Archive for December, 2010
Empty
We promised pics of the old house all vacant and ready for the new owners so here they are (brought to you thanks to sitting in a booth at Panera to get WiFi since we can’t get that stuff hooked up at our new house until tomorrow). As for yesterday, we hoped to share more updates and info for you guys, but as anyone who has ever tried to coordinate a “domino” closing (when one person closes on your house, you wait for the funds to come through and attempt to close on a second house in the same day) knows, there’s usually nothing easy about it. The buyers of our house had an unexpected delay, as did we, which resulted in us not actually getting to close yesterday (thank goodness we did this morning). But the previous owners of our new house were so kind to pass along the keys to us anyway (since they knew we had nowhere to go and a truck full of stuff). Love them. Oh and did we mention that we got a surprise snowstorm (which actually caused quite the adventure when it came to physically getting things from one house to another- more details on that later).
Long story short, after hours of unpacking and trying to settle the bean and the pooch we collapsed into bed our mattress on the floor at around 1am. And although we’ve never been more tired, we couldn’t stop perma-smiling. There’s nothing like the first night spent in your new house. And thankfully Clara and Burger appeared to feel the same way (so far they’ve been varsity adjusters to the whole thing). We’ll have more details about moving day and some pics of the new house just as soon as we can get them together for ya (maybe this afternoon?). But for now, let’s feast our eyes on the former Casa Petersik in its first-day-as-compared-to-last-day glory. First here’s a look back at the old exterior to compare to our snow pic above:
And here’s what the living room looked like when we moved in:
Here’s what it looked like when we closed the door that final time:
And here’s the kitchen then:
And now:
The den then:
The den as we left it:
The master bedroom then:
And the master bedroom now:
Here’s the office/guest bedroom/playroom then:
And that room now:
Here’s the room that was a formal dining room when we moved in:
That we left as a nursery (after removing Clara’s beloved light fixture and curtains- the only light/curtains that we just couldn’t leave behind):
And here’s the sunroom back when we moved in (sorry for the terrible angle- we had no idea we’d need a good before shot when we snapped it):
And here’s the sunroom as we left it:
So although it was a little sad when that door closed (believe it or not, I didn’t even cry!) it was amazingly wonderful to open a new door (both literally and figuratively) to our new house. And we couldn’t be more excited to share that next chapter of our lives with you guys. More pics and details as soon as we can sling ‘em your way!
Psst- Ack, and we have to change our header and the name of the House Tour tab (to “Old House”- and add a “New House” one full of befores). Here’s hoping we find a moment to do that in the next few days…
Please Stand By
We’ve got some serious moving in progress going on. We’re not sure when we’ll be able to check in again (heck, we’re not even sure what time we’re closing this afternoon- assuming it doesn’t get bumped to Tuesday) but we’ll stop in with more pics and info as soon as we can.
Until then cross your fingers that my ceramic animal menagerie makes it to the new house in one piece and that we actually get to move in this afternoon as planned. We do plan to post some empty house pics of our first home (we figure you guys need closure just as much as we do) and of course share pics and even a quick video tour of the new house all empty and Petersik-ready when we finally get a moment and have internet access again.
Let the adventure/chaos/tears/joy/excitement/insanity begin!
Psst- Check out Clara’s weekly picture (also snapped on the packing box background) here.
Fab Freebie: Tiles For Miles
***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – scroll down to see our winners!***
Today’s moving day (wahoooooo!) so we thought we’d slap up this week’s giveaway this morning to tide you over until we have a moment to post some house-related updates. Oh yeah, and it just happens to be the biggest giveaway we’ve ever done. By a long shot.
So I’ll get to the point. It was almost exactly one year ago that I first used a wet saw. It was love at first site, er, cut. And today we’re sharing the love, thanks to some help from The Tile Shop. And boy is it a lot of love to share. $3000 worth of love to be exact.
You guys probably already know The Tile Shop as an awesome spot for tile, tiling supplies, and even free DIY support (both online and in stores). In fact, a lot of stuff for our bathroom remodel last year was purchased there (or borrowed from my dad, who had purchased it there). So if any of you need the kick in the pants to get your next tiling job started (kitchen backsplash? bathroom update?) here it is: TWO of you are going to win a $950 gift card to The Tile Shop and a deluxe wet saw valued at $550. Who’s suddenly got tile fever?
Here are all the deets when it comes to getting your chance at our biggest prize to date:
- PRIZE: This wet saw and a $950 gift card from The Tile Shop (valued at 3K, baby).
- TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the words “TILE ME!” and…
- BONUS QUESTION: … let’s gush about tile. What sorts of tile are you loving? Warm natural stone surrounding an open shower? Glam metallic subway tile on a kitchen backsplash? Or maybe a modern mosaic on a fireplace surround?
- GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, December 15th at 8pm EST
- NUMBER OF WINNERS: Two
- PRIZE SHIPS: The lower 48 United States
- USUAL STUFF: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winners will be selected using random.org and announced on Thursday as an update to this post. That’s right, come right back here Thursday morning for the announcement of our winner. Good luck…
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Before we get to the winners names, everyone should know that you automatically get $20 off any order over $200 through the holiday. Not too shabby, eh?
Our two extremely lucky winners (as selected by random.org) are… Nadia (who just starting a huge kitchen remodel) and Heidi Kruger (who’s looking to do subway tile in her kitchen and to re-tile two bathrooms) Congrats!
Note: We weren’t paid or perk’d for hosting this giveaway, we just take them on to reward our lovely readers! See our Giveaway FAQs page for more info. Pics from The Tile Shop.
Project Fridge: An Update
Remember when we mentioned that we were on a grocery shopping hiatus? The idea was to make a concerted effort to eat as much as possible that we already had in the fridge and the freezer so we didn’t have to worry about keeping things cold for the 6-ish hour delay between being out of our house and getting to move into our new one (which will hopefully still happen Monday afternoon assuming the bank stays on schedule with the transfer). Here’s what the fridge looked like just two weeks ago when we started:
And here’s what the fridge looks like now that it’s truck-loading day (after two weeks of eating some pretty “creative” meals to get rid of as much as possible):
Not too bad, right? Thanks to my borderline compulsive list making idea (detailed here), we managed to get down to just one carton of ice cream and one bag of edamame in the freezer and a few condiments along with a bit of bread, cheese, a few pickles, three yogurt cups and a few sticks of butter in the fridge. And we’ll probably eat the rest of the ice cream and those pickles today (no I’m not prego- promise). Thankfully everything else will easily slip into a small cooler that we’ll stick in the cold moving van so everything should travel really easily (as opposed to needing a bunch of larger coolers or hijacking John’s sister’s fridge for the day). Plus we saved some money by avoiding the grocery store. Most of all, we’re even more excited about moving into our new house now – because it means that we can go on a huge food shopping spree and eat normal meals again! Woot woot.
I Like To Move It Move It
Do I get a point or two for a second moving post with a 90′s song reference in the title (here’s the first one)? And since it’s Friday, we figured we’d toss a video in. Oh but there are some bouncing booties on blast, just in case you’re at work or have an old-enough-to-ask-questions kiddo on the ol’ lap. You’ve been warned.
We’re about 90% packed, which is a good thing with moving day looming around the corner (we’re packing the truck on Sunday and officially moving on Monday afternoon if all goes well and our closing doesn’t get bumped to Tuesday). Cross your fingers for us!
Here’s how we’re doing on our little to do list that we shared on Wednesday:
- remove every single item from the wall and patch/paint every nail hole in the house (this was actually about 500 times easier than I expected- just remove all the nails at once, spackle everything at once, and then paint room by room. It’s a lot faster than doing those three things in each room before moving onto the next one since you’d be opening and closing the spackle and cleaning the putty knife about a million times).
- transfer all of our utilities so they start over at the new place on move-in day
- pack the entire bathroom (except for travel sized shampoo & conditioner, our toothbrushes, and the shower curtain)
- pack all of our frames, mirrors, books, ceramic animals, and 80% of the breakables (still need to do our dishware – yikes!)
- rake the yard so the new owners don’t think they’re moving into a giant leaf pile
- oversee the completion of a few random inspection items (some flue work is being done by a pro)
- get our oil measured for closing (new buyers pay for the oil that’s left in the tank, isn’t that a nice fair way to do it?)
- wave goodbye to our tan slipcovered Pottery Barn sofa in the den (someone from craigslist is supposed to be picking it up)
- pack the rest of the kitchen along with about 10% of the other rooms that still need to be done
- clean the oven and the fridge (can’t really do this until right before we go)
- vacuum/sweep before locking the door with a tear in my eye
Not bad right? Just that last 10% of packing along with some cleaning is left and we’re on to the new place with a spring in our step (ok, maybe no spring if we’re carrying heavy boxes). After a long and stressful day yesterday – all the last minute closing details and papers are keeping us on our toes! – we went for a drive over to the new house and just gazed at it through the car windows. Even Clara and Burger looked. It definitely got us back into the excited state of mind that we’re trying to live in for the next crazy few days. Ah new house, how do we love you. Let us count the ways…
And for those who love to see our house tore up from the floor up, here’s how things are looking right this moment:
Oh and since a few people have been wondering, here’s what is conveying (staying) with the sale of our house:
- all the appliances both in the kitchen and the laundry nook
- the storage pieces and cabinetry in the basement
- the built-in wardrobes on either side of our bed & the bed frame itself
- the floating shelves in the dining room
- all hardwired light fixtures and the plug in swing-arm lamps in the bedroom (except for the chandy from Clara’s room, which we replaced with a standard light)
- all of the blinds, shades, curtain rods, and curtains in the house (except for the curtains in Clara’s room- I’m just too sentimental to walk away from those)
- a folder of manuals and house info along with all the exterior & interior paint (labeled by room)
We’re actually really happy to leave those things behind (they added up to a nice quick sale and an offer above our asking price). Now for another bulleted list (I’m on a roll here). These are a few packing things we’re doing that seem to work well for an obsessive type-a gal like me:
- John came up with the genius idea to use blue painters tape to mark boxes that are breakable so we can easily identify the ones that we should be extra careful with
- He also decided to put a piece of painters tape on the cabinets in the kitchen that aren’t empty yet (so we don’t keep opening all the doors to see which ones are done and which ones still have to be packed)
- We’re using a sharpie to write what’s in nearly every box (so if we have to find Clara’s bath stuff in a snap, we know where it is).
- Thanks to lots of recommendations, we hit up our local wine store for a few more boxes (they’re free, sturdy, and some even have handles).
- We’ve packed a “vacation stash” of clothes, toiletries, baby stuff, etc that we’ll rely on for the next few days here and the first few days at the new place (so there’s no rush to dig through boxes for the essentials).
- We also packed a “good to have around” box for the new house that we’re keeping in the car (with toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, cleaning supplies, cups for water, and a few other things we’re sure we’ll appreciate having right away for our friends & family members who are helping us move – and also for ourselves once they leave).
So far so good. Eye on the prize (aka: the new house). Eye on the prize…
