It is coming to a head now.

My wife and I purchased a house in mid-December. The house needed a lot more work than we originally had expected, but we are winding down and moving in this weekend!

The house is a 1950's 3 bedroom 1 bath ranch with a basement and 1.5 car garage. The house is rather small on a small lot (1/4 acre), but in a very nice area. The entire house was covered in wallpaper and paneling, which all needed to be removed! The middle bedroom has a sliding door out the back to a nice screened in porch rendering the middle bedroom useless as a bedroom and making it an office. So, here is what we did:

• We tore down every piece of sheet rock (except 7 walls and ceilings)
• Tore down the entire wall separating the kitchen and dining room
• Removed the closet in the office and combined it with the master bedroom
• Converted the master bedroom and living room from radiator heat to baseboard heat.
• Gutted the bathroom
• Replaced every door in the house (outside entrance doors)
• Installed high hats in the office and master bedroom
• Replaced all outlets and switches
• Crown moulding throughout the entire house
• Resurfaced the wood floors throughout the house

Every night after work (except for five or so) since Christmas, and every weekend, I have been working on our new house. It took two months but we did it! All the work was done by myself, my wife, family and friends. I can honestly say we had almost ZERO professional help. My "first cousin once removeds' husband" (lol) is a plumber and he did the plumbing and tile work in the bathroom. He also lent a lot of tools, advise, and help throughout the project. The only part I had no involvement in was the wood floor resurfacing; we paid someone for that.

Throughout college, while others were doing internships I was employed as a "video game technician" at various "family entertainment centers" (Jillians, Dave & Busters, etc...). I did all sorts of stuff there; repaired arcade games, repaired amusement rides (tilt-a-whirl, etc...), welded, did building maintenance, etc... It has been about 7 years since I did all that stuff and I am glad to report that my various "handy man" skills still exist. I found that I am a pretty good drywaller/spackler and not bad with crown mouldings!

Pics are in the gallery and I will put up more this weekend once the move is completed.

http://www.carknee.com/photos/carknee/tags/House/default.aspx