Shout-out to the fam

NOTE: "Before" pics were taken during inspection, when the former owners were still living there
Jennie, the woman we bought the house from, moved out on December 22nd and Chris and I moved in on December 28th. In theory that gave us 5 days to fix the place up. In reality, that time fell over the Christmas holiday, when his parents (John and Gloria) and my sister, Lisa, were in town. Initially we'd only planned to show them the house and enjoy Christmas back at 6316 23rd...but when they offered to help out, how could we refuse?

The top priority was putting the fence up and the doggie door in so Cass and Paco could continue their self-service lifestyle. The second priority was painting the two areas that would be hardest to fix once we moved our stuff in - the upstairs bedroom/sitting room and the living room. To our delight, everyone pitched in and went to town, getting the living room totally prepped and painted, including knocking out the ridiculous plywood & styrofoam partition that had been been placed in the archway between the living and dining room. It was wonderful to move in and be able to put up bookcases without having to worry about moving them again when it was time to paint!

During this process I also learned a few lessons:
1) Our family rocks and we are truly blessed
2) Removal of the last person's clutter does wonders for a room
3) So does covering old putty-colored paint
4) Don't forget the ceiling - it matters more than you think
5) Trying to kick out a partition, even a plywood & styrofoam one, is never a good idea
6) Spackle is your friend