room - one of the worst rooms on the 1st floor

Dining Room looking through into kitchen - walls are sooo pretty!

Dining Room ceiling....sagging like an 80 year olds boobs!

 

 

Entryway looking into the living room.

Entryway/Foyer area - staircase is to the left

Entryway and front door

Staircase

Now up the stairs....

Bedroom #1 - we'll temporarily call it Maddie's room

First Pics of our new Digs

Well, here they are, before any renovations and still quite filthy (not to mention that god awful smell,) the first pictures of our new adventure...210 Regent St. Saratoga Springs, NY!

from across the street

Looking down driveway at Carriage House

front porch



back (and a cute red head!)

The fugliest kitchen - EVER! 

Built-in Pantry - could be original.  Keeper!



Carriage House

Downstairs 1/2 bath

downstairs 1/2 bath

Cat's Out of the Bag

It's unofficially official.  We put an offer on a house in downtown Saratoga Springs...Regent St. to be geographically correct....and it was accepted!  This is all moving very fast.  Certainly a lot faster than I anticipated.  But, the only thing to do now is focus on the positives and move forward.  Moving out of our home in Malta will surely be traumatic, especially for me.  It's the first house both our babies lived (and had many "firsts" in), our first home together, too many celebrations to even write about; the beginning of our life started there.  And now I'm weeping of course thinking of all these memories (no surprise to those of you who know me.)
So, I'm guessing these first few posts will not only be about the beginning of our life on Regent St. (and the years of renovating) but also the end of life on Featherfoil, at least for now (we are renting Featherfoil....any takers??)  It's all about the merge and purge now.  Definitely not a bad thing.  Good things are coming our way I can just feel it.  Look out downtown 'Toga...the Lawrence's are back (and they're dragging their two little hellions with them!)