Buying our house and making it our 'Home'

A year and a half ago, Mike and I decided that since interest rates were going down we should look into purchasing a house again. This was quite the journey. Where to go, where to go, where to go?? We looked from Tremonton to Payson, and Tooele to the Heber. Thankfully, most of this searching was done on-line. We finally contacted our realtor and then the actual walking through homes began. We walked through probably 30 houses. We went through one house, during a snow storm, and when we went into the basement, there was water dripping. Gee, wonder why we passed??? We went through another house that had the strangest murals painted on the walls of every room in the house. Yes, painting is no big deal, but I really wanted a house that you couldn't see the kitchen sink from the front door. Well, this house also had a very odd layout, the front door was between the kitchen and front room, with no dividing walls, so you saw the whole kitchen. No thank you! Another house had no kitchen sink, and another had linoleum in every room. Most of the houses were short sales, because of the economy, so we really had no idea what to expect.

Then one day in January (2009) our realtor called and said I have a house for you to look at, keep an open mind, this house has a really bad pet odor, but I know for a fact that it can be taken care of, during the conversation Mike and Todd, our realtor, nick named the house "smelly nelly". He gave us the address and we did our normal internet searches, google maps, and then real estate sites. I told Mike that I wouldn't live there, but we could go and look. I was so sure it was just somewhere I didn't want to live. Well, we walked the house, and he wasn't kidding, it was bad, it was aweful!! But, the price was right, the layout was good, and there was plenty of space. We made an offer on it that night!! We finally closed March 6, 2009, and the mayhem began. We imediately tore out all the carpet and pad from every room in the house, took down all of the window coverings and began pulling up the linoleum in the kitchen. We had decided that everything had to go since Mike is allergic to pet dander, and who wants to live in a house they are allergic to? We worked on the house everyday, Mike used up a chunk of his vacation time, but it was worth it. We painted everyroom in the house minus the bathrooms with the assistance of family and friends. Thanks to all of them!! We were very fortunate to be the receivers of free carpet that we used in the kids bedrooms and the playroom. We got the best deals on what we could, and shopped the best way we know how. I think we did pretty good. :) We were able to lay wood laminate flooring in the frontroom and kitchen/dining, we replaced the blinds in the same rooms too. We bought carpet from the Carpet Barn, and my brother layed all of it for us. We were told to paint the sub-floors, after scrubbing them with bleach, and that should take care of the pet odor. Well, we had a really bad case, because it didn't work. My mom ended up contacting the health department to ask them what we can do. They told us to purchase a sealant from a very specific store and that would take care of it, IT DID!!! Yeah! I was so worried, I couldn't imagine living here with the smell, it was starting to make me crazy.

We moved in the last weekend in March, what a day, what a day?? The carpet was being finished while we where moving in, so that made for lots of fun. Justin started with the stomach flu the day before, and was stuck to mommy's side all day. My sister in law thought she lost her wedding ring during the move. The day wasn't completely aweful, we did have a tremendous amount of help, we got all moved in one day, and we able to get our huge bed to our room. hehe

We have been able to make this "smelly nelly" into somewhere we call "home," and we love it! We have done a ton of work to it from painting the kitchen cabinets, refinishing the handrails. It's taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but it has been worth it.

If your ever in the neighborhood stop on by, and we'll talk you ear off about everything we've done!! :)