Home Sweet Home

After a nail-biting, three-month process of offers, counter offers, sewage line replacement, an offer to buy a mantle from the sellers, the offer to buy the mantle revoked, jumping through short sale hoops, last-minute deal-blocking liens, sky-high piles of paperwork and the replacement of the leaky hot water heater, we managed to buy this 1911 Old Portland Foursquare. It's a 3-bedroom, 3-bath house with full basement and attic, wrap-around front porch, second-story porch off the master bedroom, pantry, laundry room and a good size back yard.

The house has been a rental for the past 5+ years and we have learned a lot about these renters since we moved in. They never cleaned ANYTHING, thought constant dog pee smell was 'liveable' and didn't require clean-up, thought a kitchen sink that dispensed water was overrated, didn't mind a river of water leaking out the side of the bathroom faucet, enjoyed swimming in the lake created by the leaky hot water heater and they occasionally fell through the attic floor (while tending to their pot plants) putting holes in the ceiling below. Oh, and they were in a band called 'Black Pussy', but that is a story for another post.

Enter David and Kelly. All the above problems are now ours. It was not pretty when we got the keys. But the house has good bones with lots of potential, and we're ready to bust out some serious work on this place.

These are the days of our remodel...