JenLeoLIVE!

Today is move-in day

I know I owe you some pics, but had to write briefly because I'm so excited. We brought a UHaul out yesterday from Vegas and will unload the truck in less than an hour. I'd love to say it was the last load, but our poor movers fit everything but a couple of chairs and some lamps, so one of us will have to go back and get them. But lets stick to the positive side of the move.

As I was driving (our car) over the Avocado Highway yesterday, I-15 right after Fallbrook, I couldn't believe that this time we weren't just popping in - that I was actually headed towards a place I'd be calling home. Not just home as in where I've been opening my suitcase and stashing boxes, but a house that we owned and that I would be developing into a home, home.

It was a long day yesterday, but a good one. We even managed to  pick out a couple of sofas at Stedmar's in Ontario that will get delivered in 3-4 weeks.

I got to the house first and was amazed at how great it looked. For the first time, it looked finished. I know we still have work to do on Friday with the kitchen countertops and electrical sockets - but now that all the doors and door jams have been painted white, and the fireplace is now white - I tell you, it looks finished. The only remnants of the old house are on the outside of the house, or in the master bathroom. Other than that, everything, from the floors to the ceiling and the doors and lights in between are all brand new. Just about...

I don't think the work will ever be done on the house, because that's what a house is all about, right? Once we do one thing, we'll want to do something else. But for now, it's nearly move in ready. I think that I'll want to spend the night there once we have our bed in the room, but we could still be another few nights at my Uncle Jon and Auntie Val's in University City while we sort out some fine tuning. Like making sure the fridge and the stove works.

Ok, that's all. I'll take some photos and get you up to speed, as well as catch you up on other aspects of our life.

CURRENT: Almost Carlsbad, CA
NEXT: Marin for the Book Passage Travel Writers Conference - someone remind me to by a plane ticket and find a place to stay!!!

The house is almost finished (inside work anyway)

I've been on vacation for a week - Calistoga with my writers group, Tahoe with the Sean and Chris from BootsnAll, and at Susan Brady's family get together in a small old mining town called La Porte, CA. (I'll probably write some of this up for the L.A. Times Travel Blog - and link you up later.

Meanwhile, Jose Delgado has been busting his butt on the Carlsbad house. John went down there for some efficient last minute decision making and purchasing. Here are a few photos that were on my phone when I got back into cell phone range. I went 48 hours without cell or internet access. And believe it or not, it wasn't that hard. I did use a calling card to call John once, but except for some light Twitter withdrawal, I enjoyed the time to relax with Susan's family.

I think the inside of the house will be done, or mostly done by the end of this week. We might start the move next week. Of course, I'm starting it tomorrow with a major close out of a Redwood City storage unit I've had for more years that I'd want to count payments for.

Here's a cell pic of the hardwood floors going in. We got a good deal at Lowe's on special order hardwood on a Memorial Day sale and then saved  some more by having Jose put them in. This room is the kitchen. The worker is right where the sink will be.

Here is another angle of the kitchen. Now we're facing the sink where that bright light from the window is - and this is the start of the island going in. The counter will extended over the top of this island so that we can sit there. With the right chair, I'll be able to work from there. See that patch of dark blue in the upper right hand corner of the photo? That's the accent wall in John's Lair.

Here are the doors that John bought last week. They're already up and in, but still unfinished. They'll end up a nice Cherry color I think. Or Mahogany. Not sure when that is happening. Jose has a specialist coming in.

I think the carpet gets installed in the bedrooms this Wednesday or Thursday. But we don't know when the counter tops are going in. They get measured tomorrow or Tues. So, John and I meet up in Carlsbad on Thursday and we'll have some more buying to do - kitchen faucet, bathrooms sink and faucet, bathroom tile, ktichen back splash. Then we have to get the electricians back in for their last minute touches. I think we can move in before the back splash goes up, but that's currently under debate.

More later....

CURRENT: Redwood City, CA
NEXT: Los Angeles, CA (Tues-Wed)

Carlsbad house update - wall down, new walls, electricity, etc

I know, I know. I haven't posted in a while. Mostly because I blog most of the day for work, so it's kind of the last thing I want to do once I'm done working. You might be thinking, it hasn't stopped her before. Well, I'm telling you, now it does.

But, because I've received so many concerned emails — thank you for caring —here's a little update on the house. I'm fine. Just busy.

We can't wait to get the hell out of Vegas. Thankfully, we're just a few weeks away from moving into the new house. Jason scored a kick ass handyman who is refinishing almost the entire inside of our house. New walls, took out a wall, installed a couple new windows, new hardwood floors, new carpet, new kitchen and we got an electrician to bring the kitchen up to code, put in some canned lights in a few rooms and give us a grounded plug in each room. The walls I think will be the biggest deal. Snow off, new skin coat, some walls got patched and one wall has completely new drywall because believe it or not, there wasn't any before.

Do you remember the before pics? Yuck!

Uncle Jon took some pics on Monday and here you can see some of the progress:

The entry to our home. And the hero of our story - Jose Delgado.

The family room (imagine your back to the front door). We took the wall down between the family room and the kitchen.

Jason demo-ed the kitchen, Westrend brought the electrics up to code, and Jose fixed the exposed plumbing and redid the walls. Since this picture was taken, Jose added a new kitchen window. This is the left half of a kitchen where we will have a six-foot long island. It will have electricity and there is the capability for pendant lights in the ceiling now - should we want some after the kitchen is installed.

Carlsbad house decisions, progress is relative

We made  a trip to San Diego to have a look at the house and try to make some decisions with flooring and paint. It's true that you see the house in a new light after you buy it. Maybe it was the morning light, but the place looked like much more of a dump when we showed up yesterday than the few trips we made before we bought it. My friend Heather said that you see the flaws once you own it, and ain't that the truth.

"What's the crack in the ceiling running the length of the dining room," I asked John. "Did the inspector say anything about that?"

"Oh, I don't think that's anything," John said.

I walked away from our post-purchase inspection with a two page list of what needed to be done, and feeling a bit freaked out that there was so much work to do - even if I'm not really doing any of it.

Still, we have a few months and moved into high powered decision making mode. The floor sample that we loved ended up not looking as gorgeous as the control sample. (Burmese Mahogany). So - hardwood floor chosen, done! Next we went to a carpet place (for the bedrooms) - the soft frisee that we liked was affordable - carpet chosen, done! Next?

Then we looked at kitchen cabinets and suddenly our gorgeous hardwood floor didn't go with the cabinets. Uh oh - now what? We had to decide what was more important the kitchen cabinets or the flooring. We weren't really sure but opted for cabinets. Now we're back to square one with the flooring.

I hear this goes on and on and one...

So, what did we accomplish?

- got an idea of what flooring will cost for our taste/budget bracket
- found gorgeous affordable hardwood that we may or may not use
- found a house in the neighborhood that we'd like to copy for exterior paint (eventually)
- found some carpet we like and can afford!
- decided we're doing the kitchen sooner rather than later and narrowed it to two styles (sadly less modern and funky than I would've liked)
- oh yeah - found appliances we could be happy with and got store to discount them
- made list of priorities for Jason to tackle.
- looked at color palette and now only have one more color to choose for interior rooms
- and John got a haircut

All in all - very productive and I feel like even though we added more projects to the front burner, we did give our brains a life raft for the sea of unknown options they were swimming in.

CURRENT: San Diego
NEXT: Las Vegas by the afternoon.