In April 2009 we bought this cute little house in the Lake City neighborhood of Seattle. We have thoroughly enjoyed having so much space, after living in a tiny cabin in Fairbanks and an apartment in Seattle before this. We have so much outdoor gear (skis, snowboards, bikes, sleeping bags, tents, you name it, we have it) not to mention all the beautiful hardwood furniture Ryan's dad has given us. I love having the space to spread out.
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| The day we moved in! |
Our house needed some work, but overall it wasn't too much of a fixer-upper. It was built in 1947 but it was owned for many years by the Seattle Housing Authority who updated many features of the house including the plumbing, wiring, sheetrock, and the lead paint abatement. It also had brand new interior paint when we moved in. The flooring left something to be desired though...there was square linoleum tile in the living and all the bedrooms. When we moved in we knew that was the first thing that had to go! We laid down maple flooring in the living room and had carpet installed in the bedrooms. Just that little bit of color made the house feel so much warmer!
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| The linoleum tile in the living room |
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| Installing the hardwood flooring |
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| The living room with new flooring |
With the exception of a seriously leaky roof, few of the projects we wanted to do on the house were imminent; we had the luxury of doing them at our own pace. Soon after we installed the new flooring, Ryan put in white base molding inside the house (the black rubber molding just didn't cut it for us!) Ryan, with the help of his dad, also installed a new sink, cabinet, and heater in the full bathroom. They also insulated and sheetrocked our garage and installed a window.
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| Ryan and his dad installing a window in the garage |
In October of the first year we lived in our house we had torrential rain. That's when we found out that our roof leaked (only over the back portion of the house). Ryan spent the better part of a week in the attic trying to get rid of wet insulation and dry everything else with heaters and fans. Luckily, Ryan's parents were set to visit shortly after and Ryan's dad was able to help replace the roof; we also had the help of some very good friends! We've had pretty smooth sailing with house-related issues since then and let's hope it stays that way.
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| Me, Ryan, and Keefer working on the roof |
This fall Ryan installed a new sink and cabinet in our half bathroom. He also put chair molding in our dining area and painted the lower-half of that wall. He did an amazing job with the paint and chair molding and I am in love with our dining room now!
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| Installing chair molding in the dining area |
We've been in a house-project lull for the last couple of months and it is definitely relaxing. I feel like we've (well, mostly Ryan) gotten all the things accomplished that make the house feel the way we want it to feel.
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| New shrubs we planted last spring |
