Upstairs Pictures

I was really bored one day and took a few pics of some of the details upstairs....

This is the light fixture in the upstairs back hall (our master closet)

This is a calendar that was hanging up in the kitchen. I considered it a good omen since it is Steve's birth year.

This is the knob for the chandelier in the dining room (reading room to be).

This is the view out the door in the master bedroom. It goes out on to a balcony that is over the back porch. I can't wait to have guests out there!

Happy 1st Birthday Z!

Where the Sidewalk Ends...

One of Steve's projects over the last few weeks has been clearing our sidewalks of the grass that has overgrown the edges. This is weather and time permitting as it is a long and tedious undertaking. He's made it about 1/2 way down the block (on one side).

It will be great when it is done to have a wider path to walk on it. I'm sure that even once he is done - it will be a battle to maintain each year. We'll keep you posted as to where he is in a few weeks!

1864!

I have not only been negligent in my blogging, but we have also lost momentum on doing house research.

Today, however, I got a call from Value Net a company that is contracted through our bank to appraise our house (without actually seeing it) for a possible home equity loan which will be necessary to fund the home rennovations. This is all still very tentative, but since the appraisal is free - we figured it had to be done at somepoint, right?

The bank let me know that this person would be calling to confirm some details on the house - such as have we added a big pool or any other big improvements. So I was kind of expecting something along those lines. The interesting thing is what they do is compare your home to others that have sold in the area and my understanding is that they only do an in-home appraisal if the amount of the loan is above $250k (which thankfully, ours is not).

She confirmed the address and if we are in a subdivision. Then she asked me to confirm the year the house was built, "Does 1864 sound about right?". I confirmed :)

We had always known that the house was most likely from the 60s (1860s that is) - but had never pulled up the public files to get any further details. For some reason it was strange hearing it said out loud and thinking wow - this has been around for 143 years.

This also means the house was no spring chicken (in its 50s) when my family moved in 1916....so it had so much history even at that point.

In any case, we should know the outcome of the appraisal early next week. The only other notable suprise was when she asked me what I thought the house was worth. So I very quickly did the math, what we paid + how much we need for a loan = my answer. Really I'd love to know what they do with that information. What sane person would ever give a number different from how I calculated mine?

So that's the big news of the day. I hope to fill in some other details from the last month or so - but no promises. In a few months, there should be pictures of Casa de Champaign from my little sis - hopefully she will let me share. Especially since she is the one who calls me to remind me I haven't posted and also claims she has started her own blog and just doesn't know how to do it yet :)