So, we are officially home owners!  Crazy right?

Closing went smoothly, we dropped off some things at the house then headed back into the city.  Our lease isn’t up until March so we will go back and forth for a while.  I want to get pre-school as worked out as possible in Stamford before we make the move.  In the meantime, we have lots of projects we need to tackle.

First, we need to change all the lock in the house.  Better to be safe then sorry right?  One back door is locked but apparently nobody has the key.  My suggestion was to call a locksmith but Josh plans on tackling by removing the door from its hinges.  In my mind it could either be A) super easy or B) A giant disaster. I’ll let you know how that works out. 

Here is our beginning list of things to do that I’m sure will continue to grow:

1. Change locks

2. Hang chandelier in dining room

3. Remove chair rail in former dining room (soon to become playroom) so we can anchor toy storage to the wall

4. Touch up wall left naked by chair rail

5. Hang new entry light

6. Change master bathroom hardware in tub (temperature control & faucet)

7.  Paint upstairs bedrooms (need to pick out paint color first!)

8. Figure out closet systems for upstairs bedrooms

9. Replace mailbox

We also are bringing in contractors to start to work on our larger projects which include transforming the finished basement into an in-law apartment for my dad.  This poses a challenge as we need to create a kitchen and bathroom in the space.  There also is no natural separate entrance except for coming through the garage.  I’m hoping to solve this somehow. In creating the in-law, we will also be creating a mud room from the garage entry.  We plan on relocating out laundry area to the mudroom (it is currently in a closet in the kitchen) so that my father can easily use it as well.  We also will need a new roof but that will most likely have to wait until spring as we are starting to hit colder weather here.

I’m both excited for and dreading the whole contractor experience but have been trying to psych myself up by watching TONS of HGTV.