Moving Forward

Ok. Here it is. My first blog post about my new house. Eeeeeee! I'm kinda excited! I wish I could bottle this current excitement and open it, like, 6 months from now, when we're probably overworked and tired and desperate to be finished. But, right now, excitement abounds!

Ok, we don't actually OWN the house yet. The big day is next Friday, 31st of August. But, even though we don't officially own it yet, it hasn't stopped us from moving forward and making our plans. This week has been toooootally crazy. I can't even begin to tell you all the details, phone calls, and big changes that have yet to be revealed. Hehe!

Our first little road block was getting insurance on the house. Apparently, they think it's old and risky. They don't wanna do it. Wimps! This is where it's really, really awesome to have a great bank guy. I'll probably say this over and over, but I love our bank guy!! He's great. Anyway, he talked to someone he knew and we were able to get some decent insurance on the house for a decent price. Good.

And we talked to our bank guy about money and it turns out we're going to do ok paying for two houses for a little while. We were afraid we'd be scrounging in the forest for food, but it looks like we can go to the grocery store... like normal people. YAY!

And we've been spending hours and hours making up drawings of the house and the new add-on we're putting on the back. We've explored every possible angle, crook and cranny, measured walls and spaces, to come up with the best possible layout. What really helped was taking a little walk over to another house here in Spangereid. It's the exact replica of ours only it's been fixed up and built on to the back. They were very kind to let us in when we showed up at their door and gave us a tour of the entire house. It was so inspiring to see how nice it could be! And we got tons of good ideas. So Sindre spent several nights drawing it all up on graph paper, so that we could give it to our architect guy to make blueprints for us.

So now comes the patience. Waiting for the blueprints. And then we have to send them to the county to be approved. Always a little nerve wracking because of it's status of "historical value". We're not changing the facade of the house, which I think is what they're most concerned about. So keeping fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I get to window shop. Well, through the window of my laptop. I've been poring over old fashioned wood stoves, paint colours, kitchen cabinets and even door knobs.

Like these:

And I absolutely LOVE this:

And pretty white kitchens:

  

Ahhhh! *happy sigh*

Back in the Game.

Well, folks. I guess it's time to get back in the game. We got home from our absolutely fantastic holiday in Canada last Friday. And got right down to business. We bought a new hardwood floor for our current house before we left for Canada. And it had been sitting in our living room all summer waiting for us to come home and be installed. So late Monday evening, after a birthday party, we (when I say "we", I mean Sindre, my outstanding, wonderful husband) started moving all the furniture over on to one side of the living room so we could pull up all the old floor. It was a messy job because under the floor is concrete. And concrete is dusty. We had a white layer of dust over everything. And I couldn't get in my kitchen for a few days because of all the furniture stuffed in there. But, my wonderful honey (I can't even begin to tell you how great he is!) worked from the second he got home from work and all evening, everyday, until everything was done Friday night.

Moving all the furniture to one side:

Removing the old birch laminate to reveal the concrete:

 

Laying a plastic barrier and a sound absorbing layer:

 

Putting down the first boards! Wide plank oak with a matte white wash:

The finished result!

And I LOVE it!! Very happy. So we've got to enjoy it while we can. Cause as of August 31st, we are the new owners of an old house that needs a complete overhaul. We'll live in our current house while we work on the new one for as long as we can. Things are gonna be tight, for sure, for a while. But we're so excited about the end result. Although I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have a nervous breakdown along the way. Probably two. Or more. Time will tell.

So....I'm afraid you'll have to go through the ups and downs with me, while I blog our journey to our "Desired Haven". It's gonna be quite the ride!