Four Months In

So we are heading into Month Four, it feels like it's been longer. David was saying he always feels likes he's behind, that it's not going fast enough. But the way he works is not linear, he goes from project to project. The siding, the windows, the porch, siding, Sheetrock, window, etc... Since we live here he cannot do one thing at a time, a lot of it is done according to when the supplies come in or when we find a good buy.  It's based on need - the bathroom and kitchen hit the top of the list until they were usable, then got moved to bottom when the siding came in. Some of it is based on the weather, right now he's working hard on the outside before the weather changes. We're not sure what the weather will change into, there's signs downtown that say " Snow Zone" but from what we understand what t hey consider a lot of snow is sort of laughable to East Coasters. When we first bought this house Kim and Stephen came out to look, the real estate agent gave them t he code to get in as Portland had been paralyzed by the snowstorm the night before.

All two inches of it.  

We have to get a heating system installed soon, that's a tough one for David. He just wants to do it all himself but there are some things he can't. It's hard for us to price things too, in PA siding is cheap and wood is not - here it's the opposite. Houses are much more expensive, when we bought this we knew we got a good deal, but it was still hard wrapping our heads around paying close to one hundred thousand for a pee infested, sagging home that needed so many renovations. But looking at foreclosures that need the same amount if not more work that go for fifty thousand MORE than that we know we lucked out. And it's all relative, the homes in this neighborhood price out between 2 and 4 hundred thousand, but it's still hard since we're used to buying flips for less than 25,000. But we've doing fairly well with buying things, a mix of new stuff and used, David has also been able to use some of the wood from things he's taken down

We still have a ways to go, the upstairs has been de-stinkified but not much else has been done. We are going to have someone come and refinish the floors, they are in good shape and we got the pee out of them but they do redone before we finish putting in the furniture. We are still back and forth about the kitchen - it's so big!! I'm thinking of putting in a move able island in front of the window with seats, maybe some low cabinets in the back. But for now we have enough storage for the two of us so it will be back-burnered.  David thinks he has at least 4 more months to finish it all the way, it is a true work in progress.