Items not mentioned in the listing....

When I purchased my house, I didn't know that it came with 3 stray cats and 2 crazy cat ladies. I missed that in the listing for sure (along with the happenings of the alley that my house sits on as well). I honestly can not make this stuff up but here's the longest recap you'll ever read of a really short story.

The day I moved in, I noticed a note on my door noting that there were a few stray cats in the area and that Shelly* and her friend Carrie* were long time rescuers and were hoping to finally get these cats rescued and into good homes. I spoke to Shelly one day and she noted that one next door neighbor was an older gentleman that would leave food and water on his stoop for the cats. At some point, my front porch also became home to a food and water bowl. Prior to me moving in, there were also little shelter boxes placed next to a vent from the basement in the winter so the cats could stay warm.

Shelly stopped over to feed the cats before work, during lunch, and after work. Mind you, she lives 10 minutes away and Carrie doesn't even live in Des Moines. Carrie has been rescuing cats from the neighborhood for years, 25 cats or so, so I figured this operation was totally legit and they'd have these cats rescued in no time.

Boy was I wrong.

After coming home to this scene one night last week, I just couldn't help but laugh.

Cat, cardboard trap, big trap by dumpster, someone laying on the
ground on the other side of the dumpster.
And yes, I realize my dash needs cleaned. That's not the point.

And then I offered up my entire front porch for their traps because I'd heard one of the cats meowing the night before. So for about 4 or 5 days, this was the scene.

Um yea, that cat food was INSIDE the trap but is now outside??
I'm thinking they didn't actually have these set to trap anything....

And then I came home to this on Wednesday. Carrie had parked herself on the sidewalk in front of my house with a trap set up on the porch. This is the picture my neighbor sent me.

All I could think was, "Oh my god, what in the world have I gotten myself into?" Well, the neighbor that sent the photo came over and asked to speak to me alone (as I was chatting with Carrie). As soon as we got inside, my neighbor said, "That lady is crazy. She is not rescuing these cats, she's feeding them. She's been feeding them for years, they are not trying to rescue them, they want these cats to live in their natural habitat and they are not trying to find homes for them." Oh, okay. Well, I wish I had known that before I'd offered up my space.

Oddly enough, that very night, both cats were captured. I'm very suspicious of this because my neighbor has actually called the police on them many times before because she knew way more than I did. They've been trying to catch these cats for MONTHS, like before I moved in - YEARS before I moved in and then all of the sudden when the one neighbor talks to me, they are magically caught within hours of our conversation?? Sounds incredibly fishy to me. So I'll leave you with the recap from the neighbor, whose husband saw it all go down:

Ryan actually witnessed the first cat being caught yesterday.  He said that the old lady flung both arms in the air and screamed with delight!  Her old male companion came running out of the car and he also had both hands in the air. Then they couldn't figure out how to take the cat home, so I believe they called Shelly and spent an hour trying to get the cat in a portable cage.  After this they all hugged each other and the drama was over. 

So the cats are gone - or at least I think they are...one of them was pregnant and I'm pretty sure I heard a meow coming from under my porch this morning....

------------------------------------------
UPDATE: I wrote this post on Thursday and as of publishing today (Monday), I can confirm that there are kittens under the porch. I'm going to try and get them out and to the Animal Rescue League. If you saw under the porch, you'd know why my trying might not be enough. It's a mess under there and full of old trim, columns, and probably a whole lot of other stuff I don't want to know about.
-------------------------------------------
*names have been changed to protect the identity of these "rescuers" 

One room at a time: Entryway

I have decided to do something I have NEVER done in all my designing and decorating years. Well, I guess there are 2 things, but I'll get to the second later. But the first thing I have decided to do with this house is - gasp - only tear up ONE room at a time! Whaaa?? I know, I know, doesn't seem possible does it. I'm use to decorating in chaos and normally have 283 projects going on at once and of those, 1 or 2 actually get crossed off my to-do list. So for this new venture, this new house, I'm going to be doing things one room at a time. First up, the entry way. 

{Insert horrible cell phone picture here because you still don't have internet and even if you did have internet, you can't actually download real camera photos because you have an ipad}

Exhibit A

I've already made some considerable changes in here - most notably is that I've completely destroyed any sort of order and it's a disaster. Second most noticeable change is that the walls are primed and ready for paint. 

It ain't pretty folks, but it's also not burgundy horribleness either.

I think I know which color I'm picking. 

But before I pick the paint color from the samples I selected, I'm waiting for this to arrive:

{source}

It's a total splurge on my part - seriously, $160 (including shipping) for a roll of wallpaper. The last roll of wallpaper I bought was from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for a whopping $1.00 - and I got 2 rolls. Wallpaper is not something I normally think about hanging - in fact, I removed wallpaper from this room already. And now I'm going to be putting it up?? This is the second thing I'm doing that I've never done before. I've obviously lost my mind and my Instagram friends are all behind me too. So that's ordered and will be here Friday. 

This brings me to a few other purchases I've made thus far:

2 $10 chairs from Goodwill. They were 50% off if you took them at the time
of your purchase. So I texted my lovely boyfriend and he snagged them for me.
Of course these will get reupholstered.

Glass for my front door! Who knew glass was so expensive!?!? This clocked
in at $425 installed. I know exactly why the previous owner used plywood
and duct tape. 

And now this leads me to my next big decision - lighting. I'm keeping the original trim work (although it's getting freshened up with some new stain) and I'm keeping the original floors and may keep the sconces on the fireplace so I want a new light fixture in this space. The fixture that is in there right now is functional and pretty for 1902, it's just not my current style preference so I'd like to replace with something else. Here are my 2 options:

{source}
Lowes - $179 and I have a 10% off coupon

{source}
Etsy - $300 (including shipping)

I LOVE the second fixture (I realize the picture isn't the best, follow the link to see a few more shots of that one) but am hesitant about spending $300 on a light fixture when I could spend $160 on something very similar. I've looked all over for DIY versions and they are doable and I haven't ruled that option out, but I do have a lot of staining, painting and reupholstering to do and I'd like this room to be done sooner rather than later. 

I don't really have a set budget for this project, perhaps that's where I should start. I wouldn't count the glass for the door as this particular project, that was clearly a necessity and safety issue and I already had funds set aside to cover that cost. 

What do you think, should I Save, Splurge or DIY this lighting project? Or maybe you have seen something similar for a decent price? I'm open to suggestions! 

House Update - Appraisal

Phew, buying a house is daunting. I should know this, it's practically my third time doing it but being the only one signing on the dotted line has become a tad overwhelming. I'm starting to realize that the 650 sq ft I live in right now is really not that small after all - having my laundry 2 steps from my bedroom is actually quite convenient. I'm a tad nervous about having almost 2200 sq ft (plus a basement, which I have heard you are not technically suppose to count - but add another 941 sq ft to that last number if you dare) to not only decorate - but to also clean, furnish and the most important, pay for. Between application fees, inspection fees, appraisal fees, insurance premiums, another fee to get something from the city that says they'll allow me to rebuild if the house burns down because it's less than 50 feet from the road, I'm wishing my savings account had been a bit stronger before I dove into all of this. Hate to say but my dad was right, I should have kept a better cash stash. But what's done is done, let's move on!

Sidenote: I've debated using actual numbers when talking about the house and I think it's important because not only will you see I'm not buying a lavishly priced home, but my goal is to keep all of my projects within an attainable budget (I won't be spending 5k on a new stove - I spent $630 on a new one actually, from the clearance and damaged section at Lowe's no less) and feel that numbers are important.

I was anxiously awaiting the appraisal and that came back this week. Here are the numbers.

$85,000 Purchase Price
$5,000 Credit from seller
$30,000 Repair estimate for required repairs
$120,000 Appraised Value

The required repairs include: fix the foundation, repaint the entire exterior, repair all windows, repair the roof, replace the gutters, replace the furnace and water heater and a few other small things the city says I have to fix. My financing is through the Neighborhood Finance Corp and they provide a $10,000 forgivable loan (over a 5 year period) to use towards repairs the city deems necessary (because it's a city funded program). They also offer the option to borrow up to 95% of the appraised value so I also plan to borrow an additional $15,000 so I can finish up these large repairs that I can not (or do not) want to do myself; some things are best left to professionals that you could sue if you needed to. 

So that's where I am right now. Bleeding money and crossing my fingers this is not a sign of what is to come.

Follow me on Pinterest!

I've created a Pinterest board titled "My old house." and have been pinning lots of ideas for my new house. Feel free to browse and let me know what you think in the comments below!


Follow Traci's board My old house. on Pinterest.

Samantha's Princess Bathroom

I recently talked my friend Megan into painting stripes in her daughter's bathroom after she talked me into helping her redecorate the bathroom into a Princess theme. And to be honest, it was harder and easier than we had both anticipated. I've painted horizontal stripes before but this was my first go-round with vertical stripes. I must say - the green Frog tape is the way to go with stripes! You will not be disappointed with the results. Trust me, crisp, clean lines each and every time.

Here's where we started:

90% of the painting job is in the prep work. Prep wisely.

I'm only kidding, this is how we started:

Lots of tape. Use a credit card or putty knife to seal the edges of the tape. You'll thank me for that.

We didn't use an exact science when measuring. The bathroom has tiles that we ended up using as a guide and we ended up doing stripes that were 2 tiles wide. And we're glad we did that - anything smaller would have been a taping nightmare. Do we paint this one or not? Tape on the inside or outside of the line? Paint, no paint, paint, no paint, no paint...wait, I need to start over. 

After about 2 hours of taping and 2 beers each, we started painting. I do the detail work of cutting in and Megan rolls. We've painted enough times together to know each others strengths and she's one of the only people I can paint with and not want to take the roller out of her hand and send her away to do something else.

We removed the tape while the second coat was still wet. This is very important when painting - removing tape from dry paint can lead to also removing paint and is super frustrating. Just take my advice and remove while the paint is wet.

I need to work on removing beer bottles before taking pictures. 

Thanks Frog Tape for those amazingly crisp lines!

The next step is also very important. You need to buy EVERYTHING PRINCESS FROM THE HOBBY LOBBY CLEARANCE AISLES, right Megan? If it was pink or princess, she bought it. I'm glad she did though because we ended up having lots to choose from. It's also very important to have a friend that can sew (ahem, me) so you can have her sew up some curtains for the space as well.

In the end, I think we have a princess bathroom that's not overly "OHMYGODI'MAPRINCESS" bathroom.

Big giant crown over the mirror, check!

Disney princess towels and princess rules, check!

Crown candle holder on toilet, check! And flower poms hanging from the ceiling, double check!

Princess, princess, S for Samantha, check!

Megan is going to record Samantha's reaction. I told her that if she doesn't like it, I was going to come over and paint the entire room white (I don't take criticism well apparently). But I'm pretty sure she's going to go nuts over this space. She's actually seen all the items but thinks that they were buying them for "Aunt" Traci and may have lost it when she couldn't use the princess towels immediately. I don't blame her, those are some pretty sweet towels!

And one more picture, because I love these flower poms - it's my favorite part of the entire room!

Don't be surprised if you see these make an appearance in my new house. 

I got bored....so I bought a house.

I haven't even looked to see the last time I posted, but I know it was a long time ago. So much has happened in the past year - some good, some bad and some, well, expensive. Here's the expensive I'm talking about:

I bought a house.

I'm not talking expensive in that I can't afford it, I'm talking expensive in that it's the largest purchase I've made in the past year. But it's less expensive than my rent right now and I'm just bored without any projects to complete. And trust me, this place will give me plenty of projects.

A little bit about the place: it was built in 1902 and is on the National Historic Registry (which says it was built in 1898). With it being on the National Registry, there are certain things that I can and can not do to the exterior. Their motto is "Repair before Replace" and I am all for that - except when replacing would make the home more energy efficient or is less costly. But I won't get into that now, I knew what I was getting into before I signed my life away.

My style leans towards modern, but I'll be embracing the history of this home (by not painting the trim white) but also keeping my decorating on more of the modern side (I bought magenta curtains for the living room).

I close on August 29th and will begin the rehabbing process almost immediately. I'll be updating the blog with my progress and I hope you'll follow along! I'm sure my "My Opinion Monday"posts are about to get a little more interesting.

Oops, I did it again!

Pintester Movement style though - not Britney Spears style. I think the last time I donned a slutty Catholic girl outfit was...well, never - so I guess if it were in the case of BS, I'd not be able to say I did it again. The last time I did the challenge I nailed it was this dresser.

But anyways, I'm a sucker for trying to do something better than someone else so with Sonja (yes we're on a first name basis, she emailed me and all - pretty much like an autograph these days right?) over at Pintester challenged us to do a Pin that'd she already fucked up (her words, not mine people), I was so on board. Until I realized the deadline was in between my 2 lavish beach Iowa lake vacations. Damn it. But, lucky for you all, I have today off and thought instead of spending it at the lake, I'd spend it Pintester style - sleeping in late, having some booze for breakfast (whipped vodka and OJ anyone??), and almost catching the house on fire. Someone pat me on the back!

So, I went with the cutting a bottle fire pin. I'm not sure which tutorial she used, but they're all the same and I found the link to the first one I probably ever saw - it's here on YouTube.  Now, go watch her video here.  You may notice some subtle differences, but the concept is the same. So I will go with that.

First up, I need a bottle. Unfortunately, all the bottles of vodka we consumed this past weekend were, well, consumed and then trashed. And the bottles I had in my house went out to the recycling bin. Oh wait, I have a bottle - functioning as a very poor vase right now. I shall use this one.

Flower is looking good if I might say so!

Up next, yarn or cotton string. I have a craft room and then some, I should be able to find something. I found some embroidery string stuff - label says 100% cotton. Deal.

All my ducks in a row! How can this go wrong?

And lastly, acetone. I just so happen to have some in the garage. I thought. Mineral spirits may work - it is highly flammable afterall. Pretty sure as long as the string starts on fire, this will all work.

See? DANGER! FLAMMABLE! 

I decided to do this outside now that I'm using mineral spirits and don't feel like catching the kitchen on fire. I set up a container with some cold water and ice in it and am praying I don't catch the newly stained deck on fire.

I start with wrapping the embroidery floss around probably more times than necessary.

And the I soak that in the Mineral Spirits in a black party cup - from the Dollar Tree I'm pretty sure.

Yep, it's soaked. 

Then I light it on fire. I will admit, this step was terrifying. When I saw that the mineral spirits were dripping down the bottle, I figured this was not going to go well.

And I was right. (This photo is UNedited. Straight out
of the cell phone camera. Terrifying)

And then I did was the Pintester did:

Threw it in the ice bath bucket and said fuck it.

I'll just use it as a vase.