We Are HOMEOWNERS!!!

[footersownsme]

Well it has finally happened, not that I talked about it much because it was nothing but stressful and a HUGE headache. After 3 closing dates came and went on this house we finally made it happen on 1/7/2010.

Now we are working on the fun stuff.....cleaning this Nicotine covered house. The house is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and right across the street from the lake. We are in North Jersey and its a tad bit colder than what DH and I are use to but I can't wait to be moved in. The last 3 days we have been scrubbing the house and we are hardly close to finish. The nicotine on the wood work, windows and walls is like a million inches thick. The previous owner just lived there never cleaned. We have not even tackled the downstairs where they rented it to an even heavier smoker. The stench down there is killing me. We have the doors closed and once we get a chance we are going to tackle that hard core. I took a ton of pics so thought I would share.

Our House


View from our picture window in the living room


Master Bedroom, picture shot from walk in closet.


Picture from master bedroom down the hallway towards the living room


Corner shot of what is probably going to be the cats room for now.


Steps to downstairs and the front door.


Wide open living room, i love the color in there but we are probably going to make it a little more reddish than orange.


Our outdated kitchen, as soon as we get the cash we are redoing it.


Right side of deck and yard


Left side of deck and yard


My nicotine covered paper towel from cleaning the windows


and last but not least....my DH cleaning the shower and his bestest animal friend helping.


Sorry so many pictures I could of put more....lol. We have a fireplace also that is in the living room that I cut out...opps. We are now just trying to figure out paint colors...which i'm terrible at.

 

[larussa]

Congrats on your new home. I too live in Northern Jersey, too bad it's so cold out lately since you could've then opened the windows and door to let some fresh air in. I can only imagine the stench from all that stinky nicotine, yuck.

I did see your fireplace from a distance and it looks really nice. Good luck to you in your new digs.

 

[coolcat]

congratulations!...

..

..

....seems a prettie great home!...

 

[footersownsme]

Thank you guys its a work in progress but we will make it our home!!! LaRussa if you don't mind me asking where in North Jersey are you? We are currently living in Morris Co. but the house is located in Sussex Co.

 

[mrblanche]

When I was in real estate, we warned people that buying a new house was just as stressful as losing your job and having a family member die.

Congratualations. Take lots of photos, put them on a disc of some sort, and put that in a fireproof safe.

 

[mbjerkness]

Congratulations

 

[tara g]

I'm so jealous!!

We built a brand new house in 2008 and closed in February 2009 (and was the worst experience ever! SO STRESSFUL!), I want to live in Jersey again, I'm definitely not a fan of South Carolina enough to want to stay here forever. I lived in Sussex County for the 1st 17 years of my life ... in Hopatcong. As soon as I saw the pics, I immediately thought of Hopatcong, too. The exterior of that house looks really familiar for some reason.

Congrats!

Hope you can get the stinky nicotine smell out of the house, I can only imagine.

 

[eilcon]

I'm so glad it finally happened for you guys, Jen.

Looks like a great place. Love the view. I bet the kitties will love it!

 

[sarahp]

Congratulations!!!! How exciting

Originally Posted by mrblanche

When I was in real estate, we warned people that buying a new house was just as stressful as losing your job and having a family member die.

Except slightly more fun!

We've just bought a condo which is super exciting! We had a pretty smooth process, with a few last minute dramas that were sorted out in time to close on the day we had planned.

In the last week or so we've had the popcorn ceilings removed and retextured, data cabling put in through the house, electrical panel upgraded, recessed lights put in through the house, and they've just started repainting. In about 4 weeks we should have our new cabinets for the kitchen, and then we can start the kitchen remodel!

It's been a little stressful coordinating it all, running back and forth to the house, and out to Home Depot for supplies, and meeting with contractors, and wondering if they were just trying to overcharge us. But now it's all happening it's exciting! The place already looks much more modern!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Congrats!!! We bought our first house last summer and it is a learning experience!

Good luck with all that cleaning. If that is how their house looks, imagine their insides. (No offense to any smokers on here intended!) And have fun with decorating! We have only done the baby's room (and it's not even complete since she arrived early!) but I have plenty of BIG plans for the rest of the house!

 

[dusty's mom]

We just moved into our house on Dec. 22. And yes, it was very stressful! My hubby is still stressed since he's having trouble getting a phone number that will make him happy. He's on the phone with AT&T right now. We updated the kitchen lighting, and refaced the fireplace. Also put in new carpet in the great room. Here in CA the houses are without basements and are built on slab foundations. We are fortunate that the builder or previous owner tiled the kitchen, baths and all the hallways, leaving carpet in the bedrooms, dining room and great room. Our house is a single story, 2 yrs. old.

Your view is to die for!!!! My hubby would love the lake so close, since he is a fisherman. Your home definitely has lots of potential, even with the nicotine. Try cleaning with Oxiclean in hot water. This works wonders in cutting through greasy dirt. You will need to do every surface, even those you are planning to paint.

Cool that you have hardwood floors throughout, though refinishing them can be a challenge.

Keep us updated as you paint and decorate!

 

[c1atsite]

Will your pets have access to the yard? Congratz! I'd change the kitchen flooring to Tarkett. I know someone who has it and it's pretty fabulous.

 

[larussa]

I am in Middlesex County, Central Jersey.

 

[c1atsite]

Originally Posted by FootersOwnsMe

Picture from master bedroom down the hallway towards the living room

yeah the orangey tint is more obvious in this pic. reminds me a little of supermarket tomatoes

here is a paint color matching company in new jersey. http://www.myperfectcolor.com/Paint-...com-s/3220.htm if i were allowed to paint (i'm not) i would be sooo tempted to order from here because browsing colors on this site is almost addictive -plus they're just across the river.

 

[margecat]

Congrats on your new house! I like it! (And the dog is so cute--a pit bull?)

Try priming under the paint with Kilz primer. It really does mask odor--I've used it. (Mom is a heavy smoker, and I've painted some of my old furniture with it.). You may need 2 or more coats. Also, I'd try cleaning everything with a vinegar and water solution first. It will cut dirt, and may help neutralize the smoke smell. I empathise with you--I HATE that smell.

Show us more pics!

 

[footersownsme]

thank you everybody for the suggestions....i will definately see if the vinegar/water solution works. I just have to make it through 3 more nights of work and then off for 10 days so we can finish cleaning and then paint and then move in....i'm excited. Here is super news for the kitties.....my wonderful DH has offered to make ledges and beds all around the cat room....this is coming from a guy who hated cats until he met me. He thought dogs ruled the world....lol Oh Yeah the dog is a pit bull and even though he drives me nuts sometimes hes a great dog but definately the hubby's dog....he can't turn around without having the dog right up his butt.

 

[snake_lady]

Huge congrats

I love the flooring..... is it real hardwood or laminate? Either way, I've always loved that look. A house I rented had hardwood floors, which I loved to polish and buff.

Gorgeous view as well.

I would love to see before and after pictures

( after you've finished cleaning and move in )

re: cleaning nicotine

I had to help my ma clean up her house.....

- vinegar/water
- Scrubbing bubbles (worked really well)
- Magic eraser

Unfortunately, I find the smell is incredibly hard to get out of wood. I have a dining set including china cupboard that is bout 30yrs old and spent most of its life in smoke filled homes..... even as a smoker, I noticed it when we brought it to our smoke free home.... we cleaned and cleaned... finally got it so its not too bad, but if you open the doors on it to get something, it still smells like smoke

I hope you are able to get most of it off the walls/floors/ceilings.... I'd definately recommend an air purifier for the first little bit.

Enjoy your new home, what a relief it must be to finally have it. I do know all about the headaches..... took us over 2yrs to complete the process from ground breaking to finishing the building of our new house, 6.5yrs ago. But it was so nice once we made it "our home".

 

[ldg]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We lived up in Sussex... we were technically in Sparta, though we were in the "Monroe" section (North on 94 toward Hamburg). Now we're over in Hope - moved back to Warren County.

LOVE the view!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The white vinegar and water may do the trick. If all else fails and you want to spend the money for it, you can contact the Nok Out people to ask about how it works for smoke smell on wood. Someone from TCS used it to get the smell of cigarette smoke out of a car, and apparently it worked miracles. It would probably be an expensive solution, but it's at least worth asking them about it... http://www.nokout.com It's also non-toxic, which is good for you and kitties and pit bull.

 

[footersownsme]

I'm opening this thread again cause I have finally gotten new pics. We have been in the house for almost a month now and I have just gotten around to taking them. Bad me, but thank you everybody for suggestions and I'm adding on here the after pics. It took Vin and I almost 4 days to clean the place before we could start painting. The painting took another 3 days with the help of his friends and a couple of 15 hr days. The 3 older cats took a while to settle in but the 3 youngest ran around like they owned the house. I'm putting in some after pics of the place being painted and furniture moved in. We are still buying things here and there but I can't wait for our tax return so I can actually dry a load of laundry in less than 3 hrs, lol. Oh yea we did not paint the kitchen or the bathroom yet. Kitchen is getting redone as soon as we have the money and we just didnt have time to paint the bathroom yet. Here are the pics

Living Room


Dinning Room sorry bout the clutter on the table still unpacking and organizing


Fireplace yes there is a cat bed on there but once we get the chimney swept and up and running that will all change.


Steps to the front door....i love the paint color we choose, its called Valley Mist and depends on the lighting but it looks light green at times and light blue at other times.


Hallway towards Master Bedroom that pet gate was a pain in the butt to put up, took us 2 hrs.


Cats Room its what the 2nd bedroom upstairs is and yes it is day glo green, did not mean for it to be so bright but it goes well with black....lol (color most my cats are) 2 of the litter robots are in the closet behind the door and we plan on putting a perch under the window so they can all watch out the window.




The master bedroom, sorry bed isn't made and clothes are all over the place.

then the bathroom we didnt paint but i wanted to show everybody how long it was. i love my bathroom and apparently so does Worm since hes in all the pics.




last but not least the hallway from master bedroom to living room.

 

[grogs]

Congratulations! It looks like things are really coming along well.