It's September!

I can’t believe September is finally here! We close on the house in just five short days. There is so much to look forward to and so much to do. We’re headed to Okoboji on Saturday morning to celebrate my dad’s 50th. Jealous? We have a whole weekend to have fun and relax, but then we’ll be getting up super early on the 7th to get back to Davenport in time to sign the papers. Our appointment is set for 1:00pm, then the work begins!

Analyzing the exterior paint colors
- gray house, white trim, blue door -
against the roof shingles

Last night my mom, Luke and I ran around town. First on the list was this stone place in Eldridge. It was on that handy vendor list my mom made for us, although she has no idea who told her about it. Turned out to be a bust, as we found the building but it looked like they weren’t in business anymore. That’s not at the top of our priority list anyways, I just wanted to see some options for kitchen counters.

Next we stopped at Sherwin Williams to pick out our official paint colors. Sarah, Jord and I had already picked out some colors we like for each room and the exterior, but the painter requested we get the actual swatches from this store. It was way too difficult to make a decision, so I brought home some options to mull over. We heard from our painter on Tuesday night. He gave us the final quote, which wasn’t as expensive as we anticipated. He is available to start painting the interior on the same day we close, so that will keep us on schedule (the plan is to reserve the moving truck for the 25th). The exterior paint will have to wait until mid-October, which is a total bummer, but, since the roof turned out so well, I think I can live with it.

Lowe’s turned out to be the final stop, where we looked at some exterior lighting – of course, my mom doesn’t like the sconces I chose. That seems to be the theme each time I show her something we want for the house. We looked at molding and interior doors next. That’s going to be expensive! Once we get the measurements, we’ll custom order the doors which will take a few weeks to arrive. Then we perused the flooring options. I found a couple stains that will work, and I was hoping they would have someone who could refinish and stain the floors, but the guy told me that they only rent out the sanding machine. There’s no way we’re doing that! Here’s the thing: we are hoping there is hardwood underneath the carpet and linoleum on the first floor. We won’t find out until closing day when we can get in the house and tear up the floors. Otherwise we’ll have to come up with plan B. Jord has been in contact with my mom’s floor guy, after a week of leaving messages, and the quote to refinish the hardwood came back really high, partly because we want a darker stain. Plus he said the process of sanding and staining will take about nine days. Whoa! My dad is calling a guy he used to work with that sometimes does extra work like this on the side, so he might be able to do the floors at a lower price point, plus this guy is really handy and we are in the market for a handyman! I have a whole long list of little fixes – part of the molding on a window is missing, the tile in front of the fireplace needs to be replaced, installing all the new interior doors, and on and on. We just need to make sure the floors are done before moving all the furniture in! All the other things can wait, although I’m not too keen on that idea. So we’re looking into some other options but can’t make any decisions until the 7th.