Step 1: Pre-move checklist

Over the last week, we've hammered out what we'll be tackling pre-move. It's not much in terms of dealing with things from far away - just expensive! I expect these will cost $12-15k total.

Heating & Plumbing

• Our inspectors found a gas leak in the gas... thingy. So that needs to be fixed. We'll ask them to do that when they
• Install a new furnace. We'll get a few different quotes, but if anyone has information on great furnaces, please leave a comment!
• Heat and cold air return registers - currently these are in the floor on the 1st floor, with only one GIANT gaping register for cold air return. We'd like to move these into the baseboard, and add cold air returns so we can patch up the floors and make the areas more useable.
• Add central air conditioning to the house
  

Electrical Updates

• Replace the old knob and tube wiring with updated stuff. If need be, we might update to a 200 amp service, but I'm hoping we can make due with what we have. We'll see what the electrician says. Hopefully this won't cost too much, but we're budgeting $2k to be safe
  

Refinish Hardwoods

• This is going to include patching the floors where we move the heat registers. It won't include the kitchen - I'm not sure if there is hardwood under the linoleum in there. We'll deal with that when we renovate the kitchen.
  

Test

I'm having some trouble with my template, so I'm just testing things out here. Carry on.

A Home of Our Own

We closed on a house this morning, up in Pittsburgh! We'll be moving after the baby arrives - in mid-November. We're very excited about the house and being closer to family.

The house is a bit of a fixer, and we have BIG plans for it. But we're not planning to do much with it until we've lived there for a bit, so we can get a feel for what will work best for us. I'm sure my home blog will be getting some action in the coming months, so go ahead and add it to your RSS feed if you are interested in keeping up with our renovations!

American Four Square, Built in 1924. Brick with a slate roof.

Entrywy - original door, mouldings, and stairs

Living Room - Original windows, light fixture (I think), and decorative (for now) fireplace with built-in shelves. And POCKET DOORS!!!

Dining Room - Original plaster walls, mouldings, side windows. The back window was replaced with a giant vinyl monstrosity. I envision French doors going out to a deck in its place.

1950's retro kitchen, complete with pink speckled laminate countertops, pull-out stove, and probably the first ever dishwasher (also in pink). I see a gut reno in our very near future!

Up to the 2nd floor:

Bedroom #1 - will probably start as a guest room,
turn into a nursery, and then back to a guest room.

Bedroom #2 - Joseph's room, and hopefully someday Baby Girl will join him
for several years when they are both sleeping through the night.

The Bathroom. Yep, there's only one... for now. Do you love the sage green and pink?
Even on the ceiling? I thougt you would. The tub and toilet are still pink. Whee!

Bedroom #3 - The Master. I hope it'll fit the king sized bed that I have planned for in my head since I was pregnant with Joseph. There are hardwoods under the carpet.

Bedroom #4 - AKA the future master bath. Ooooh, yeah, baby.

And up to the third floor (yup!). I envision it starting out as a family room - housing my craft stuff, the office stuff, and probably our lone TV. We think it'll morph into a bedroom for one (or both) of the kids in future years once we finish the basement.

Up the stairs...

Nice storage closet on the landing!

The back side of the room from the stairs

And the front side. It's very bright up there from those windows,
and two huge ones over the stairs.

And down to the basement

Towards the front of the house... our realtor thinks this was the "original summer kitchen"

Storage Room #1 under the front porch

Storage Room #2 under the porch - I wonder where that door came from... hmm.

The future family room... tall celiings, relatively dry and open. I'm in love.

The "Pittsburgh Potty". For some reason the 'burgh thinks they have the monopoly on these things. We had one in our old house in MN (built in the 1890's. We called it the "emergency bathroom". Haha.

And finally, the exterior:

The front porch - beautiful beadboard ceiling, and they already have the hooks in place for my imaginary porch swing. Yahoo!

The parking pad... we are hoping against hope that there is enough side yard to put a one-car garage in next to the house. Envision that bottom glass block window as the door to the garage. Cross your fingers.

The back yard... South-East facing, bright, relatively large, and mostly flat.
It's a freaking miracle in Pittsburgh.

The back porch. More awesome beadboard. This could become part of the kitchen (enclosed) or just get connected to the future deck. Not sure yet. Either way I'd like to spiffy up the part underneath and make it look less... yucky.

So there you have it - our new house! Hope you enjoyed the tour.