I bought my first house when I was 21 years old. It wasn’t something that I had planned on doing. My neighbor went into the nursing home and knew she was never coming home. We would still go visit her while she was there. One day she told my mom that she told her kids to sell the house. My parents were discussing it and I didn’t like the thought of anyone besides Laura living there. (You must know that I hate change.) I came home from work the next day and they hurried me into the house telling me my mortgage broker was on the phone. I asked what a mortgage broker was. And thus, I unintentionally bought a house.
I had just started dating a guy 3 months before. We were driving down the road and I said, “I bought a house today.” He was a bit shocked. I ended up marrying him a year and a half later, so it all worked out fine. Years later, I asked him what he thought when I told him that. He said, “I thought you wanted to marry me”, to which I replied “nope. At that point in time, I was so overwhelmed with life I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be dating you.” It all worked out. He moved in with me when we got married and we lived there happily for 12 years.
I really didn’t like the house all that much when I bought. It was boring on the outside and stuck in the 70s on the inside. Wall to wall carpet (including the kitchen and bathroom), honey-stained wood, all paneling and Formica. The bathroom was gold, we had a real golden throne to sit on. It was not a very pretty house. But the price was right since they liked me, and we didn’t have to get realtors involved.
So, after three years of marriage, I decided it was time to renovate my bathroom. I was not about to potty train my little boy on carpet. No way! In order to save money, we did as much of the work ourselves and kept the cabinetry. Neither my husband nor myself had any experience with anything of the sort, but we were going to make it happen. My husband is a quick study, and I’m determined, so we knew it would get done.
Some decisions were easy. I wanted it to have a serene feel, spa like. Blue walls, WHITE TOILET, cork flooring, and dark cabinets. (I was so over honey colored wood.) Other things were more difficult, like finding the perfect color of blue that was in my head. We hit up a surplus store, where we bought fixtures and tile. I bought a lot on eBay and got to know our way around Lowes pretty well. I learned a lot in this process.
1. Everything takes longer than expected.
2. Don’t rely too much on others help. When I thought would be a month took six months. When you have to wait on people to help you, time passes with me having no bathroom and them not being affected by it.
***Note, we did have a creepy half bath in the garage (We had to close it up in the winter because there was no heat or even hot water) and shower in the basement. We survived but it wasn't convenient.
3. Finishing drywall is not for everyone.
4. Though I did love my cork flooring, I chose not to use it when we rebuilt. I loved that it was not carpet and was antimicrobial. However, when you dropped super heavy things (like toilets) they leave a permanent dent. Oops.
5. Don't settle. Take the time to find what you want.
So as a first attempt, I was very pleased with our outcome. It was a million times better than what we had and made my life better. So it was worth it. A professional would not have been impressed, but I was the one living there and it made me happy!
