Welcome to the world of home ownership. Your money is gone, instead of a new stereo you buy a new sump pump. Congrats and good luck man, I call dibs on the BIG couch for the first house party.

 

oh yeah those cabinets aren't going anywhere... good solid old cabinetry like that would be a fortune if it could even be bought. probably just refinish them or something, they may not even need that though.

interesting. i like fully seperate garages, only problem i've found is their generally less 'kept' and don't usually have electricity and definately not heat.

yeah, it needs a good bit of upgrading. really the only big problem is it has small bathrooms... so i don't know what i'm going to be able to do there. i'm pretty sure the main bath could be expanded relatively easily... the guest bath, not so much.

this place sold for 15k over list, if it had been on the market longer, it'd probably gone for another 20-30k judging on other houses in the neighborhood i've bid on. (one very similar house went for 30k more than this after being listed for similar price)

 

On that vein, Soopa, don't forget to go out and get a Home Despot or Loathes credit card. You'll be using it.

(wait till you settle on the home though, you don't want anything to stir your credit kettle before the mortgage goes through)

 

yeah, just like with my car... i'm sure i'll prefer to DIY.

there's 2 home depot within 2 miles... so i'll probably go apply for a credit card as soon as the mortgage papers are signed. haha.

 

hehe... just said that. great minds...

 

game over

I have one less than 1 mile from my home.

The garden and electrical managers know me by first name.

pathetic.



along with a Lowes 2 miles away... OYE

 

You might want to wait until you have something big to buy before you sign up.
I think Home Depot is running their “10% off when opening a new charge” deal right now. Max 300 off.
I went with Lowe’s for my garage project because I priced out both and they were cheaper even after the 10%.
I did get a Lowe’s credit card because they were offering 12-Month free financing.
I threw my insulation, drywall and some other stuff on there. Nearly 1,500 bucks.

Just be sure you pay it off before the interest deal ends.
I don’t know about HD, but Lowe’s is 21%

 

Good stuff soop, it looks pretty good inside. What did you end up paying for it?

 

Another good point. Home Depot (I'm sure Lowes too, but I don't like to shop there) often has deals if you pay with their credit card. Things like 6 months same as cash and 10-20% off on items. It usually varies with season. I bought my lawnmower, and a bunch of gardening things a few years ago in the spring for significant discount and paid it off over the summer. Like Shawn said though, don't get to the point where interest accrues.

 

If the garage has electricity, you can at least rig up a block heater for the tough winter months. There are also very cheap ( a relative term in housing renovations) "blower heaters" that can be used selectively, in the worst of the winter, so that you can keep the car warm, and/or do service on it. May involve insulating the garage and applying an inner surface to do that - something like masonite or marine plywood.

As for bathrooms - there is an incredible amount of information out there on baths. There are dozens of ways of making a small bath look larger (having had an urban "moonlight" practice in the city........... where 5x6 was considered "big" - and the 8x9 bath in the house I now have on the market is being sold as a "spa"). That involves selecting a small pedestal sink, rather than a vanity; it takes up less space visually. Throw in a wall cabinet above the toilet for storage and deal with some very careful placement of mirrors, and the space will appear to be larger. For whatever it's worth, darker colors, in my opinion, enlarge space, as they obscure the light and shadow definitions - a pure white bathroom will appear to be a large referigerator. Our "second bath' was small, but appeared larger after I tiled it in dark greens and blues, with burgundy as a punch color, going for subdued arte moderne look. The bath appears far larger than it should, and the dark hides water spots and random soil. Also used dark grout.......and frankly, size and its interpretation is a matter of image. If the space is small, seek to make it intimate - and the smallness will be an asset, not a liability. Blow it out the afterburner in your own bath........ guests are guests.........

If you provide wall light fixtures vs ceiling fixtures, it will help to enlarge the space, as it confuses the eye as to exactly where the ceiling is - even though yours are probalby higher than the world of ceilings determined by the dimensions of 4x8 sheetrock.

and I'd kill for those kitchen cabinets. Might look at switching out the knobs for porcelain, but ..............

 

congrats Adam, looks nice

 

Nice goin' Adam. House looks way too serious for you for some reason. Gotta start moddin' the house. Plasma and some modern furniture anyways. Are we gonna hear

"Move that bus?"

 

Nice house Adam. Good luck with all the projects. Remember, you've got a lot of DIYers on the board that are more than happy to help you with advice.

 

Yes, that’s what I have. It’s a 100,000 BTU “Bullitt” kerosene heater for working out there in the winter.
Looks like a jet engine sitting on a fuel tank.
It worked great even when the walls weren’t insulated, but now that I’m doing drywall and insulation out there it should be much better this winter.
Since it’s portable, you just rig it up when you need it and it doesn’t make the electric meter spin like a 220V heater would.
I never had A/C before, but my current modifications are installing an 18,000 BTU wall A/C.

 

already got the plasma and enough other stereo/tv equipment to fill every room... so that won't be a problem.

just need some good furniture now

yeah, most of the other places i had been trying to a get were more brownstone/townhome style... but the guilt of having little or no space for my dog wasn't sitting well.

i like having a nice area outside to chill, but still be inside the city.

this was the right mix of urban/suburban for me. all the benefits of a suburb home but a block away from tons of shit.


p.s. the "move that bus" joke was totally over my head. lol

 

good info here.

as for this garage, it is heated. so that's cool... one side of the garage has a big ol' radiator about 3/4 the length near the ceiling. . it's also got plenty of doors to open up in the summer for good cross-ventilation while i'm working on the ride.

once i get a chance to get in the house i'm going to take some nice high res pics, then i'll probably photoshop all sorts of different colors/etc/etc on here. i'll make everything white and post up a photoshop template... maybe yall can help

porcelain cabinet hardwar? no. sounds too stuffy. hehe. i'll probably swap it all out for some nice aluminum or nickel stuff, as the fridge/range will be stainless.

 

Looking good

 

looks good for being an 85 yr old home, looks well maintained. Congrats, one day I hope to be like you

 

Congrats, the house has character. I like it

 

I have a garage but it's one of them older detached ones that's like way too small for anything. it could barely fit a car so right now it's just full of shit. It's not heated I don't have the cash to put any money into it but was long as it keeps the snow off ONE car, it's one less car to clean. Right now i have to replace two door saddles, I got two quotes from two diff. guys and it's soo fucking expensive to re-frame a door. I'm going to see if my dad can help me out.

 

Congrats Adam

 

I am still in shock as to how much you can spend on kitchens, easily one of the most expensive rooms in the house. I need new cabinets I don't even want to talk about the prices of even cheap shit.

 

I can't imagine dealing with a house and yard at this stage of my life. It's going to be a condo for me... one of these days.

Congrats!

 

Congrats ! The house looks awesome.

 

Nice bro, congrats

 

I like it. Congratulations

 

well luckily, i'm probably not going to have to go and replace cabinets. my mother just did hers, so i know how much it can be.

i do need appliances though, i'm a big kitchen guy... so nice range is a must. fridge is a must just because fridges are the biggest ugliest power consuming things on earth, so gotta get something that at least looks decent.

also need to figure out if i can squeeze a dishwasher in there somewhere. i don't know if there's a spare 24" anywhere near the sink...

 

yeah i'll probably regret it. but i'm no fan of apts/condos either... i like having my own space.

but still... first big maintenance cost i'm probably going to be pissed.

 

equivalent to the GNP of a small country in the Balkans.......during my old moonlight practice, my clients thought nothing of dropping $30-$40, in the 1970's, when that was real money. Handmade mexican quarry tile (stains, absorbs grease, microbial hazard, but it was the rage for a time) brand-name cabinets, etc.

If you knock around and choose not to go with brand-name stuff, you can find some decent stuff out there. BUt those "kitchen centers" are set up to provide massive profits to the suppliers, with high markups on this stuff, since a lot of the decision making is discretionary (honey, I want the French Provincial cabinets......)

 

damn. that's crazy money for the 70's.

again, having a girlfriend who's family is in the stone business will help big in the kitchen and bath area...

they have this shit called Negro Marquina, a black marble that's full of fossil remains, that i want for the kitchen countertops.

 

Congrats on the house. It looks great.

 

Congrats! looks like the house is in great shape!

 

Are you a big fan of those hedges in the front? It looks like you have a porch which is being obstructed by those things.

 

congrats! how does a young man such as myself go about good investing and getting my money's worth like you did?

 

yeah i love them.

but yeah, they need a bad trimming.

from the porch you can see over them, but from the street you can't see in. that's whats great abou them.

i'll probably have them taken down 3-6 inches though and have them taken in a bit so they're not hanging over the walkway...

 

fuck if i know?

i cheated.

i have a healthy income, but it was difficult to save living on my own.

so... i moved back in with my parents a year ago in order to save money quicker, and getting a bigger/better/closer job last summer didn't hurt either. that cut my monthly expenses in half.

i just saved and put a bunch of cash in the bank... no real investing here.

my parents hate me for it. but oh well, i figure it was my due for having moved out just before i turned 17.

 

A BIG HELP. Talk to rockdog about his adventures in granite countertops. I have formica from the 80's that's held up pretty good but the backsplash is HORRID. What sucks for me is the electrical looks fucking horrid. It's from the 60's but it looks like the wire jackets are damp or chewed up I probably have to have the wiring gutted i don't know how it passed inspection. I recently repainted the kitchen and learned one of the former owners was a smoker so under the paint was a nice layer of brown nicotine.

 

Yeah, it doesn't help that I have a carnote, insurance, and still gotta pay rent at home. sucks to be me.

 

awesome bro!

 

ah yeah... the $1000/mo i spend on the car hasn't helped my financial future at all. heh.