I haven’t had a garage since I was living at home with my parents - and that was a very long time ago - or so it seems.
In any event, now we have a three car garage - and just a bit short of two months in the house - and three major hurricanes - the garage is clean and organized - and the cars now fit in the garage.
That’s a weird feeling.
Having spent all but three days in Minneapolis since Memorial Day, I write this from yet another Northwest Airlines flight back to Providence, Rhode Island. We’ll be landing soon, but of course, you won’t read this until later.
The new home passed inspection so now it’s on to the rate lock in a few days and then we wait until closing at the end of August. Buyers are finally coming to look at the Boston house tomorrow and Sunday, so life is looking up. The drive out to the home inspection on Tuesday noonish took 18 minutes to go 21 miles from downtown Minneapolis over to Woodbury.
Quite an improvement over the 90 minute each way drive I would run into around Boston.
There’s more travel on the horizon with a short trip next week - just a hop and a bit.
More to come….
Just wrapped up twenty four hours of hellish negotiation and such over the home purchase in Minnesota. Short version: found the house, we were right in the range the seller’s wanted, but the closing dates were a month off. Solution: up the offer. House sold. Home inspection Tuesday, closing at the end of August.
It’s amazing what an upgrade in property, home, and community one gets here in Minnesota versus back home in Massachusetts.
Some pics:
The two level deck! Gonna have some fun with this:
Our lovely split level ranch in Taunton, Massachusetts goes on the market in about a week.
1800 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, basement 80% furnished, 1/3rd acre lot (rear portion wooded), three season porch, yard barn, and other goodies. Septic new in 2001, roof new 1999, house built 1985.
Mid $300s
Link forthcoming once it gets up on MLS.
Interested? Drop me a note at bryan [at] strawser.org
As I see that Tim has posted a list of things to do for the weekend, I thought I’d post my own list for this upcoming three day weekend:
Much to do!
Dethatched, raked, seeded, and fertilized the side and back yards.
A total of nineteen compost bags for the pickup while I’m in St. Croix.
And I hurt in places I didn’t know existed.
But the yard will be pretty in about ten days or so!
Slaving away. Alot more to do. Callus on my right hand. Blister on my left hand that just popped.
Raking is hell.
Remind me to hire people to do this in the future.
Two things have been the source of inspiration for me when it comes to looking at changing the colors and layout of the house lately.
The first was the runaway hit Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I enjoy the show, not just for the humorous content, but for the great examples of fashion, decor, and home interiors.
Particularly home interiors.
The house, when purchased in January 2001, is covered in a cream colored paint in every room (except for one baby blue bathroom), and a dark stained wood for all window trim on the interiors. What I saw on Queer Eye made me want to paint and rearrange and generally tear up the interior of the house, room by room.
The second thing that has inspired me was a waterleak in my basement ceiling that occurred on Christmas Day, while I had family in town. Because of this, i’ve had to do alot of drywall work and painting in the basement. Once you get started on stuff like this, it’s hard to stop.
So recently the paint section at Home Depot starting calling my name - and after consulting with a variety of different paint catalogs, settled on Aegean Blue and Sneaker White from the Ralph Lauren Home Collection. They seemed perfect for the guest bedroom…
So, with the selection made, I began masking off and painting away. I do believe that the person that invented the trim brush should win a medal.
Trim Painting taxes my patience.
But the end result, after a brief shopping trip to Target for art and accessories, is priceless.
I still have to paint the doors, the closet doors, and the inside portion of the windows. And, still have pictures to frame and add in.. but the bulk of the work is done.
Now… what room is next?
Additional Pictures Available as well.