Blog: Making Our House a Home
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Making Our House a Home - Saturday, June 21, 2014
It's hard to believe that half a year has already passed since we moved into our new house! For the sake of brevity, here's what's been going on, in timeline format.
End of January:
Got a sofa and chaise for the family room.
Beginning of February:
Replaced three sets of door locks, all keyed to the same key. Discovered that our yard has lots of snails; spent lots of time catching snails at night.
Middle of February:
Installed solar garden lights. Bought a push reel lawn mower. Assembled a credenza. Uncle Kenway wanted to buy us a TV as a housewarming gift; we picked a 55" LG TV. Finally was able to use the Comcast cable receiver that had been sitting in the closet for a year. Bought a pole saw and started trimming some of the overgrown elm tree in the front yard; it was so overgrown and inter-woven that dead branches and leaves had nowhere to go.
Beginning of March:
Finally installed the gas dryer. Lots of yard work.
Middle of March:
Bought a bbq grill. Bought patio furniture (table, four stationary chairs and two swivel chairs). More maintenance on the elm tree.
End of March:
Replaced a sprinkler head that I had broken while mowing the lawn. Dug out and sawed off old connector and attached a new one.
Beginning of April:
Cut fungal-infected leaves off rose bushes. Lots of elm tree cutting. Used bbq grill for first time and made chicken wraps, steak and turkey patties; the turkey patties fell apart, the steak came out decent, and the chicken wraps were slightly overdone.
Middle of April:
Cleaned everything out of the second bedroom; previously we'd been using it for storage. Cut down a large tree/vine in back of the house, because it'd gotten too large and when we started to prune it, we discovered that the inside was just unsightly vines.
End of April:
Grouted the side of the vanity in the hallway bathroom. Finished removing all dead branches from the elm tree!
Beginning of May:
Got new water heater delivered and installed.
Middle of May:
Bought two accent chairs. Bought a 99 gallon deck wicker box to store chair cushions in; the cushions were getting too dirty from material from a nearby tree and spiderwebs. Aaron and my dad visited; my dad helped redo the mail slot in the garage (previously it had a sharp metal edge sticking up), removed an unsightly battery backup on the wall of the second bedroom, installed a new showerhead in the hallway bath, and a bunch of other small things. Bought a new fridge and pantry cabinet to put in the living room for our renters to use. Our respective renters, Sarah and John, moved in on the same day. John moved out two weeks later because his commute to Oakland was killing him.
Middle of June:
Got a PlayStation 3 to be able to play DVDs and Blu-rays. Started playing Heavy Rain, which plays like a movie; Priscilla really enjoys watching.
Home improvement never ends, and I've gotten more handy in the last few months, but I think we've gotten to the point where all the important stuff is done and we can take improvement projects one step at a time. We've had several people/families from church over, and Priscilla sometimes has friends come over. We're blessed to have a home and things that we can enjoy and use to serve others, and this place pretty much feels like home now.
End of January:
Got a sofa and chaise for the family room.
Beginning of February:
Replaced three sets of door locks, all keyed to the same key. Discovered that our yard has lots of snails; spent lots of time catching snails at night.
Middle of February:
Installed solar garden lights. Bought a push reel lawn mower. Assembled a credenza. Uncle Kenway wanted to buy us a TV as a housewarming gift; we picked a 55" LG TV. Finally was able to use the Comcast cable receiver that had been sitting in the closet for a year. Bought a pole saw and started trimming some of the overgrown elm tree in the front yard; it was so overgrown and inter-woven that dead branches and leaves had nowhere to go.
Beginning of March:
Finally installed the gas dryer. Lots of yard work.
Middle of March:
Bought a bbq grill. Bought patio furniture (table, four stationary chairs and two swivel chairs). More maintenance on the elm tree.
End of March:
Replaced a sprinkler head that I had broken while mowing the lawn. Dug out and sawed off old connector and attached a new one.
Beginning of April:
Cut fungal-infected leaves off rose bushes. Lots of elm tree cutting. Used bbq grill for first time and made chicken wraps, steak and turkey patties; the turkey patties fell apart, the steak came out decent, and the chicken wraps were slightly overdone.
Middle of April:
Cleaned everything out of the second bedroom; previously we'd been using it for storage. Cut down a large tree/vine in back of the house, because it'd gotten too large and when we started to prune it, we discovered that the inside was just unsightly vines.
End of April:
Grouted the side of the vanity in the hallway bathroom. Finished removing all dead branches from the elm tree!
Beginning of May:
Got new water heater delivered and installed.
Middle of May:
Bought two accent chairs. Bought a 99 gallon deck wicker box to store chair cushions in; the cushions were getting too dirty from material from a nearby tree and spiderwebs. Aaron and my dad visited; my dad helped redo the mail slot in the garage (previously it had a sharp metal edge sticking up), removed an unsightly battery backup on the wall of the second bedroom, installed a new showerhead in the hallway bath, and a bunch of other small things. Bought a new fridge and pantry cabinet to put in the living room for our renters to use. Our respective renters, Sarah and John, moved in on the same day. John moved out two weeks later because his commute to Oakland was killing him.
Middle of June:
Got a PlayStation 3 to be able to play DVDs and Blu-rays. Started playing Heavy Rain, which plays like a movie; Priscilla really enjoys watching.
Home improvement never ends, and I've gotten more handy in the last few months, but I think we've gotten to the point where all the important stuff is done and we can take improvement projects one step at a time. We've had several people/families from church over, and Priscilla sometimes has friends come over. We're blessed to have a home and things that we can enjoy and use to serve others, and this place pretty much feels like home now.