Homeowners!!!!

Finally! FINALLY! We finally got the keys to our very own condo! The excitement is incredible, I wasn’t really expecting to be as excited as I am. Okay, maybe I was. I don’t know. I’m too excited to remember.

BUT with that excitement comes the stress of everything that we have to get taken care of now. While the house is in move in condition, there are things that we need to do to have it the way we want it. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Install new double or triple paned windows. All the windows in the home (except a tiny one in the bathroom and hallway) face the south. This means the HOT Southern California sun will be hitting us ALL day. Since in the summer many days surpass 100 degrees, this is probably going to be the first thing we take care of. It might cost a pretty penny, but it will save us in electricity bills.

• Replace the bathtub/update bathrooms. The condo has 2 bathrooms, the one in the master bedroom has a shower and the hallway one has a bathtub. The tub’s fiberglass is cracked and to prevent future leaks it needs to be replaced (the location of the crack prevents the fiberglass from being fixed). Since we will be changing the bathtub we might just re do the entire bathroom, BUT that hasn’t been decided yet. We might also do the shower…. But that may be a project for down the road.

• Paint! I am very excited about this! I thinking painting makes a home your own. It gives it your personality. Right now the walls are what I would consider “blah” (I’m so sorry if you like these colors). Thomas and I had a difficult time deciding on colors we both liked. He wanted light light light color (just about white), while I wanted pastel type colors that are springy. We were able to come to what seems to be a good compromise, but as of this writing we haven’t decided completely. We went to Lowe’s and bought 4 different colors in sample canisters ($3 each) and we will try them out and see what we think. The master bedroom has molding a quarter of the way up from the floor, so I think we might be doing a darker color (sky blue) below the molding and then a lighter color above it. The only real issue with painting is that we have vaulted 15 foot ceilings! I’m sure I’ll have blog posts about this!

• Cabinets. The kitchen, as well as bathrooms, have granite countertops, however the kitchen cabinets are white. They were painted white and look like the original ones (1980). Thomas greatly dislikes (read: hates) the cabinets. I am fine with them. There is a TON of storage now, but I suppose that remodeling it would be nice. We would be able to get a garbage compactor (which I can live without but apparently Thomas wants because he is used to having one at his parents’ house – mine don’t). This might be something we do fairly soon. After all if we are going to fix the house up we might as well do it now so that we can take advantage of it.

• Appliances. I wanted a fridge. Even though the condo comes with a fridge, oven, microwave. Washer and dryer – I wanted a new fridge. I’ve ALWAYS, since they came out, wanted a French Door fridge. Actually I remember a friend from when I was 7 who’s grandparents live a few doors down from me. They had a top fridge, bottom freezer back in the early to mid-90’s. I LOVED it then. The fridge in the condo is acceptable but I do not like it. It is side by side and is missing a shelf and…. I just wanted a new one. My mom gave me about $4k in savings bonds to cash to buy the fridge and anything else we might need. So far we’ve only purchased the fridge and I’m super excited about it.

• Miscellaneous. There are a lot of smaller fixes that have to get taken care of, some more serious than others. The carpet was professionally washed but there are a few stains we want to try to removed. The fireplace (I have a real wood burning fireplace, guys!!!)  has to be cleaned and chimney inspected. The toilet is loose and needs to be tightened, the sink is stained and should be worked on, there is an old leak that needs to be checked on in the 2^nd bathroom…things like that. Thomas’ parents have a trusty handyman whom we will be asking to look at the place and give us a quote on most of the things we can’t take care of easily ourselves. Oh! And we’re going to change the locks ASAP!

What have I already taken care of?

• Electricity. The realtors suggested we call the LADWP (Los Angeles Department of Water & Power) right away because they take a long time. I called Friday right after getting the keys and scheduled an appointment for Monday – pretty fast, I think.

• Gas. The gas was already turned on, but I got the account changed to my name.

• Fridge. The fridge was purchased weeks ago and I’ll have it delivered on Saturday (which is probably before I post this).

• Bed. We knew right away that Thomas and I would need a sleep number bed because he likes firm as cement beds and I like comfy, soft mattresses. The only way to resolve this (that was feasible, because we won’t have separate beds) was to buy a sleep-number bed. He can have his side as hard as he want, and I’ll have mine at a comfortable setting. This is also being delivered Saturday.

I am sure there is a TON of more things I have to get taken care (HOA stuff of course), but this is all I can think of for now.