First Small Steps

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week has come and gone. We have now been owners of the house for 2 weeks. Our “Moving Day” is looming closer and our well thought-out plans are showing the first signs of stress.

We only took one week off. We knew there would be a lot of decisions to make and costs to analyze. Both of us agreed to evaluate what we were going to do. Prioritize what we wanted to do. Price check everything and only THEN move forward.

We were so sure that we would be “better” than the people who rush into things and make snap and impulsive decisions feeling the stress to “get started”. After all, we are older and have a certain amount of life experience in waiting and planning. We do not have to rush things. We are moving from a smaller apartment into the house and do not have “room difficulties”. Living in a temporary setting is neither upsetting nor new—we have both done this before. Unlike others we know; we no longer have any small children who “complicate” things. We have a decent budget if we need it.

This should be easy.

Right?

Seriously. This SHOULD be easy.

So why do things suddenly feel like we are rushing into things head-long?

I think the first “panic” phase has set in. We both feel we need to be “doing” or we are wasting time. Tell me this is natural.

So, what have we done this second week of home ownership?

Between Two Homes

We are living between two houses. We have spent 3 nights a week at the new house. This has challenged me in my home-maker skills. And I am failing miserably (just kidding—my self-esteem is not that low).

I only have to arrange for us to have clean and proper clothing for work (one set each) and basic food that will not spoil in each house. This is not rocket science. I’ve done this literally 100’s of times in the past years.

These first two weeks I have managed to have spaghetti and the basic foods in all the wrong houses. I have GOT to get myself together.

I sound like a wreck, but really, I am quite cool about all of this. Next week will be better and then things will be going smoothly.

Thomas is responsible for making sure the tools and work needs are in all the right places. He is doing a much better job than I am. It does help that it appears we have at least two of everything. No. He is just really good at this.

He seems to be putting more pressure on himself than anyone else.

Appointment with an Energy Consultant

We knew we wanted to speak with an energy consultant. We just were not sure where we would find a neutral consultant NOT intent on selling us something. Last week we saw an advertisement of state-offered energy consultations once a month in various cities. We called the number first thing the next morning and managed to get an appointment for this past Wednesday.

We are considering a new heating system, as our system is old and will be expensive to run in the long-term. The consultant was able to advise us and offered to get us some additional information on governmental subsidies which could help us in the renovation phase.

When we have made a decision and have some offers, we can ask for a new appointment for him to review the conditions and help us navigate the jungle of home improvement.

Sorting and Organizing

Remember last week’s Cleaning and Clearing? Well we managed to finish that on Sunday. This morning we capped the experience by disposing of 390 kg of wood from various wardrobes and cabinets before work.

(I changed into my heels afterwards in the car and waltzed into work with no sign that I had just helped empty the trailer wearing leather work gloves and my oldest shoes. YAY for girly successes!)

The consensus is that we now have all our gardening supplies for the next years. We have the whole set of expensive Gardena hand tools, miscellaneous shovels, brooms, rakes, and other long-handled wonders. In addition, we have a lawn mower, a chipper, two leaf blowers, and saws of all sizes and types. We have an abundance of everything.

We also have a whole set of supplies we can use when renovating. This will save us from having to buy so many new supplies and will keep us from destroying our own tools. That is a great feeling!

Everything is sorted and categorized.

We even managed to get the electric motorcycle and the car in the garage—with room to spare! Small successes.

First Furniture

We set up our first furniture in the new house.

No. Nothing fancy. Not the dining room table or the TV. No.

Last week we set up a bed to sleep on. This week we moved some high-quality storage racks Thomas has had from a company liquidation years and years ago.

They are now filled with the sorted materials from the house. It was a great feeling! Until Thomas had to speak up and say that was filled with his (our) supplies for the past 10 years or so—and these supplies are still waiting for a home.

Sigh. There goes that feeling of accomplishment.

Carpets that Don’t Fly

While preparing the basement technical room for the racks, we knew we had to empty it of the cupboards and cabinets, as well as the throw carpets on the floor.

The cupboards were taken out, hacked into pieces and loaded into the larger of two trailers for today’s disposal.

Then came the carpets. We saw 3 on the floor: one larger one covered by two others. Four layers later, we were regretting not having checked to see how much was “forgotten” in the house. Those are now waiting disposal along with the carpet rests we found in the attic last week.

On the plus side, the basement floor is cleaner than any basement floor should be after 25 years. That’s always good.

Another Friend Visited

We are very fortunate to have friends with construction and technical knowledge. Thomas is very handy and I am a great researcher, but there are things you just cannot learn from reading and researching. Professionals look at things differently. It is important to know your limits and ask for help.

Saturday morning, a work colleague of ours stopped by. Actually, we had both asked him to come. He had worked in renovating old homes for years and his specialty was dry-walling. We knew that he would see things differently than we do. All of our ceilings on the first floor are real wood paneling in two different stains.

I want to paint the paneling in two of the rooms The wood appears to be spruce and are light enough to cover easily. Germans seem to think this is an impossible undertaking. I am American. Yes, I can!

The main bedroom and the staircase ceilings are stained a very dark brown. Originally, we were hoping to keep them as they are, but upon closer inspection, we noticed they had shrunk and pulled away from the lattices. They needed to be either repaired or replaced. And we were afraid of what we would find behind them.

We asked Chris to come out and give us some advice if he could. He could and he did. And he gave us some good tips where we can find building materials at a major discount and offered to help us if we need/want it.

Oh. And he says I can paint the wood with no problem whatsoever.

If Walls Could Talk

Inspired to move forward, we cleared the bedroom and demolished the first of many construction sites. The good news: behind the paneling was 2 inches of additional insulation and drywalling and plaster walls and ceiling. YAY.

Another surprise: the insulation was thicker than typical for the year the house was built and the vapor barrier seems to be complete and properly taped.

We had been told by the energy consultant not to expect the barrier to be taped and it was recommended as an insulation improvement. Another improvement we can “check off our list” without doing anything. (Does that count as saving money?)

Plus, it looks so much brighter, now that the wall is no longer espresso brown. We both noticed a huge difference.

Now we get to decide how to proceed with this information.

Are we going to clear the drywall and hope that it is even enough to repair and skim-coat? Do we choose to re-drywall the ceiling and part of the wall and the plaster? Do we want to replace the paneling with something more “modern”? Decisions, decisions.

 

Hedging Bets

Thomas’ parents came out a second time to finish the next 15 feet of the hedge. We asked them to stop at the border to our house. Behind the carport we have nesting birds and they should not have the stress of losing all the protective tree branches at once.

But WOW! What a difference! It is amazing to see the chapel next to our property. It also gives us an idea of the view we will eventually have when we finish the front yard.

The biggest difference, however, is that we can get into and out of the driveway without having someone on the street looking to make sure the road is clear. It’s the little things, I tell ya.

The neighbors are also happy. The 26-year-old daughter said it was the first time she has ever seen the house from the road! Here’s to hoping for a friendly neighborhood! We’ve made a good start.

Thomas’ parents are inspired. They would love to take down all the trees and we have to hold them back. If things keep moving at this pace, we will have them gone by this time next year and replaced in some areas with better plants for not only the birds, but also the humans living in on the lot.

Instead, they decided to help us out by moving our leftover wood from Traunstein into our temporary woodpile area Thomas just “whipped up” with leftover roofing spars and some screws from the basement stash we inherited. The wood filled two trailers and it took them most of a morning to move it all in. The stack is over 2 meters high, 2 meters wide and 2 layers deep.

Thomas has spent so much time and effort organizing and building one of the most important parts of the yard for this year: making room for our wood and space to build things out as we get more and more organized. We have another pile just as high if not quite as wide full of leftover wood and pinecones to clear out from the previous owner.

I have an AMAZING guy, I tell ya! Mein Schatz!

 

Garden Wars

The plants are thanking us by growing in leaps and bounds. When we moved in, the rambling rose on the balcony had some small buds—none of which were thinking of opening. After trimming it drastically last week, the rose bush was quite literally exploding in roses when we returned! What a gorgeous sight!

We removed an overgrown holly bush who thought it was a tree and a laurel attempting to suffocate the neighboring apple and oak trees.

While Thomas was sharpening his ax (true story), I was attacking the blackberries climbing all the trees in the area. Thomas said it was a futile as clearing up after a party parade, but I am determined!

The birds were scolding us repeatedly. I think they are afraid we are taking over their neighborhood. However afterwards, I watched a couple of them fly into that area of the hedge for the first time. They could finally get through!

This is war! And at least the first battles seem to have been won.

Whew! Considering we only had 2 ½ days at the house, we seem to be making progress.

My only devise is to “slow down” and make sure we are taking the time to make careful decisions.

Thomas’ Mom also gave me some great advice I know but always need to hear:

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Thomas’ Mom also gave me some great advice I know but always need to hear:

Slow down. Enjoy the process. In all the work, don’t forget to live… and love.

Until next time.