Homerama (a-lamma-damma-ding-dong)

 

Apologies for the ridiculous title; everytime I type "Homerama" I just can't stop. It brings out the "Greaser" in me. Thankfully, I do not own enough black leather for my inner Greaser to become my outer Greaser.  

Saturday we, like hundreds of other families, couples and singletons, attended RichmondHomerama 2014.

If you're unfamiliar with Homerama, it's pretty much a model home show; seven houses designed by local building companies and decked out to the nines by interior designers, with proceeds from ticket sales benefitting Habitat for Humanity.

 

There has been a lot of Homerama blogging from various sources already. (Starting here Ashley has a lovely, very thorough, break-down of each house on her blog, Attempts at Domestication and John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love, who actually designed one of the homes, walk you through their entire experience starting here. It's pretty awesome.)

So, rather than repeat everything that has already been said, we decided to do what we do best: make a list!

But not just any list; a list of imaginary awards that we would hand out to the various Homerama houses, if we had the opportunity (and access to tiny golden statues).

Without further ado, Meredith and Joseph present:

 

The First Annual Little House Blue Housies Awards!

 

*pause for raucous cheering*

To start things off, we first present the award for...

 

Walk-in Closet Most Likely to Make You Feel the Need to Purchase Your Own Clothes!

Aaaaand the winner is:

Checkout counter?

This closet is beautiful. If I had this closet in my house, it would be where I would host dinner parties. I would also be loath to enter it in my pajamas for fear that it would judge me. And probably mutter something in french about my hair after I had left.

Up next is our award for...

Best Use of Camouflage by a Utilitarian Object!

And the Award goes to:

 

 

This vent!

It's made of wood and inlayed into the floor so it's completely flush. We fondly refer to this as "ninja vent" because it is almost undetectable until you're right on top of it. Thankfully, it's purpose is just circulating air and not assassinating you. Otherwise, we'd be goners. The house (House #6, Viniterra by Falcon Custom Homes) had beautiful hardwood floors done by Evans Carpet. They were the only thing I actually had enough guts to ask someone about; they were so interesting and probably cost more than our entire house.

 

For our third award, we present:

Hardware Most Likely to Inspire Doorknob Envy!

 

To be honest, we really don't remember much about the hardware in the other houses. (Which is kind of telling about how interesting it was.) These though, these stand out. They're statement pieces. And they're saying, "Hey, psst, come open this door. You know you want to." And all I can think is, "You're right. I do want to...I'd follow you anywhere, beautiful doorknobs..."


Award number four...

Most Perplexing Use of Decorative Metal Letters!

 

Is it French? Is it "lice" all scrambled up? Who knows!

Really, do you know? We couldn't figure it out. 

But we made a lot of jokes, so it's a winner.



Number five:

Best Subterranean-Waterfall-Inspired Shower!

Well, only subterranean waterfall-inspired shower. 

Is this a shower or a cave? 

Granted the fixtures are beautiful, kind of like jewels sparkling in a mine...

A mine that you shower in.


Our Sixth Award:

Bathroom Whose Square Footage is Closest to that of our House!

 

 

 

 Ta-da! 

Oh, but there's more! Bathroom, that is. The bathroom/water closet in this house came in at just under 600 square feet. That's 230 square feet less than our house. It was impressive, you could put on quite a concert, singing in a shower like that. 

Not that anyone here does that. 

And certainly not Andrew Lloyd Webber medleys. 

Anyway...moving along, we have our final award:

House Most Likely to Have Been Designed by King Minos as a Home for His Minotaur!

 

 

You may not be able to tell from this floor plan sketch, but we got lost in this house. Twice. 

Now, I certainly don't claim to have a fantastic sense of direction, but when I wander through multiple hallways on my way from the living room to the guest bedrooms, I start looking for the Goblin King and an M.C. Escher staircase. 

 

And thus concludes the awards portion of our post. In all seriousness, we had a great time. There was a Moon Bounce and free snow cones, tons of food and everyone we talked with was really nice and just seemed happy to be there; like the fanciest block party we've ever been to. 

We will definitely be going back next year. And we probably won't be able to resist another round of silly awards. 

List Ranking

Right before we closed on our house, Joseph and I sat down and made what we called Our Master List. He posted a version of it here. In the three months since then the list has received several revisions. On the most recent incarnation we decided to rank projects according to three major factors: cost, labor, priority.

(Some weeks that translates to: How often I've been baby clothes shopping, how lazy we're feeling and can we finish it before "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" comes on?)

A Level One project would be either free or cost under $30 (our allowed monthly house project budget. Not including emergency house repair money.). Things like taking out the bushes in front (free) and painting the front door (paint: $17, hinges: $12 = $29) fell into this category.

Level Two included more labor-intensive projects (cutting down two small-ish trees in the front yard) and things that would be more of an expense (painting the front porch and steps and adding railing).

Lastly, things that were major feats or would require several months of us saving our pennies were designated Level Threes (or Defcon 5): having all the trees in our backyard (and several big pines in the front) taken out (by a professional. We're enthusiastic about this home owner stuff, but our Mammas didn't raise no fools.) and replacing the front walk (it's badly cracked in several places from tree roots not being kept in check and it only extends to one of our driveways, so we'd like to add an additional branch on the other side. Making it a full 'T' shape instead of an upside down 'L'.) I have to reign myself in when I think about projects on this level, I think the idea of doing something "big" makes me feel like the house is more "ours". But, I remind myself that there is no rush and that simply the act of living there (and filling it with our junk) will make it more our own.

Approaching our List this way has helped me feel more confident and less overwhelmed. Though there are still days where I pull into the driveway and freak out a little inside. "This will never come together and be the house in my head!" That's when I rush to the fridge (where we keep our list), seeking out some small project I can tackle that will give me the illusion of control. (I hear you laughing. Don't worry, with a toddler and soon a new baby that illusion is pretty much dead in the water.) 



Though he's always ready to help.


 

Does anybody else have a specific way they approach their "to-do" list that makes it seem more manageable? Or are you more of a "Jump in and get it done as things present themselves"? I'd be interested to hear any input, considering one of my favorite ways to procrastinate be productive is to re-write our List. 

The Big To-Do

Alright, so in the fashion of the many bloggers that have come before we have created a daunting "Master List" which will, we hope, be gradually checked off one item at a time.

The Big To-Do:

Front Yard (0/9)

· Paint mailbox post: We want to paint it white to brighten it up a bit.

· Replace mailbox: It's plastic and we'd like something a little more classic and durable.

· Re-landscape small garden beds: Several areas around the trees and what-not are a mess.

· Replace hedges and spread pea gravel: The hedges by the house are randomly placed and don't match.

· Re-gravel driveways: They're just getting pretty sad.

· Cut down two trees: There are two trees that are spreading roots all over and growing into the power lines.

· Build air conditioner "privacy fence": Just to class it up a bit I'd like to put in something like this. (Yes, I totally found this idea and that link on YoungHouseLove)

· Remove bushes at the chain link fence: Some messy looking shrubs are growing up off-camera to the left.

· Remove satellite dish pole and cable: A metal pole left in the ground from some previous owner along with some mostly buried cable. Apparently they loved them some TV.

Back Yard (0/5)

· Grade to get rid of bamboo, re-soil, seed, etc: We're not delusional, that bamboo is going to require a pro.

· Take down three trees and severely trim one near house: There are several more trees back here that just need to go.

· Seal privacy fence: The almost brand new privacy fence wasn't moisture sealed so we need to do that pronto.

· Rein in ivy on trees: A couple trees have ivy attempting to choke them.

· Build shed: Seriously, I need somewhere to put my yard tools, and there's already a foundation hidden among all of that growth.

Outside of House (0/8)

(For kicks we'll show the back of the house, since you've seen the front a million times already)

· Replace knobs and deadbolts

· Paint front door: Eventually I wouldn't mind replacing the whole door and possibly the frame which is one of those "we repositioned the latch and didn't properly fill and then re-drill the holes" situations. It's not really a problem, I just don't like the way it looks.

· Paint porches: Current paint is chipping.

· Replace spicket knob: One of the spickets is missing its knob entirely.

· Replace front porch light fixture: There's a broken pane of glass, which gives us an excuse to get one with a motion sensor.

· Add hose reels: I want to put up something like this.

· Replace shutters: They're these weird vinyl shutters and one of them is warping.

· Solve drainage issues: There's nothing major, but I do want to shore up some of the areas around the foundation where water can pool as well as add some better run-off spouts from the gutters and possibly a rain barrel.

Under House (0/3)

*You don't want a picture*

· Clean and level ground: It's awful.

· Condition crawl: If you don't know what I mean search "conditioned crawlspace" on-line, it's a beautiful thing and great for your house if you live in a humid area like we do.

· Rein in the out of control cables: Holy cow, the last people here had a field day running copious amounts of cable to every corner of the house.

Attic (0/4)

Aaaaah! To be fair the rest of it doesn't look like this.

· Clean out bat nests: Some bats have made some nests outside the screens in the attic vents. Bats are great to have around because they eat bugs and contribute to your yard's ecosystem, but I don't want them in my attic.

· Replace insulation: As you can see from the picture it needs help. I'm thinking I'm just going to replace it all and start over again.

· Replace water heater pan: It's dented and won't be as effective because of that.

· "Finish" the attic: This is an "eventually", but I would love to make this usable house space, both for room to grow into and to increase the value of the house. Right now there are no steps into the attic, but because of how the closets are situated we should be able to put some in without sacrificing too much of our current square footage.

Living Room (0/4)

· Paint

· Hang things: Need pictures! Seriously. After two years in an apartment and a year with family we'd love for the walls to feel like ours.

· Find a rug: We decided we were tired of our old rug and wanted something fresh and colorful.

· Build a TV console: Something like this maybe.

· Redo kitchen and entry threshold: They're pretty jacked up.

Kitchen (0/6)

· Paint

· Paint and reinstall quarter round: Seriously, just the quarter round isn't painted. I'm guessing they removed it when they installed the tile, didn't put it back until they had painted the trim and then decided they didn't feel like painting it. 

· Replace or anchor separate cabinet: The little cabinet next to the fridge isn't properly anchored to the wall. I'm either going to anchor it or I'm going to replace it with something with more storage capacity. 

· Get washer/dryer: This one’s pretty simple. We want white, and I think it's going to have to be a stackable set. 

· Repaint kitchen table and find chairs: we found this basic table at a thrift store for cheap but have mainly just used it for crafting. We want to paint it and also get some chairs to go with it. 

· Re-grout tile: Some of the grout has come up and needs to be redone. Nothing serious. 

· Hang stuff: Once again we just want something on the walls that says this is our house. 

Bathroom (0/8)

· Paint: I think it's going to match the kitchen. 

· Hang shelf: we need somewhere to put some basic toiletries. 

· Install towel rod: Seriously, there's no towel rod. 

· Turn toilet to other wall: I don't know how much this one’s going to cost, or if it's possible, but the toilet needs to be on the other wall next to the sink. I've seen it on the other wall in lots of bathrooms and it's always fine. Where it is now makes it so awkward to use. 

· Refinish the tub: The finish is old and flaking but the tub is nice and real, not one of those fake plastic ones, so we'd like to get it refinished or re-glazed or whatever they call it. 

· Install vent: There's no vent in here to send all the moisture and/or awkward smells away. 

· Fix bad repair job on door frame: Based on my dad's assessment we're  guessing they took out some chair molding and did a horrible job patching up the door frame. 

· Install baseboard trim: Is that not normally in bathrooms? Am I missing something? Or is the bathroom missing something? Namely baseboards. 

Hall (0/3)

Huh, I somehow don't have a picture of the hallway yet.

· Paint: Same color as the living room

· Install chalkboard into recessed wall (maybe)

· Hang things

 Master Bedroom (0/5)

No picture of the master bedroom either.

· Paint: We're not sure about the color yet

· Get a rug

· Find a dresser that will also double as a TV stand: We need something with slightly bigger capacity than what we have right now and it also needs to hold our TV

· Get new TV: We're still rocking a tube TV in there. 

· Hang things: More pictures!

Playroom (0/3)



· Paint: We're not sure about the color. Maybe we'll consult the room's future occupant. 

· Hang things

· Get a toddler bed

 General Home Improvements (0/10)

· Put shelves in closets: There are currently no shelves except for in the hall closet

· Repair all holes in the floor: Every room has a hole in the floor on almost every side of the room. Apparently the previous owners were not only cable junkies but also kept moving their TV around for no reason and not filling the holes. 

· Add crown molding: We'd like to do this throughout the house. It just looks nice.  

· Figure out how to get rid of popcorn ceiling: Any suggestions?

· Paint or replace doorknobs and hinges and install doorstops

· Replace outlet and switch covers

· Hang curtains

· Replace all doors: They're all pretty cheap doors with fake wood grain engraved in them that just doesn't feel right in the old door frames. 

· Replace windows: This is one of those eventually things but we'd just like to get some more efficient windows and also some of the current ones don't have screens. 

· Trim out closets: For some reason none of the closets have baseboards or even quarter round. I know it's just a closet but it looks weird. 

To be completely honest, we've been living here almost a month now so there are some things that we've already done, but I wanted a list that was a good starting point. So, now that we have this we can talk about the things we've already done and start DOING EVEN MORE!