okay, i'm embarrased but...

i'll show you my crappy house so you can see why i want out so bad. i took this last summer.



the far right window used to be a garage door, now its just a big storage room. was supposed to be turned into our bedroom. then the next window to the left is our room now. the first door did open up into a living room, but when my BIL was going to buy it they put up a wall so when you walk in its a small room/corridor with a wall to another bedroom, which is where the kids are now. then the big window is the kitchen with another door we don't use, then there is a windowless tiny bathroom and there are two little rooms on the end, empty now til i replace the carpet. i. hate. this. house. can you see why? it's embarassing, lol. but at the time it was a quick purchase. we had more plans but DH's ptsd and depression has taken over and he wont do anything else. :thumbdown:

because my BIL put up that wall in what was the living room , we don't really have a one now. when you first walk in, that space could be a small one, but we don't have a couch, lol. so our tv is in our bedroom. we all hang out there, its a big room. i do want to get a couch and move the tv into that entry room, but who knows when.

It's really not a bad house...alot of the things that have been done in our house I have done myself because my husband cant really do alot of it or he was working and it had to be done. Ive hung drywall (and mudded and sanded it), laid floor tiles, painted etc. Honestly our house has so much that needs to be done to it too but I am just thankful it is paid for and it gives us a warm place to sleep at night and a place for my kids to grow up...whether it is the nicest house in our town doesnt really matter to me.

jessica31876 said:

It's really not a bad house...alot of the things that have been done in our house I have done myself because my husband cant really do alot of it or he was working and it had to be done. Ive hung drywall (and mudded and sanded it), laid floor tiles, painted etc. Honestly our house has so much that needs to be done to it too but I am just thankful it is paid for and it gives us a warm place to sleep at night and a place for my kids to grow up...whether it is the nicest house in our town doesnt really matter to me.

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oh believe me, i'm glad i have a place to call home. and though i'm a bit embarrassed, i don't really care what people think, its what i think, lol. we never planned on it being a permanent home. but things just haven't worked out as we planned yet. credit score is still a bit too low for a VA home loan. when we were in the military, it was always base housing or apartments. so once we got out i was like 'yah! now we'll have a nice little house!' but DH wanted this one. i didnt. but we kept getting out bid on a few others that were better. so we settled. if DH would get some more done to it i know it could look better. we planned on finishing the siding, and adding a front porch etc. but he's in this funk and i don't know if he'll ever get out of it. i have two rooms that need new carpet and i plan on atleast ripping out the old stuff on my own, but he'll have to help me lay it, lol. i don't mean to sound ungrateful, but i have just been waiting for so long to get my 'dream home' and i'm just impatient, lol. i do know i'm lucky to have a roof over my head. i just wish he'd help me get it looking better.

I understand what you are saying...hope I didnt come off the wrong way. It really doesnt look all that bad but I know that living in a house that you dont like is hard. I want to move to a different area someday and have an idea what my dream house would look like but at the same time I just remind myself that for now this is my home and its good enough for now.

i agree. for now i'm making it 'home'. but someday we hope to get one that doesn't need a lot of work like this one, lol.

aww, sweetie - hang in there! Check out the home improvement stores for returns. We've done projects before using materials that were custom ordered. If the customer doesn't want them, they are super cheap!

I say rip out that old carpet and see if you can get some laminate/vinyl down that you like. There are some really gorgeous options out there now! Maybe once your hubby sees a little progress, he'll be inspired to help more?

i'd love to put laminate wood in there, something easy to clean. the reason we want to rip it out is because the dog thinks it is her personal toilet. really stinky, thats why i just took the kids out of there. its not fit to stay in. i have shampooed the heck out of it, bought expensive floor cleaner from the pet store, nothing will get that smell out. it is in the padding, there's no sense in trying. i keep the door shut and everyone out until i fix it up. i plan on getting started on it the first of the year. too busy right now with christmas and i don't really have the money for any flooring just yet.

I totally understand how you feel... we just bought a short sale that needed tens of thousands of dollars in immediate repairs and replacement... it was all we could afford. The process to get things done is long and I can't wait for it to be my home and not someone else's dump. Unfortunately, I'm the one in a funk and haven't been doing anything which is so not like me... I think I'm just overwhelmed with how much needs to be done... I can't wait for the day it's fixed up enough to decorate and paint my own colors and make it my "home". I have been blogging about it which really helps me see how much has been done on the house even though living in it doesn't feel like anything has been done. I really hate it right now and really wish we could have afforded something that didn't need to be fixed up.

heathergw said:

I totally understand how you feel... we just bought a short sale that needed tens of thousands of dollars in immediate repairs and replacement... it was all we could afford. The process to get things done is long and I can't wait for it to be my home and not someone else's dump. Unfortunately, I'm the one in a funk and haven't been doing anything which is so not like me... I think I'm just overwhelmed with how much needs to be done... I can't wait for the day it's fixed up enough to decorate and paint my own colors and make it my "home". I have been blogging about it which really helps me see how much has been done on the house even though living in it doesn't feel like anything has been done. I really hate it right now and really wish we could have afforded something that didn't need to be fixed up.

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i just checked out your "work in progress' pictures. you've done a lot of work, and i think it'll be really nice when you're done! and i love the siding! it really makes a difference. i wish we could afford the remaining three grand or so to do the rest of ours plus gutters. it does look way better than the white. our house has potential; i just think with DH's depression he just doesn't feel up to it like he did at first. thats why i'm looking at nicer houses with little to no work. the prices around here are cheap, but our credit score is about 40 to 50 points below the minimum needed. we're close, i'm hoping maybe this summer or next summer. crossing fingers!

Corey, are your pipes going to be ok this year? That was a major problem last winter I remember. Have you done anything to prevent them from bursting and such again?

i think the think with ours is that its not architecturally pretty, lol. its like they just kep adding on. originally, i think it was just the far left part, then they added the middle, then the little 'garage' on the end. i love design, and used to want to be an architect so me living in this boring house is really depressing, lol. i need something more exciting, lol. This is the house i really really want. and its been for sale forever. hopefully it'll be for sale when we are able to get that VA home loan, lol.

ColleenSwerb said:

Corey, are your pipes going to be ok this year? That was a major problem last winter I remember. Have you done anything to prevent them from bursting and such again?

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the main reason our pipes busted was because the furnace went out first. so the crawl space was FREEZING. the furnace helps keep it warm. it still not perfect; the foundation is not the greatest. we are going to get some more straw bales i think and put around it. we have a few but could use some more. i can't guarantee that our pipes won't freeze if we have more below zero days like last winter, but hopefully this winter won't be as bad. last year had record lows. and our new furnace rocks, lol. its toasty in here!

Corey...what's under the carpet? I had a cat that used a leather recliner in our living as his kitty litter box, and it leaked down through to the carpet. I'm sure the dog decided to use it too!

I pulled all the carpet and padding out and got down to the cement floor. We scrubbed it with clorox...and then painted it till we could fix it. My husband had to go work out of the state for 6 months, so when he got back, we bought some of the wooden laminate at Costco and he installed it himself. It looks gorgeous. I wouldn't recommend it if you will have a lot of traffic on it, but our living room doesn't get all the traffic. I didn't mind the cement floor at all...I thought it was pretty cool!

If it's wood (particle board?), you could even rip all that out and replace it cheaply...seal the seams, and sand and paint it too. My girlfriend did that in her house in Kauai till they could afford to put hardwood flooring in.

It would be a nice fun room for the kids to play in too...I know in colder climates having more play space indoors is always a fabulous thing for the kiddos!

There are a lot of ways to fix up a house and make it really warm and cozy without costing much. I know if your dh is down in the dumps, it's really hard. My dh has been off work for a few months, and I'm finally getting him up off his butt and getting some work done. I can't put in 8 hour days at work and come home and do everything myself. He is just so used to working 10 - 12 hour days and having projects to do there, that he is just not sure what to do at home...except lay around and read his books and watch tv! LOL!

Hopefully you can take a few small steps and start enjoying your home!

hang in there Corey...we will be int he same boat next summer, looking for a place since I retire in Jan 2011 and we have lived in base housing for as long as I can remember...so I am not looking forward to be let down when the VA says our credit isn't good enough to buy a house, but we will be on the lookout and if it's a fixer up then that is what we will have to take so hang in there!!!

the problem with me ripping up the carpet is that DH layed it himself and he glued down the padding. he said thats what you do. so i will have to find our scraper thing and be in there forever scraping up the remaining gluey padding off of the floor. he did this in every room we carpeted. ripping up the living room when we put in wood was not fun. underneath the carpet i think its like wood or something but not good wood. i would love to put laminate in there and maybe an area rug.

junebug said:

i just checked out your "work in progress' pictures. you've done a lot of work, and i think it'll be really nice when you're done! and i love the siding! it really makes a difference. i wish we could afford the remaining three grand or so to do the rest of ours plus gutters. it does look way better than the white. our house has potential; i just think with DH's depression he just doesn't feel up to it like he did at first. thats why i'm looking at nicer houses with little to no work. the prices around here are cheap, but our credit score is about 40 to 50 points below the minimum needed. we're close, i'm hoping maybe this summer or next summer. crossing fingers!

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Thanks... crossing fingers for you.

I'm sorry this is driving you so batty...it's hard when we wnat things done and they just DO NOT happen

I hope you can get the house you want sometimes soon!~ I remember you posting that a while back!

ok

thats NOT hte house you posted a while back unless someone else posted a house a while back

lol

either way I like the house you posted

yep...you have to scrape the glue off the floor. Not a big deal. Just gotta do it. When I get these ideas in my head, I just make it happen. There was no way in the world I was going to have that carpet in my house any longer.

My carpet on the stairs and upstairs is ruined, but not smelly ruined. I can live with it till I can afford to fix it. We have to have the banister replaced anyway, and I have other things to do...so I'll just rip it out at the same time as I do all of that. That's one of the problems of having an older house. Ours is about 20 years old now, so a lot of things are needing to be fixed. I think people don't realize how much work is involved (and money) in fixing places up.