This past week we doubled down on packing up our current house in Centerton. Saturday became a “power day” with getting all the furniture moved to the main floor so Peder could figure out exactly how to go about packing the Pod. He is definitely the “Tetris master” when it comes to how to pack a bunch of stuff into a relatively small space! We divided everything into one of three destinations — Pod, Olive Street garage, or RV. Fortunately, the earlier thinning out to get the house ready for sale had already sent many bags and boxes to Goodwill and Laura was able to sell her large desk and bookcase from her office. By Sunday night, we had 95% of the house packed up and stacked into the Pod or moved over to West Olive Street. We brought the RV home and spent our first night of the next several months in our new “home away from home.” We’ll use this final week to load up the RV with the remaining personal and household effects. As we’ve used the RV for nearly a year for weekend excursions or 1-2 week trips, we’ve commented about ways to make how we use certain storage better. Now is the time to get that all figured out!
This week marks 1 month since we closed on the W. Olive house. We can’t quite understand where the time has gone, but then, upon reflection, it’s like…oh yeah…a lot is going on!!
We closed on W. Olive on Oct. 12 and spent that first week getting things lined up – turning on utilities, finding a demo crew, getting roofers scheduled and a construction dumpster delivered. We then focused on getting our current home in Centerton on the market having picked a target date of Oct. 22. We didn’t have a ton of things to do to get the current house ready — just the typical “thinning out” and some touch up paint, especially where the dogs tend to bang around chasing balls.
Knowing that we would probably see a lot of traffic over the weekend, we loaded up the RV and made last minute reservations at Horseshoe Bend Recreation Area for Oct 21-24. This was our first time at this beautiful spot, but definitely not our last, especially since it is less than 10 miles from the new house. Laura called a friend to see what amenities the RV sites had, only to find out he and his wife were already there…small world! We invited our dear friends Myank and Shweta to join us on Saturday night to walk along the lakeshore and have dinner around the campfire, and it also turned out to be a celebration of the sale of the house!
Our realtor, Mike Self (@Caldwell Banker) told us we would most likely see a quick turnaround, but less than 48 hours from MLS posting to accepted offer gave us quite the whiplash! The sign outside the house still has “Coming Soon” and we will be closing before Thanksgiving. Fast forward to today, and we have a Pods container sitting in the driveway and a multitude of boxes packed and stacked.
Meanwhile, progress is being made at W. Olive Street. As the Gallary photos show, our focus has been on getting the room above the garage completed so that Laura can use it during the day as her home office and we can all use it at other times as an additional place to hang out. The space is something like 15ft x 30ft with dual skylights and a small outdoor deck space, so no doubt it will be a favorite place to retreat to when the RV starts to feel tiny.
The demo is taking about 7 to 10 days longer than originally planned, but we also increased the scope to include “everything.” But now, with the ceiling and all the insulation out, we are super hopeful that we will be able to raise the ceilings on the main level by at least 2 feet, which will be awesome. It is very interesting as well to see that this house has actually gone through several renovations in its lifetime. We see evidence of moved or added walls, windows turned to doors and doors to windows. From evidence on the central chimney stack, Peder also believes that the house has had its roof raised at one point. On the positive side, we aren’t seeing any evidence of water or termite damage, which is always the risk when you start tearing things out.
Today marks one week since we closed on W. Olive. We’ve been able to knock a few things off the list that could be done without yet having the appropriate permits, etc.
Spent about 4 hours in Home Depot designing the future kitchen…fingers crossed it looks as good when all the cabinets, appliances and countertops arrive as what we thought in our minds when we picked it all out! For those interested, we chose American Woodmark San Mateo cabinets in Stone, Silestone quartz countertops in Pietra, and GE Cafe appliances. With all the supply chain issues going on, we anticipate seeing our kitchen arrive mid-November to early January.
Peder got the roofers (Sam Marion with Affordable Roofs) all lined up and a dumpster and all the new shingles arrived late last week. The crew had a one-day rain delay, but are scheduled to arrive in full force this afternoon. We are going with a mostly black but with gray and tan speckles which should complement the original brick. Laura is super excited to see it go up since she is not a big fan of brown roofs. Over this first weekend, Peder tore down the small metal awning over the kitchen entry door and tied a new section of roof into the existing roof. This will be a great improvement to the overall aesthetic of that entry.
Matthew spent a couple hours Saturday power washing the patio area in preparation for having our existing spa/hot tub moved to its new home on Monday. While he did the power washing, Laura pulled all the vegetation and tree growth that was encroaching into the patio and pool area. While an improvement in one aspect (plants not growing where they shouldn’t), the area is looking a bit barren with only the spa tucked in one corner. We’ve started gathering ideas for how to turn this area into our own backyard oasis, but may not be a priority until next Spring.
Laura also got handy with a razor knife and pulled out the carpet and padding in the sun room. We brought home a few sample tiles and have probably narrowed it down to one or two. Big question is what to do with the wood panelling. Not exactly sure what it might be covering up and not sure we want to venture there. Laura has proposed she do a light sanding and then painting. If that doesn’t look good, then we can consider taking it down.
The new roof should be completed this coming week and the “demo crew” will move in the following week. Peder punched a few more holes in walls during Week 1 and we’ve come to realize that there is some scary electric running through the walls. We also need to move a significant number of ceiling fixtures, so we’ve come to the decision that ALL walls and ceilings must go. Through networking with our roofing company, Peder found Luis Gallardo with LG Roofing and Construction that we will have come in for the demo and then return to help with installing all the new drywall after the new electric wiring and plumbing changes are complete.
We closed on the W. Olive Street house today! Totally uneventful, which is always nice. This will be our seventh home in our married life, and our sixth major renovation home. They all start out fairly the same though with a quick inventory and then Peder starts on replacing all the locks while Laura cleans a bathroom and the kitchen with her arsenal of products! Same thing today. Of course, Peder did bust out a hammer and knocked a small hole in the wall between the two bedrooms that will eventually make up part of the Master Bedroom and the hall bath. We put some blue tape down on the floor to mark out the new hall bath…so things are already taking shape!
Over the past couple of weeks, as we’ve waited (somewhat impatiently!) to see this purchase through, we’ve done a lot of researching on ideas, drawing and redrawing plans, reviewing the photos and videos Laura took during our few brief visits to the house for inspections and such. We started saving ideas to a new OlivePit2Perfect Pinterest account and will be using this blog site to capture others. Our biggest concerns are creating the right vibe to the house, when we don’t really know what era to really capture. One thing the house has going for itself is lots of windows. So, ideally, we want to capitalize on that light and create a home that is comfortable and welcoming.
If we had an unlimited budget, we’d hire a professional architect and design team. Instead, we are relying on Peder’s 35+ years of home construction and remodeling expertise, five personal home renovations, and Laura binge-watching HGTV!! Laura’s color pallet preferences are definitely evident in our current home — gray, white and black — leaving the color to the art hanging on the walls.
Over the next several weeks we are going to be pressed to make some decisions about where to take down walls and where to put them up, what paint and flooring is right, and how to improve the outdoor living areas and landscaping. Our guiding principle will be to choose things we like but also feel will appeal to future owner(s) and to keep our total investment at a point where we can make a profit when we eventually sell.
Our biggest choice has already been made…jump in with both feet!
Olive Pit 2 Perfect 