My First But Not the Last

I have had this goal for myself now since Peter and I started working on the condo and now 6 years later I have finally made it to creating our very own home improvement blog. My hope is that this will be something that our friends and family from near and far can use to track our progress.

In January of this year Peter and I took a huge step and spent our hard earned money on 5642 Meredith Avenue.  When we first saw the place we knew it had amazing potential.  The price was right so we made an offer.  The day after we closed escrow I remember walking in our front door (which I could have kicked down or punched through since it was hollow core) thinking...."WHAT DID WE GET OURSELVES INTO?" From that day we have faced great challenges with our late 50's style home.  

5642 Meredith is 2200 square feet, 2 stories, 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and was built at a time when the modern day building materials like drywall weren't invented (making demo projects a bit tricky). 

Our initial priority list of projects changed dramatically from then to now, but here is a list of what we hope to accomplish with our home and some things that we already have under way (listed in no particular order):
1. Replace Front Door
2. Install a doorway from the front living room to the garage
3. Install lighting in the front of the house
4. Get rid of the messy pine tree stealing the driveway space
5 New interior doors, baseboards, molding and casing
6. Install new hardwood flooring throughout 
7. New paint interior and exterior (green w/ burgundy trim just isn't our favorite)
8. All new exterior windows (more energy efficient and much more functional then the old aluminum)
9. New landscaping in the front with more curb appeal
10. Total landscape re-design in the backyard to include an outdoor kitchen and fireplace to chill with friends, expanded deck and a total clean out of the existing foliage
11. Install new light fixtures and add light fixtures where needed
12. Install A/C
13. Totally gut the upstairs floor plan and make a functional master suite (yes we'll be eliminating a bedroom but gaining a very important master suite)
14. Remodel existing bathroom downstairs
15. Create space for 1/2 bath in the downstairs

As you can see the possibilities are endless.  I want to invite everyone to stay tuned and follow our progress.  My hope is that one day we will actually be able to have our wedding in the backyard.  I want to take this moment to really give Peter the credit for agreeing to dedicate an insane amount of time into making this house our home.  I love him so very much and I could never dream of undergoing this without him.
Stay tuned for lots of updates, before and after photos and maybe even a few photos of the many injuries that Peter will acquire while working.


Thanks for following!