We got the keys! Let the games begin!

The waiting is over.  We can now do things like this: 

That's right, honey. You're so mighty. You show that sign who's boss.

We got our keys and within five minutes were ripping out old stinky baseboards and moulding. Everything is so GRIMEY. But I can't worry about that now. We are about to tear the place up anyway. The deep cleaning will happen eventually. 

Here are a few of the place before we started ripping it to shreds today:

Living room view from kitchen

Kitchen view from living room

My office/guest room. Which, we ended up deciding to keep the carpet in here (the one and only room that will have carpet).  It's not in terrible shape and I can get it shampooed. 

Dirty door with dirty hardware.  I'll be getting a new handle. What fabulous/obnoxious color can I paint this door?!

It's pretty overwhelming but I just need to focus on one thing at a time. While dad helped with baseboard removal, I got started on removing all the cabinet doors.

"Oh look, I'm smiling and having the grandest of times! Operation Espresso Cabinets is SO enjoyable!"... 

It was all sunshine and rainbows until I gathered my collection in the garage.

 *Cue my BEST unamused facial expression.

Lawwwwwwd help meh! Can you say "over-freaking-whelming"?!  This wasn't even all of them! Watch out cabinets, I'm comin' for you tomorrow...when the water gets turned back on and I can wipe off all those sticky food stains and handprints. I cant wait to come back and start sanding. Wooooo power tools!

We will also be prepping those dirty walls for painting. We may have to re-spray some texture back on after we scrape that caulking from the chair rail we removed. I can't wait for it all the be one clean color! It will be so much easier and more calming to my peepers.

We are keeping the laminate down while we paint to avoid having to protect the floor.  BUT I did want to lift up a section to see what we're working with.  Because I want to stain the concrete floors, I was really hoping for the concrete to be in good condition. Specifically, NO CARPET GLUE. 

Oh, hi, fake wood floor that doesn't match! Let me just lift some of you up. Show me your goodies. Please no glue, please no glue, please no glue.

YOU. IDIOT.  HI carpet glue! There still might be hope. If we can remove all traces, I'll do the acid stain as planned.  If not, I'm still staining, I'll just have to do a water-base stain to cover it. I'm not doing an overlay (More time and money). We will just have to prep the concrete really well. 

We also started to put together the new living room fan and realized it didn't come with the extension rod and the one on the existing fan did not work. Luckily, good ol' Home Depot opens at 6:00am! Did I mention I am a slave driver  dedicated, hardworking individual? 

Well we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow so I should go to sleep.  If I have any trouble drifting off, I'll just count cabinet doors... Stay tuned for updates! 

New homeowners elated to have just taken on thousands of dollars in debt.