You Bored?

Looking for a project?  Your very own home renovation project?  You ready to prove your house loving/dreaming/designing skills to the world?  You've come to the right place.

Our Heber retreat is FOR SALE.  I had grand visions for this place.  I thought we would be tearing apart this house all summer but we have been royally distracted by this monstrous project.  So here it is -  your shot at the big time.  Round up the hubby and the kiddos.  Break out your tool belt.  This house needs some lovin'....your lovin'.

Folks, I didn't say it was pretty.  I asked if you were ready for a project.

3 bedroom

1 bath

1684 sq. feet

Heber, AZ
swimming with potential

$39,500 
$33,500
SOLD

Call me.

Downtown house - On the Market

I know what you are thinking.  If she is trying to sell the house why start with the before picture?  Well, I'll tell you.  This was a sad little house in the middle of town - in a great neighborhood (poor neighbors, right?) exactly one year ago.  Jace and I immediately saw this house's potential.  If you have been driving by this house for years on your way to Little League or dropping kids off at school - you probably never noticed it or if you did it just made your heart sad.

BEFORE:

  AFTER:

Is your heart singing now?  A happy song?  

After lots of work this sad little house is now adorable with it's laid back, California cool charm.

And just like the exterior, the inside was in desperate need of a make over.

And a make over it got.

We tore down walls, bumped out closets, and ripped out the fireplace to make room for our new living room.

We should all quit lying to ourselves.  We live on our computers these days.  We can't bank, cook, decorate, blog, shop, or communicate without them.  Every house I touch I plan for an office space.  Even my little houses.  I love the function of this space.

The only thing in good shape when we bought this house was the kitchen cabinets.  We savaged all we could, rearranged, and painted them.

Inspiration for the kitchen was found here.

Just know that nothing was left untouched or undone.  Jace did the hard work for you.

We have loved living in our little downtown house.  We absolutely love the location (kids walk to and from school!).  We absolutely love the neighbors.  We will be sad to leave it all. 

But we have another house calling our names.  Another sad house in need of our services.

The Baums are moving on.  Again.

My downtown house is for sale.  Spread the word.  Come enjoy small town life in this charming, perfectly priced house.

Click here or email here for more info.

Dangerous Words

My bellybutton sticks out when I'm pregnant. And it's painful.  But not as painful as these sponge painted walls.

Our Heber project has been waiting patiently in the wings.  As you can see from the above (before) photo, the Heber house was bought last summer when I was pregnant.  Very pregnant.  I have had visions about this house bouncing around in my head for months.  This house cries for our attention, time, and $.  Has it's turn finally come?

I hope so.

The Show Low house sold this week.  Don't cry.  I use the word "sold" loosely and optimistically.  One time Jace and I "sold" a house in Snowflake.  We packed, lined up rental, and basically moved out - only to get a phone call on the last day of escrow informing us that the buyers were no longer qualified for a loan.  We moved back in.  Cried.  Unpacked.  And then sold the house a year later for $50,000 more.  Boom.  We showed them.  But a valuable lesson was learned....your house is never sold until you have the $ in hand.  Got it?  Repeat after me:  "Money in Hand.  Money in Hand."  The correct terminology is:  "Our house in Show Low is under contract."  Some very nice people are in the process of acquiring the funds in hopes to purchase the adorable house before month's end.  So....Wahoo!  I have already starting spending my 1st commission check!
What was it I was saying earlier about $ in hand?  I don't know.  Whatever.

The "sold" Show Low Family Room.  Before.

There was a tiny twinge of disappointment when I signed my name on the contract line this week.  I daydream about living in a town with a Wal-Mart and a car wash with real employees that will vacuum your car for you.  If the Show Low house was never to sell, then I could have told those Snowflake Lobo children of mine that desperate times call for desperate measures - "Pack your bags!  We are going back to the Motherland!"  They would have been whistling the Cougar fight song in no time.

Family Room.  After.

But it is not to be.  And the good part about that is.....we will soon be moving on to another exciting house project!  Hold on to your shorts - it's about to get real messy around here.

Dangerous words posted (definition of dangerous will vary from person to person):  Sold, Snowflake Lobos, Show Low Cougars, Wal-Mart, bellybutton, pregnant, sponge painted walls, and the phrase "moving on to another exciting house project".

Nipples or Nostrils

The new hall bath vanity.

Someone once told me that if your marriage can survive building/remodeling a house - it can survive anything.  I don't know if that quote applies to married people who remodeled or built 6 houses in 10 years but I'm going to pray it does.  Jace and I mostly love doing houses together.  We love the whole process.  Jace is so good at his stuff and I love getting to see the house "dreams" in my head come to life.  But home improvement can be exhausting, stressful, and scary and that can turn into weight gain, high blood pressure, empty bank accounts, and bickering spouses.

The above photographed bathroom vanity did indeed cause some tense moments during our lastest house remodel.  Jace doesn't even bat an eye when I come hauling an old broken piece of furniture into the house and request the plumber to convert it into a bathroom vanity.  That he can handle.  

It was the mirror height that had our feathers all rumpled.  Jace is a healthy 6' 3" and I on a good day am 5' 4 1/2".  (Yes, I always throw in the 1/2")  That is a height difference of 10 1/2".  That sweet man hung the mirror all by himself one day and it was somewhere near the bathroom ceiling - I requested a redo - and pointed to the spot where the mirror should be - closer to the sink.

"There?"

"Yep."

"Oh good.  I'll be able to look at my nipples - ONLY - in the mirror when I wash my hands."

"Well, too bad because I'm not going to jump up and down in the bathroom to get a glimpse of my nostrils."

I'm telling you it was tense.  We had ridiculous conversations like that for days.  In the end, the mirror went somewhere in the middle.  We call that a compromise or a "I don't want to talk about it anymore, so I'll hang the mirror where ever I want because I know how to run the power tools better than her."

Hall bath - After renovation and after the mirror was permanently fastened to the wall.

The hall bathroom before?  You should probably see it and then appreciate all our efforts.

Yellow tub.  Yellow toilet. Yellow linoleum floor.

Want to see the master bath?

Before:

Master Bath - Before.  Days after birthing a child - in the hospital, not the bathroom.

After:

  

Have I already told you I know a really good looking plumber?  He's good ain't he?

Stick around.  There's more to see.

And by the way,  I hate the word nipples.  Don't you?