Lessons of Life from Paint, Mud, and Sandpaper

Last weekend started off a bit rough. All of the rooms in our house were painted, and it was time to paint the closets. Except that I didn't want to paint the closets. In fact, I didn't want to do anything except move all of our stuff in and stuff the closets so full that we wouldn't be able to paint them if we wanted to. I was tired of painting; after all, we'd been at it for 2 1/2 months...

When we first started our painting marathon back in January, Travis wanted to paint every room including all closets and the garage before moving in.  Then, the next several weeks flew by, and we quickly realized that if we didn't do something, it would be the end of the summer before we moved in! So, we came to a compromise. We would paint the pantry and master bedroom closet (basically, the essentials) before moving in, and we would paint the other closets (linen closet, coat closet, and the other two bedroom closets) and garage afterward. So, I was satisfied with that. I didn't really think we should worry with painting them in the first place, but after some convincing by him and others, I agreed.

But, suddenly, it was the middle/end of March, and we still weren't moved in. Every week that passed I was getting more impatient. Then, Travis decided somewhere in there that he thought it would be a good idea not only to paint the pantry and master BR closet before moving in, but that we should take down all of the shelving and replace it with totally new shelving as well. It's just the perfectionist in him. And I just about had a meltdown. I could just see this taking weeks and weeks, and we would never move in, and what's the point of painting a closet anyway when you can't even really see the walls after your stuff is in there?

You see, this painting project has been a real learning experience for us. We definitely have different standards of quality when it comes to work. 

Here's Travis's thought process: "Do it right the first time; take your time and don't take shortcuts; buy the nicest stuff, and it will last a long time; it doesn't matter if you're painting a closet or the living room, you put the same effort into it."

And here's mine: "Do a good job but don't obsess over the little details that most people (especially me) won't ever notice anyway."

You can see how those philosophies don't exactly hold hands and love each other. 

The problem lies in the fact that although I may not notice the little details (like the paint in the closet or the shelving in the pantry), Travis does. And "the popcorn from the pantry will taste better with new shelving up and fresh paint on the walls." Yes, he said that. I guess that's what I get for marrying an engineer. It's all in the little details.

So, how do we get anything done when we work together? Here's what I've discovered:

1. Compromise: Sometimes, it's just not worth arguing about it, even if I think he's crazy or he thinks I'm irrational, etc. We meet in the middle, and come up with something that will satisfy (at least partially) both of us.  This is why we aren't going to paint every closet before moving in, but we did paint two of them.

2. Patience: What's important to me may not be important to him and vice versa. If it's that important to him that it will make his popcorn taste better to eat it from a newly renovated pantry, maybe I should just agree to the new shelving and paint. If I take a step back, I realize that it's going to get done eventually. We will move in sometime this century. And it's not worth getting upset over the fact that we haven't moved in yet. 

3. Love: We really do make a great team. Yes, we butt heads occasionally...sometimes every weekend. But, in the end, I love that we're different. We each bring our own mindset and ideas to the project, and when we work together, we end up with a great outcome! I think every room in our house looks way better than it did before we got a hold of it. (That's a teaser for the upcoming "after" pictures in a few weeks...haha). Working with someone on a big project like this can either be a disaster or a success, and it all depends on your attitude.

I'm glad to say that our house projects have been a success so far! :)

So, here are a few pictures of our recent work before I end this novel:

Here's Travis's newest toy (he gets one just about every week...haha). Meet DeWalt, the Cordless Drill:

DeWalt was a lifesaver when we started taking down all that shelving!

Part of the pantry shelving before we took it down

Dismantling the pantry

Master BR closet before we took the shelving down

Let's just say we mudded and sanded well over 100 holes after taking all that shelving down. Then, we painted the walls. After this weekend when we put up some new shelving, the pantry and closet will be new-and-improved for sure! Told you we work well together! :)

Tentative move-in day is April 9th. But don't hold us to it :)

A rollercoaster!

That's what this week has been.

To catch you up on what's been going on, I think we've pretty much decided to wait and get Travis a new car. The master cylinder is fixed, and we are $300 poorer, but at least the car works! We got a lot of advice (thank you, thank you!), and we feel like it is smarter to use the money we have saved for a down-payment on a house rather than spend it on a car right now. Hopefully, the ol' Honda will keep ticking for several more months (or years!!) without needing any major repairs. 

Last Friday, we looked at several houses in the Harvest/Monrovia area. Six had been lived in previously, and four or five were brand new. All of them were in the same general price range. The realtor who showed us the houses was awesome! We met her not really expecting much because I'd contacted her about a month or two ago about a house she was selling. We didn't know anything about her, and we figured we'd end up using a realtor who had been recommended to us already (we've got the names of two or three). However, she really, really impressed us. She wasn't pushy at all. She let us walk around and explore the homes on our own without hovering. She pointed out bad qualities and things that needed to be fixed as well as the good qualities. She was very knowledgeable about the whole process of buying a home. She just seemed like a real person...not a pushy salesman. It was great! So, that was a definite step in the right direction. I feel like we can actually do this with her help. As far as the houses that we looked at, they were awesome. I could see us living in any of them, really. They are all one-level, full brick homes with flat yards. But, here's the problem--they are too expensive!

Looking for a way to be idiotic? Here's how: Go look at several nice houses before you sit down and redo your budget to see what you can honestly afford. 

Ok, we could afford them for sure with both of us working. But, in a few years when we (hopefully) have kids, I'm not going to be working...and we'll be down to one income. Will we be able to afford that same house then? I know Travis will be getting raises between now and then. He should bump up to a DB3 in two years hopefully, which is supposed to be a $10,000 jump in salary. But, it's probably not smart to assume that...not when you're talking about a monthly mortgage payment. 

Unfortunately, I got my heart set on one of the houses that we looked at Friday. It's PERFECT. Perfect, perfect, perfect. And perfectly too much money. I was so excited Friday and Saturday...thinking that it was THE ONE. Then, we sat down with the dreaded all-powerful Excel spreadsheet, crunched the numbers, and boom. I was crushed. All of the sudden, he's wondering if we need to just wait another year or two to buy. That house won't be there next month most likely. My emotions swung from one extreme to the other in the span of a couple of days. Normally, I'm really not that emotional. Ask anyone who knows me very well. Travis is probably the crier in the family (shhh...don't tell him I told you!). But, not the past couple of days. I shouldn't have let myself get emotionally attached. That was a huge mistake. There will be other houses out there when we're ready. They may not be as nice as what we were looking at, but they'll be home. 

So, after a lot of number crunching, Excel spreadsheeting, thinking, praying, crying, etc., the plan is that we're going to look at some much cheaper (as in $40,000 cheaper!) houses tomorrow with Darlene, our realtor. I think there are 7 on the list. Wish us luck! Who knows what we'll find. They won't be like the ones last Friday, but that's ok. This may be the convincing I need that we should just wait a while longer, save up a bigger down-payment, and be able to afford something nicer down the road. 

We'll see how it goes. I'm just glad to be back to my normal, mostly level-headed self, and I know Travis is too! Tomorrow, I'm going to attempt to be more objective, not get my hopes up, and not get attached to anything at first sight. This is a big decision, and rushing into it on an emotional whim would be stupid. Especially rushing into something we can't afford on one income. 

So, the search continues. Updates are sure to follow :)