All posts by Sarah @ 702 Park Project

Graduations and Gardening

May 28, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!! Between graduation festivities, packing, and moving, ours was pretty hectic. Charles graduated on Saturday and luckily his family and my family could all be there. We had lunch with friends, and then watched Charles get “hooded” Saturday evening. I’m so proud of him for all he has accomplished!

And yes, there was even an ice sculpture…

Back at the house, there was lots of progress too. Check out a few of the before and after shots (well, really middle shots) of the landscaping!

Also, the 1970s floral wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom is gone.

Unlike last week, the weatherman is calling for bright and sunny skies all week. I’m hoping that means a lot of work will get done! We have the electrician and plumber coming this week, hopefully with good news!! I hope you enjoy your short week! :)

Abracadabra!

May 23, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

I stopped over at the house on my way home from work yesterday and didn’t even recognize it! It is AMAZING what a little tree trimming can do!!

No more overgrown bushes taking over the front of the house. No more scraping your car on tree limbs when pulling into the driveway. No more “hidden gem” from the street view. Old girl is now shining in all of her glory!! As our contractor and neighbor both put it, it looks like someone loves her now.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s still plenty of work to be done. But we are definitely seeing progress on a daily basis, and that makes this girl happy! Speaking of progress…the porches are officially “jacked up” and even safe to walk on. What a major change from 2 days ago!

(Sorry for the graininess in that last one. Our contractor assures me that the upper porch is safe to walk on, but I’m just going to take his word for it and take pictures from behind the screen door for now!)

I got a call from our contractor yesterday afternoon and he told me that I would want to go by the house and check out the wall next to the fireplace in the dining room. He said that there was a “surprise gem” waiting for me. When I went over, this is what I found:

The painter and wallpaperer (I looked it up, it’s a real word!) signed and dated the wall before finishing it in June of 1954. How cool is that!? I can’t wait to see what other treasures we find during this process!!

Oh, and yayyyyyy for no more wallpaper in the dining room! It’s almost unrecognizable.

I am leaving straight from work tomorrow to head to Greensboro to celebrate Charles graduating from law school (SOOOO proud of him, by the way!), so it will be a few days before I get another look at the house. I can’t wait to see the progress!

Let the Fun Begin

May 22, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

It’s official…our house is now under construction! Yipeeeeee!!

But seriously.

Charles and I went over to the house yesterday to check up on the progress. Here are the beautiful sights we walked into…

You may think that you sense sarcasm there, but you’d be WRONG! I never thought I’d be so happy to see raunchy carpet strips, beat up walls, scaffolds, and construction lights in my house!!!! Today is our “plaster guy’s” third day in the house. He has been slaving away scraping the walls and finding the (many, unfortunately) cracks in the plaster. But it’s got to get worse before it gets better, right? He’s planning on at least a couple of weeks just to get the prep and plaster finished, then we will have to wait about 30 days before we can even think about primer, much less paint.

This rain has made me very nervous about our back porches falling off, so I was extremely relieved to see these bad boys in the kitchen last night:

I’ve already gotten the report this afternoon that the back porches have been securely “jacked” and the workers have started the process of sorting the wood into usable and non-usable piles. My sigh of relief can probably be heard for miles and miles.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we are now armed and dangerous. Well, really just armed. We had our alarm system hooked up over the weekend, so don’t be getting any ideas!

Happy Hump Day, people!

Homeowners at Last!

May 16, 2013Categories: Just For FunSarah @ 702 Park Project

So sorry for the delay in posting about our weekend!! It was crazy busy, as you can imagine, and I haven’t had internet access at the house. Here’s the scoop…

Friday: Charles and I got up early and headed to Goldsboro to do our final walk through at 11 am. Everything was fine, except the porches which have begun to droop even more (which was expected). The basement door and windows had been repaired from the break in, and our fence had been mended. After lunch, another stop by the house, and a few hours of painful waiting, we headed over to our lawyer’s office a little before 3 pm. Although there were a few bumps in the road, the result was us closing on our new home!!!! We immediately headed over to Park Avenue, where Charles’ parents’ surprised us with champagne, and lots of pictures! Our next door neighbors, who also happen to be good family friends, came over to help us celebrate.

After celebrating, we headed over to Charles’ grandfather’s house (where we will be living until the house is ready) and unloaded a few things. Then it was back to Greensboro to prepare for another full day!

Saturday: We got up early, picked up the U-haul, loaded it (many many many thanks to my wonderful brother for his help!!!), and were back on the road by 11 am. We met our cousins, Michael and Mary, and began the unloading process (many many many thanks to yall too!!). Then it was showers, dinner, and drinks with some new friends.

We are completely ecstatic that the house is FINALLY ours!! We weren’t sure we would ever get here! We are next on the list for the painters, plaster guys, and carpenters, so work should be starting soon! Many more posts and pictures to come.

The Big Day

May 10, 2013Categories: UncategorizedSarah @ 702 Park Project

The List:

~~1. Finish work at my old job.~~

~~2. Pack up the apartment.~~

~~3. Charles finish law school.~~

4. Buy a house.

5. Move.

6. Start my new job.

I was so excited this morning I woke up at 6 am!! We are so close! In 7 hours (fingers crossed), we will be the proud new owners of a 1902 once-beautiful (and will be beautiful again) American Foursquare. My screams of excitement and relief will undoubtedly be heard around the world at 3 pm today!

The Times They Are a-Changin’

May 7, 2013Categories: Just For FunSarah @ 702 Park Project

There are so many major changes going on in our lives right now that it’s hard for me to wrap my head around it! In one day, I will be finished with my current job in public accounting. In two days, Charles will take his last exam and be finished with law school. In three days, we will become the proud new owners of a 1902 house. In four days, I will move by myself to a new city (as Charles prepares to move onto campus to cram all summer for the bar exam). In six days, I will start a new career.

This is arguably the biggest “shake up” week of my entire life (so far)! In that spirit, I’ve compiled a few of my favorite quotes about change and pursuing what’s most important in life. Happy Tuesday, everyone!