Cha-Cha-Changes!

It should be obvious by now that I am playing catch-up with this already! Last night I posted about our new home, and today I thought I would give a peek into the things we have done since our closing January 23rd. Our house came short a few necessities. But, keep in mind it is almost 100years old, and it had been in the same family for that long! That being said, we realized that some things just don't change. For instance, our bathroom came with a tub - but no shower. The kitchen has a wonderful walk-in pantry, a itty-bitty little sink, and one appliance hook-up. That's it... no countertops... no cupboards... nothing else. So, the first project to be completed was by Joe and Grandpa Luedtke, to add the shower in. It is an interesting arrangement, as there is a full-length window right in the shower/tub area, added to the tiny problem of the tile not running the entire length of the area that gets wet. Joe came up with the brilliant idea of having not one, but two shower curtains to cure the window problem and most of the wall issue. I find that I discover something new every day in the old house of ours. For instance, the first time I took a shower I noticed the seahorse image left on the wall. Apparently they were in place for so long the paint faded around the wall-hangings. The next project was to give us a little bit of workable space in the kitchen. Joe and Grandpa Walt hung the cabinets that Joe's Mom gave us. Joe's cousin Josh helped get the cooktop hooked up, and Joe and CJ installed the countertop and shelf for the convection oven. With the tidy purchase of our refrigerator and the cooktop, we now have a mostly functional kitchen. We are short an oven, but no loss right now as everyone knows I am not a great cook by any means! While the boys were busy working on the kitchen, I was busy trying to put the pantry back in order. We had to remove part of the shelving and wall in order to put the shower in next door. In addition we removed the beadboard doors and partitioning as it just wasn't functionable. I love the beadboard doors however, so they will be moved into the mud room/laundry room. I spent some time removing linoleum and sanding the peeling paint down. After a trip to Dollar General I came up with a system to organize our food and dishes. I am pretty proud of my handy work! Keep in mind that all of these changes are temporary until we do the official make-over! The boys also took to the attic and re-installed wiring and some lighting. The original had to be removed prior to close as it was of the knob & tube variety (yeah raise your hands if you know that dinosaur term! lol!) and there was a lot of open splicing. Last on our list was a mailbox... uh huh - you heard me. So, apparently for the last couple of decades the little old lady who lived in our home had her mail hand delivered! It took us about a month to realize that we didn't have a mailbox! So here it is in all it's glory! Joe says it is the one with the detroit lean!