Naked Hits

I love my house. The biggest problem with my house is that every time I go to a friend's house I want mine to be better. I am friends with a couple that have a beautiful home that is huge and brand new. It is in a really nice neighborhood. I wanted a house like that as soon as I saw it. They probably paid around the same as it costs for this house but they are way in the middle of nowhere.

When I was a kid my family bought a house in the middle of nowhere and everything eventually came out to them as far as shopping centers and more houses. It took about twenty years though!! My sister and her husband bought a house that is big and old because it was inexpensive being further out there.... I know plenty of other people that have done the same to get more bang for their buck.

 For me though, I do not want to be way out there. I find it too boring and I get depressed easily with lack of things to do or places to go. I like being closer to the big cities and enjoy having everything you need good and close by. This house may need some work but I am lucky to have been blessed with the knowledge to fix it up any way I want to. I also have the motivation to get up and do it. 

I have been working on a few small projects here and there but as of this week I have found myself in the middle of an all out remodeling project. I am so excited about it! When this is finished I will have totally transformed three rooms into a beautiful brand new living area. I am so excited to see how great it is going to look when I'm finished. I am looking forward to having the family over for the holidays this year!!

The floor plan I am working on will be much more open and functional. It will also allow more light and functionality which will make all the difference in the world. The most expensive part of the project will be building a new floor and then carpeting. I tore out an entire wall today and moved the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator. This week I will be finishing up the electrical work. 

There is this neighborhood not too far away that has the most beautiful new custom homes I have ever seen! I want a house like that so bad! I will do anything in my power to have a home like that. I know it can be silly to have a home that size but I want one anyway. I drive through that neighborhood every once in a while for inspiration. I am not even sure how many people actually live there yet. I always see landscaping and construction crews busy at work.

One of the things I have to do is fix up the house I am in now so I can increase the value a whole lot and make a profit. Then I need to keep working my butt off so I can make my dream a reality. I decided which house was my favorite house and took a picture of it... the whole thing would not fit in the photo so it's actually about a third of the house.. I put the pic up as the wallpaper on my computer as kind of a goal poster. I use my tv as my computer monitor so it's a nice 46" goal poster. That way I see it every day several times. When I am feeling bummed or lazy and I see it that helps me to work harder to make it happen.  

 I woke up today and sat around with my sister for a while since she had stayed the night. We were watching tv and then all of a sudden we couldn't stand how unorganized the living room was. Things were all over the place from working on the kitchen remodeling from last night. We cleaned the living room and moved things back into place and then I continued on to the kitchen putting things back into the cabinets and then cleaning the counters and doing dishes.

One big problem is that I have too many couches for the space in the living room right now. I had an idea to put the love seat in the bedroom, but I really didn't thinnk there would be enough room in there. After some thought the love seat was crammed in there. The bedroom was also a big mess to begin with! I left the house for a little while to go to the pool and then when I got back home decided to figure out the bed room. I managed to work it all out and it seems like it actually fit together really well so I was very pleased with that.

I got some of the conduit for the electrical wires out of the way today between the living room and the kitchen so at least I can walk between the two rooms without having to duck below it. I also got the wiring in for the new laundry room light fixture that I want to put in so now I can finish doing all of the drywall work in there. I still have to clean a whole bunch more but at least I'm making progress! 

I keep on working on my home remodeling projects. I continue to work on one thing after another after another.. here are some photos I took about a week ago of the progress of my living room. I finally got some paint up there!! It is so exciting to see things finally starting to come together! I still need a couple more coats of paint on these walls but so far so good!

I have gotten a lot accomplished over the past year as far as home remodeling goes. Besides all of the projects I have going on I think it is time to work on making the house itself bigger. I would really like to add an addition which includes building on a second level. The best time to do projects like these is in the winter which makes it difficult to add on so what I am thinking about doing is turning the existing garage into a bedroom and an office. The garage is not big enough anyway so if I decide to do this I will end up moving the driveway to wrap around the side of the house and to put the garage out in back. That way I get two more rooms indoors and a new garage that has more space. Then the house will be a 4 bedroom 2 bath with an office which I could really use. I am excited about the new changes. The next step is to plan everything out and decide what is the best route to take.

Remember ... most cities require permits for additions.

Native

Oh I know all about permits and building codes and stuff. I have spent most of my life getting to know about this stuff and at one point even did home repair/ remodeling and construction for a living.

Native:

It sure looks like you have been a very busy Naked Girl! It is WONDERFUL to see (and know) someone willing to put so much of themself into their house. Keep at it!

Remember ... most cities require permits for additions.

Native

Haha! I don't think I could handle another web site but I could see it being a good discussion board thread or a blog maybe. I have so much work to do around here I might as well!

I have decided that as much as I love fixing up my home I think that it is time to start paying people to do the work for me. I had to get a furnace reair man over yesterday to fix the furnace for the third year in a row. I have a cheap crappy furnace.. One of these days it will be replaced. I was looking at the tax credit program for getting certain energy efficient heating and cooling systems. Anyway I have so many things to do and not enough time to get them all done. I figured that by paying someone to do it for me that does this kind of stuff on a regular basis it would go much faster. I don't have the time to put my full attention into these projects so they last forever and ever and I stare at eveything that is unfinished. Right now I want to get the bathrooms and the living room done and under control. I called up a home remodeling guy that I know and he should be coming to take a look at all of my projects next week. I can't wait to get everything done!

Haha I am sitting at home and I have a repair man over to fix my washing machine. It has been broken for a few weeks which has been a really big pain. I haven't been able to wash my laundry for a while. i have been visitng family so that I have had clothes to wear lol. I was wondering if he has noticed the stripper pole in the living room yet haha.. I am always curious to know what people are thinking when they come over to my place

Dang! It is going to be almost $200 to fix the washer.. but oh well at least I will have more clothes to wear now