The Nellie Mae Project

Did I mention we have drywall?? Here is the past week in pictures. We fell a little behind because we had my 10 year reunion this weekend, which was totally worth falling behind for! Anyway, Tim’s cousin Micheal came and helped out with insulation. Bless their hearts because it was over 100 degrees and they had to wear long sleeves and jeans while installing it. Tim also pulled a 27 hour work day on Monday at the house to get ready for the drywall crew on Tuesday morning. I slept 4 hours, but all in all….. we got this darn house ready! We are rested now and getting amped up for the next phase: Restoration and Decoration =) This is obviously my favorite phase. Budget update. We are at $11,000 out of our $15,000 budget. We don’t have much left and I have purchased most of the things that are going into the house. We are thinking if at most, we will be $2,000 off and will hit $17,000. Which isn’t pretty darn shabby to renovate an entire house. We just don’t pay full price for anything. We did hire a drywall crew b/c it would have taken Tim about 3 weeks. They took 3 days. We had a connection so a normal $3000 job was only $1500. We sure do love having friends with businesses. Here are some pics of drywall, and the before and after so far… enjoy!!

the den insulated with drywall, the kitchen

the Pink Stuff/ Davids room insulated!

THE FAMILY ROOM

THE KITCHEN

THE BATHROOM

MASTER BEDROOM

DAVIDS ROOM

MACKENZIES ROOM (THE BACKPORCH WE ENCLOSED AND MADE AN ADDITION)

THE DINING ROOM

VIEW FROM KITCHEN TO DINING ROOM TO FAMILY ROOM (TIM BUSTED DOWN 2 WALLS TO MAKE A CASED OPENING- AKA BIG DOORWAY -TO THE FAMILY ROOM). The “before” pic above also…

We still obviously have a long way to go, about another month, but we feel like we have hit a huge milestone with all new electrical, plumbing, and drywall ready to rock. Tim has also added to the house 2 closets, a half bath, another bedroom, and opened with floorplan up with a cased opening. On the list next is EXTERIOR. We are going to repaint, shutters, clean up the windows, and landscape. Other big to do’s are re-finishing hardwood floors, installing all doors, light fixtures/ ceiling fans, appliances, and cabinets. Wow. Now I’m exhausted already just creating that list!

Anyone need a shower? Because you can officially take one at Nellie Mae, we have a bathtub people!!! One of the preparations for drywall is to get the bathtub in before, isn’t it beautiful?! Also, I think Tim has gotten a little out of hand with the trailor. We normally double its capacity load. Here is the insulation! Next week is a huge week for us!!

So, drywall is starting on Monday. With the “Punch List” we have to work on, some family issues going on, and children… it’s literally the soonest we could swing it!

Our punch list includes: replacing any damaged hardwoods with what we salvaged out of the bath and kitchen, insulation, random vents we need to attach, a couple door jams and closet doors installed, install new locks, scrape a few more staples off the ceiling, and a few more misc. items. We are down to the details. (Interior). While they are doing the drywall, we are doing the whole exterior makeover.

Sometimes it is frustrating getting permits, dealing with insurance, and waiting for the county to do what they say they are going to do. Well, here is the latest and greatest with that. Since we had plumbing scheduled over the weekend, I had called a week in advance to have our gas lines marked. I even gave them an extra day of grace and they were a no show. So, I call the county to see what the hold up was. In general, people don’t seem to care because they aren’t really working on a timeline and don’t care about yours, rude!

“Well, mam. We are just showing that the lines haven’t been marked on your property. We have the request, it was just never done.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you. I am aware of that and that’s why I’ve called because I need them marked. Can you please tell me why this hasn’t happened?”

“No, mam. We are just showing that it hasn’t been done. I think you are going to have to re-submit a request and wait another week.” He was kind of rude and pushy and trying to just get me off the phone.

Me- furious. I am nice until someone doesn’t do their job. And then doesn’t take responsibility for it. And then asks YOU to do something about it. So I say this:

“Here’s what’s going to happen. Our plumbing is going in tomorrow. That’s not changing because I am moving into this house with my children!! I am not re-submitting, I am asking you to do your job. So, you have two options. 1. You come mark the gas lines by tomorrow. Or  2. I will be reporting a gas leak tomorrow when we start laying pipe lines into the ground and then you will have to come out anyway. So, you can either do it voluntarily or for an emergency. You Decide.”

Tim said within 30 minutes the county was out marking our gas lines. Seriously people? I hate being a “you know what” but come on!! They were just lazy and didn’t want to come out there! Sometimes you have to be tough to move this project along.

 We are literally busting this project out! Wahoo! This weekend we finished electrical, started plumbing, finished plumbing, removed the chimney, took several trips to the dump and scrap metal yard, and started prepping the house for drywall! I take the kids over on the weekend for a few hours to see their daddy and the progress! They love this house and it’s neat for them to watch the transformation!

Tim’s dad and brother came over to help him remove the chimney. I dont know if you remember, “Dead Mans Corner”, but there was a chimey (no fire place) suspended in the ceiling  for an old wood burning stove. It is now called, “Corner of Life.”

RIP Chimey. Here is a picture of the addition getting the siding on!

Plumbing: new main water line was ran, along with the entire house being re-plumbed.  Here is the men hard at work, thank you so much Mark! Tim had a blast on the trench digger!

Please don’t call the social workers, our kids were kind of obsessed with the trench we layed pipe in!

Fuse box before the wires went in!

We are literally down to the last wire being ran through the house. And well, many things are starting to change in appearance over here. Besides the fact my husband is starting to look like Jesus with a full beard and long hair, the house is coming along nicely. I can say we’ve FINALLY rounded a corner and have stopped ripping things out left and right. We are now in the reconstructive phase with this as our tentative schedule:

Wiring Completion 7/16

Re-plumbing the whole house 7/15- 7/19

Wiring Inspection- 7/19

Insulation goes in/ house prep for drywall- 7/19- 7/21

Drywall crew comes in – 7/22

Here are some pics of the electricians in action!

Canned lighting in the kitchen and the infamous storm windows… to be cleaned and painted!

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The first load of Tire Mountain to go… family connection, tire store owner going to take them for $1 a tire. SWEET! And, Tim finished siding the house today, here is when he started!

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So, we hoping this timeline works out and doing everything in our human and superhuman powers to see that it does! So, every step is a big step for us right now!

So, Craigslist is kind of booming for us right now. I decided to REALLY hunker down and go for some deals. And baby, that’s what happened. I’ve been so busy wheeling and dealing that I haven’t even had time to take pictures! But, I will!

Deals of the Week:

GE Stackable Washer/Dryer Full Size capacity, Retails $1499. I paid $400 on Craigslist. We went with stackable so I can make every little square foot count in this house.

22 Gallons of Benjamin Moore Paint, Retails $880. I paid $40 on Craigslist for all of it! (By the way, the paint colors are great! My mother in law knows how to tint them to whatever color you want also, so thats why I was a little brave on this one).

13 Storm Windows for the house. We needed to address the single paned windows. Window World is the cheapest for new windows and installation, but would have cost $2600. Clearanced windows and we install ourselves would cost around $1000 plus our labor. So, last option was Storm Windows b/c you leave the single paned windows and add those. We decided to go that route b/c the house is so small that we aren’t talking about heating/cooling a HUGE space here! Low and behold I found 13 Storm Windows on Craigslist that Retail, $520. I paid $25 for all 13 from a dude on Craigslist.

I have more, but I’ll keep posting… and I need pictures! So, we have found our niche. We are not necessarily a blog about design, construction, or even renovating a house. I think we may be the first people to completely gut and renovate a home for the cheapest amount possible. Here is the difference…. I don’t consider Tim or myself “cheap” people…. actually our taste is kind of what gets us in trouble! I would say “thrifty” would be a good word for what we have done b/c we have found quality, name brand, really nice things for dirt cheap! And…. I love not paying full price for something!

So, what is the secret? I don’t know. I dont know what I am doing or not doing. So, I tell you what I do and if it helps anyone in their endeavors… .great!

I find what I like. And I look for it. When I find it for sales on craigslist or wherever, I immediately inquire. I am very direct. I send an email or I will call if there is a number. I say this everytime.

“Hey! My name is Jennifer. I found your ad on craigslist and I was just wondering if your _____ was still for sale?” And I wait…

“Great, well I would love to come buy it from you. Would you take $50 cash for it and I could come tonight at 7 and pick it up from you?” And I wait….

And you know what, they just say yes. I believe it’s for 3 reasons. I offer cash. I give a good offer, sometimes I low-ball and negotiate, but if you offer a decent portion of what they are asking, they’ll take it. Last, I set a time and say I am picking it up.

I think those things have made me successful in purchasing. People on craigslist just want cash, they want to get rid of their item, and they don’t want to play games with when you are coming and if they are going to have to meet you.  I get their address, plug it into my GPS, and show up.

If you do those things, I think you will have luck! My conversations are very short, direct, and easy. The last thing people want is for you to waste their time.  Now, I know women have been abducted, murdered, and scammed on craigslist… so that’s why I carry a handgun. Kidding. Just use your brain. Don’t go at dark, if you do, take a friend. Don’t go inside if you show up and there is just a man. Ask them to bring it outside. Keep it business like and you’ll have no issues. If it’s shady, leave. You can pick out most creeps over the phone anyway. I have had no problems and really feel like I could take some of these men anyway. I have ripped out drywall/ floors/ and sheds with my bare hands, ha! But seriously, these deals are paying off big time. We are literally saving THOUSANDS so far on this project, unbelievable.  So, those are my buying tips. I can’t wait to share more of the purchases for the house!

 The progress this week:

-the best news of all, with everything we’ve done/bought/including the kitchen and electrical, we only now just spent $5,000 out of our $15,000 budget. We are pretty excited about that. We are doing it in cash with money my grandmother gave us that is getting added on to our payoff amount of the house back to her, interest free.

-all the new wires are almost done being run throughout the house. Inpection will be next week.

– 700lbs of concrete were poured by hand into the foundation of the home to re-stabalize the home.

– All the termite damage to the siding and subfloor were replaced with new lumber.

– A 4″ cast iron pipe that was 15 ft tall was removed that was part of the old plumbing.

– Plumber comes out on Monday to show Tim what plumbing lines need to be ripped out. New pipes on Friday!

-The new floor plan of the house is set and all framing is in order.

– We have a drywall crew and they are set to come out right after the plumber.

So, a productive week? Yes. A hard week? One of the hardest we’ve hard. Tim started HVAC school, he’s still doing some contract work on the side, I am still running my cleaning business when he is home, and THIS HOUSE! AHH! I got my first horrible deal on craigslist. This loser sold me a stackable washer and dryer that was broken for $350. I had to drive over an hour there and back! Then, after getting home and it not working, I had to convince him why he was going to let me return it and get my money back! So, he consented, in fear of his life, and I returned it to him! Oh well, I guess all the deals I’ve gotten have been great so far so I was due for a bad deal. And at least I got my money back. Our 3 year old came down overnight with Pink Eye and Strep Throat. The kid hasn’t been sick in 2 years so I don’t know WHAT was going on with that.

Can I just complain for a minute? We are tired. I am tired of destroying the house and ready to start the reconstructive phase. I am tired of our stuff being in storage. I am tired of living with our parents (i love all of you), we are now at my mom’s temporarily b/c she’s only minutes from Nellie Mae and we are double timing our work late at night. I am tired of not sleeping, eating, and I don’t know if I have worn make up in the past 2 months. I am tired of trying to juggle babies, house renovations, and part time jobs.

But, all at the same time I am thankful. I am thankful for Nellie Mae. I am thankful for my hardworking husband who is basically building us a brand new house, going to school, working, and allowing me to work a small amount. I am thankful that we do have a family who is loving and supporting us, helping us, and allowing all of this to happen. I am thankful that even though this might be the hardest phase of this whole project, we will be living there soon. Tim will finish school in the spring and at Christmas school will lighten up and he’ll work full time. We’ll pay our house off in 5 years, and this will all be worth it. For the first time, we are living sacrificially to make our long term dreams come true. And it’s hard.

This weekend was our first Nellie Mae Yard Day! We invited friends and family, but we call them all family… to come help us whip this place into shape! Our goal: Get that backyard cleaned up!  Results: we came pretty darn close to achieving that!

Thanks to Bob our electrician, Dennis for dropping off the bobcat, Mom, Dad, Chef, Momo, Jackson Brown the dog, Greg, Jessica, Jacob, Jessica, Josh, Brad, and all the others that allowed these people to come help! We were quite the team and it was quite the day. Here is what we did:

The Bobcat vs. the Shanty Town

It was a mess of metal and some of us have some scraps to show for it! Did I mention we found about 100 buried tires?

Let’s talk about this. It is illegal to bury, burn, or throw tires away. You have to dispose of them at the dump ($5 a pop) or recycle them at a tire store ($2.50 a tire). So, this renter was a little lazy and decided to hide them back in the corner of the lot. So, we have a Tire Mountain. We are trying to figure out where the heck we are gonna take them! So, money that is saved on cabinets, fixtures, everything else…. will be getting spent on properly disposing of tires. Grrrr!

Fortunately, we live about 15 min from the dump. We took about 7 truck and trailor loads to the dump! We had considered renting a roll away dumpster, but in hindsight we would of needed a few of them! They are around $300-$500 a dumpster. We only spent $150 doing the labor ourselves. Hard, but worth it! I got stung 3 times, we found huge ants nests, bee nests, and really gross spiders. Don’t worry, we were armed and killed them all.

All in all, it’s no landcapers dream yet, but I think we have a little success! A little light at the end of the tunnel!

It obviously has a long way to go, but we made a major dent and our so happy with it. We are also forever indebted to the people that have come and helped. Thank you, again!

 Onward we go!! The electrical will be finished this week and another inspection will happen. We are 10 days from the house being completely re-plumbed. Thank you again for the 2,000 + readers we have following our project! We appreciate the encouragement and support! We feel like we are holding it together okay and are tentatively setting a completion date of end August/ beg. Sept! And to our critics out there, I’m a little bit emotionally unstable so please refrain from the non encouraging comments about our house’s appearance currently, the size of it, and our progress. If you have complaints, remember you aren’t the one that’s going to be living here! We realize we aren’t quite normal and are off the beaten path a little, and we like that. My blood, sweat, and tears are in this house already so I just might fight you. Kidding, but cut us some slack.. this is our first renovation =) And I think it’s going to look pretty darn sweet when finished. I also updated Deals We Scored.

I am a big fan of outdoor living spaces. We love spending time outside, so I was very excited this property is on an acre and has a great front porch!

Now, right now…. the front porch does not look that great. But with a new fan, new paint, and some rocking chairs, and maybe an outdoor rug…. I am getting really excited about this. It is also right off the family room, so I think we’ll spend a lot of time out here. Currently, it is a lumber yard! But, I wanted to share pics of this amazing little area.

There is so much going on that it is really hard to keep up with!! Here is the deal! What I am most excited about the deals we have found on EVERYTHING. They keep getting better and BETTER!

1. The termite damage is taking longer than we thought. Any place where termites might have been suspected, Tim has removed the wood and replacing it with new.  It is just time consuming b/c he is carefully removing the hardwoods and replacing subfloor and bracing. Picture below.

2. Plumbing was estimated and looked at and to replumb/ update the whole house it’s going to be around $1500. Which is great and under budget for what we thought.  We are up to $800 with electrical so far which is awesome also. Tim is working along side and doing  alot of labor, but having a licensed electrician and plumber guide him. Saving tons this way..

3. The brilliant plumber thought of a great idea: turning our hallway into a half bath, YAY!!! Im going to have to post picture, but basically there was a small hallway off the den to the bedrooms…. so small the size of a half bath! So, we are recreating 2 different doorways to the bedrooms and going to have a half bath off the den! YES! I’m excited that this house has been transformed from a 2 Bed/ 1 bath to now a 3 Bed/ 1.5 bath…. it will make this family of 4 quite comfy!

4. I seriously got the best deal on cabinets, EVER. I have been shopping them out on craigslist. I found an awesome guy in Canton who does remodeling and had a warehouse full. Would you believe I showed up and found the exact ones to match our kitchen floor plan??? Not only that, they are white, custom, all wood, trimmed out cabinets that are worth a few thousand dollars. Guess how much I paid? $25 a cabinet!!! So, all cabinets in kitchen equal $175. It’s pretty fantastic!

Here is a view of the kitchen! So much bigger with all the debris out, whew! Thanks to Tims dad for literally cleaning this place up!

Here is the full bathroom, Tim busted out a wall to make it bigger, and also turned it into a jack and jill bathroom…. entrances from both bedrooms to the bathroom!Here is where the half bath will be…. just not framed in yet!!