Big fat checks

I sat down yesterday and paid the bills.  I had to write SEVERAL big fat checks: the mortgage, the second mortgage, the VISA bill, which was several thousand dollars worth of house stuff like paint, furniture and supplies.  Sadly, that bill didn't even include several more recent expenses including a replacement camera lens ($180), Dave's new office chair ($125) and the jump house ($149) and supplies for Alex's upcoming birthday party ($100).

Of course there's is still SO MUCH to be paid for: the check for the deductible has yet to be written.  I still need food for the party and we're only half-way through fulfilling our furniture needs for the house.  Is it weird to look forward to NOT spending money?  Because that's where I am right now.  I can't wait for this spending fest to be over.

$1,000 Deductible

We're in the middle of good-sized home owner's insurance claim.  Dave pulled the shower knob clean off yesterday and we didn't know how to shut the water off for almost twenty minutes while our entire bathroom was flooded.  The disaster restoration guys were here until 10:30PM last night and they've assured me that eventually I will get a brand new ceiling in my family room and kitchen.  Until then, it gets to look like this:

The funny thing is that the night before all this happened, Dave and I sat down to talk about money.  I've been feeling really guilty about all the non-budgeted-for-but-necessary expenses for the house.  There was so much I didn't anticipate like the fact that we'd need a big rug and a bunch of curtains for the family room or that none of the bedrooms had ceiling lights and I would have to spend hundreds of dollars on lamps or that I would need to invest in some good-quality cotton floor mats by the front and back doors so the dog wouldn't track dirt and rocks in and scratch my floors.  I haven't added it all up yet, but my guess is this stuff has easily totaled an extra $1,000 that I hadn't anticipated.   Maybe more.  Probably more.

My point is that I'd just told Dave that I wanted to hold off on buying any living room furniture until our savings account had a chance to breathe and catch up a little bit.  I was willing to wait a year or more to furnish that front room.

Now?  It may have to wait even longer.  My guess is this water damage will be well over $5,000, which means we've EASILY hit our $1,000 deductible. 

Goodbye new couch.  Hello responsibility.

Back in the kitchen again

Sadly, up until we moved into the house, it had been WEEKS, yes plural, since I cooked a real family dinner.  In fact, it had been weeks since I cooked ANYTHING.  I'd been so busy with getting the house ready that we'd been eating out constantly.  (Hello overdraft fees!  Thank you for making that trip through the Wendy's drive through cost an extra $32!)

But since we moved, I've actually been cooking dinner again.  I know! Where's my medal?

I love my new kitchen so much that I have no problem planning, cooking and cleaning up after our meals.  I'm actually enjoying it again, which is exactly what I hoped would happen when I finally had a big enough kitchen.  So far this week, we've had Marlboro Man Chicken and Shepherd's Pie and tonight I made the spaghetti-o's you can buy at Trader Joe's with their three cheese red sauce.  Dave brought some Elk home so we also had steaks.  I just hope the streak continues!

In other news, guess what Dave admitted tonight?  "These light fixtures are actually starting to grow on me."

Should I put up the stair gates or not?

I have a BUNCH to catch up on here including how we got so busy last week that we went a few days without looking at our spending and ended up overdrawn.  MAJORLY.  Big stupid head me!  Also lots to post about our floors and how the installation process left MUCH to be desired.  (They look really really pretty though!)

But before I do that, I have to go to Target and blow a SERIOUS wad of cash on things like lamps (none of the rooms have overhead lights except the kitchen/chandeliers), rugs (must. protect. floors.) and a bed for the dog, who is used to carpet and is currently curled up in a ball on top of one of the couch throw pillows.  Hardwood floors are apparently hard.

Important question!  How do you feel about babies and stairs?  I have already purchased two swanky stair gates, but I'm seriously hesitating to install them.  Genoa is only 16 months old, but she negotiates stairs like a pro (remember she's been walking since 10 months).  I was going to put them up, just for containment purposes, but I can easily picture her standing at the top of the stairs screaming bloody murder for me the second I try to go to the bathroom.  It's really nice letting her come up and down as she pleases (not to mention being able to shuffle laundry up and down with both hands). 

The rest of the house is basically child-proof and I shut her door when she goes to sleep at night.  I also think that if I did put them up, I'd basically just be opening them for her and then letting her climb up and down on her own anyway, thus barely reducing her risk of falling.  I'm not a fan of carrying a squirmy screamy toddler up and down stairs, since it's a lot more dangerous for me to fall while carrying her than for either of us to fall alone.

I dunno, what do you think?

Bogart Sofa

Dave and I went to Portland on Sunday to check out a furniture store called Dania.  I specifically went to see this sofa, which appeals to me greatly even though I can't put my finger on exactly why:

Maybe I like that it isn't ordinary (like that last couch I posted here) and it's a little bit retro.  Here's the chair, which BARELY fits my husband:

They're also pretty affordable at $895 and $395 respectively.  I could get the set and stay under budget, but the only problem is that they're a little bit small for our extremely tall living room.  What do you think?  I'd love to hear any ideas how I might decorate to maximize the space better and not make it look like I have tiny furniture in a big room.

Hardware

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that a few days ago, I decided to change ALL the door and cabinet hardware in the entire house.  This is one of those things I'm a bit nutso about, but all the metal in any given room HAS to match or it really bugs me, decorating-wise.  I started in the kitchen, removing all the basic brass knobs from the white cabinets and putting in brushed nickel and then I had to change the door knob on the pantry, which was also brass (or gold-colored, whatever).

Of course, it wasn't until I changed the door knob that I noticed that all the doors have three hinges, all of which were brass and those needed to be changed as well.  Ten hours and four days later, I've changed every knob, hinge and tiny little screw on all 16 doors in the house.  All the brass cabinet pulls are now brushed nickel.

I was there until 10:30 last night finishing, my hands are KILLING me (note to self: find that electric screw driver next time!), but everything matches and now I can sleep in the house without it bugging me!  The best part is that I think the whole ordeal cost me under $300.  For me, that's a big bang for the buck since it completely updated the house.  "The White House" is truly a thing of the past.

Lights, camera...

In spite of it being an emotionally draining week, we've actually made quite a bit of progress on the house.  The painter finishes tomorrow!  Today I met the electrician and he (painstakingly, after having to entirely re-wire the large chandelier because its cord was only three feet long and looked ridiculous hanging from our 18 foot ceiling!!!) put up all four of my beautiful, twinkly West Elm lights.  He only charged me $150!  My other two estimates were $675 and $1142.  It was highway robbery and the lights could not look more beautiful.  My camera is taking a giant crap right now, so I was only able to get a couple of shots:

And over the front door:

It's so satisfying to see things coming together.  I'm still constantly changing my mind about the furnishings, which has caused me to step back and put a big fat "cease and desist" order on my own haste.  Now that the paint colors are done, I can relax and wait until after we move in to decide how to spend the rest of my furniture budget.

Today I actually ordered a bunch of sample FLOR tiles.  I'm thinking of going with this rug in the family room.  We'll see what the samples are like.  The floors go in next week and it looks like we'll try and move in a week from tomorrow.  It goes without saying, but I cannot wait.

While the paint dries...

We made our first few actual decorating purchases this weekend.  First, we ordered that dining set at Macy's to take advantage of their Labor Day sale.  Out the door with tax, delivery and a $100 credit for opening a new Macy's account (with zero interest for 6 months to boot), it was $1642.  I had been planning to also buy the black couch and ottoman, but at the last minute I got cold feet.  I'm not in LOVE with them, so I want to keep looking before I settle for anything.  I figure I'm in no rush; the furniture doesn't have to all be there the second we move in.  I want to wait and see if the hardwood floors inspire me with any new ideas.

On Saturday, I was also finally able to track down my beloved drapes for the living room.  I drove all the way across town, used my $100 gift card (from Dave's brother and his wife when we first moved here) and cleared out everything Fred Meyer had in that style, not realizing until I got home that the longest drapes they carry are at least ten inches too short.  My windows are 94 and 96 inches tall.  That means I also can't buy anything at Target since they don't carry anything long enough either.

Of course, I could modify them by adding black velvet to the hems, but that takes a sewing machine and the ability to use it and I have neither.  I'll return them and use the gift card to buy a lamp for Genoa's room instead.  I just now realized none of the bedrooms have overhead lights!

Today we went to IKEA and I dropped some change on drapes for the office since everything IKEA sells is over 100 inches long.  That means I'll probably be doing a lot of textiles with a Scandinavian flare.  I also bought Genoa's comforter cover and some sheer drapes for her bedroom.

If you want to see how the paint is coming along, I'm posting the progress at Flickr as it happens.  To be honest, I'm not in love with how some of the colors are coming out (the office turned out too lime, Genoa's room is too dark green), but the main colors downstairs are awesome!

I also spent several hours this afternoon thinking of Heather Armstrong while I unwrapped every single intricately taped and sealed strand of lapiz shells from not one, but FOUR West Elm chandeliers.  My neck is killing me, but it was worth the effort!

Buying a house is EXPENSIVE

Jen pointed out that this is becoming a decorating blog and I understand that that's not necessarily what people are looking for in this space.  I've been avoiding the budget because, well, I'm busy spending money.  This will probably end up being the most expensive year of our lives thus far.  Not only did we blow a big chunk of our savings  on the house, but it's taken us some cash to get here.  Our savings account has been ravaged thus far by:

• Moving.
• Paying the non-refundable apartment deposits for a short-term lease.
• Dave taking a month off from work between jobs. (OUCH!)
• House down payment (Obviously the biggest expense).

And there are all the home improvements we're making:

• Professional painting: $3,500
• Hardwood floors: $9,000
• Chandeliers and electrician (for installation): $1,100
• Furniture: $7,000
• Moving AGAIN: $600

And that's just the stuff we're doing BEFORE we move in.  I'm sure plenty more will pop up as we live in the house and find things that need fixing.  When I spoke earlier about the fact that we'll HAVE to stick to the budget, I meant I have absolutely no intention of pulling money from our savings account because we overspend on our normal discretionary expenses (which is basically what I've been doing up to this point - saving less money when we don't stick to the budget).  That will no longer be a luxury of mine.  From now on, the only reason to take money out of savings is for house stuff or major expenses that Dave and I agree upon in advance. 

Hopefully after a few months in the house our spending will settle down and we'll start saving more again.  I can only go so long with a negative cash flow without going crazy.  Dave and I have also agreed to save no less than 65% of his future bonuses, so that will help us both feel better about our overall financial plan.

Testing out paint colors

I got the keys at 9AM as promised, but the sellers didn't end up moving out until after 6PM!  It was like the longest day of my life.  I meet the painter at the house tomorrow at 8AM.  I plan to get to the paint store at 7AM to get my order in early.   Here are my three final candidates for the living/dining rooms:
The left one is too dark; the right one is too light.  I'm going with Foggy Mist, the one in the middle.  It's actually a color I found when I went on one of those local Street of Dreams home tours a few weeks ago.  It was featured in three of the five homes and I loved it so much that I asked the builder what it was called.  I didn't remember it again until I was in the store yesterday and they had the flier from the tour.  I think it's just right.