No Sugar Coating!

When I started this blog to share with family, friends, and strangers (Hi!) what Z and I had been up to on the house, I was not going to sugar coat everything. It would have been impossible to! I will say this though - home ownership so far has been very rewarding, stressful, and enjoyable. The exciting, yet frustrating, part about home ownership is when something goes wrong. Something that you didn't think would go wrong. Something that was not in your overly specific home inspection report. Something that you think is going to be a quick fix. And it is not.

So, within the last few days, here are a few of the mishaps that we have run into at our house. Trust me- there have been many more! But, here's just a glimpse! 

Z had noticed a few mornings ago that there was some water leaking from the stand up shower in our Master Bath. After taking a closer look, it appeared that it needed to be re-caulked. Simple fix! We purchased caulk and he got to work on it. As he was removing the old caulk, he noticed some mold and mildew. No biggie - it is a wet area anyway. So, he cleaned it up, and continued on around the tile. When he got to the tile pictured above, the tile fell out! After closer look, it was mold. YUCK! After a bit more investigation, it appears as if there is much more than just pictured. 

After the mishap in the Master Bath, we decided that we would utilize the guest bath (hallway bathroom) to shower. After we had both taken showers, we had both noticed that there was dripping coming from the faucet. No problem! After a few YouTube video tutorials and Home Depot worker questions, we were set! Seemed like a quick and simple fix! NOPE. A can of WD-40, tools from Home Depot, and pulling as hard as possible, we were unable to reach the part that we needed to get to. It is still leaking.

There was a risk of severe weather tonight in our area. We're in the Midwest, so it happens. However, this morning was peaceful and sunny. As I sat at our breakfast bar eating oatmeal and drinking coffee, I heard a "chhhhhhhh--crrrrrrrrack-snap!" Out of nowhere, a huge branch fell in our backyard! Of course, it wasn't one that was dead. It was full of beautiful, green leaves.

SO... NOW WHAT?

We find ourselves at the same point, I assume, many home owners find themselves at - now what? This is our game plan for these unforeseen issues that came up this week:

Mold in the Shower

 We could go a few ways with this one. It basically came down to two options - do we fix it? Or, do we deconstruct the bathroom and slowly redo it? After discussing it, we decided to take our time and deconstruct the bathroom. We will start by tearing out the shower and cleaning the mold. We will slowly be working on this project. We still have 1.5 bathrooms, so it is something we can take our time on. We figured we might as well redo it like we wanted it to be, instead of settling and wanting to redo it within years. We already have ideas of what we want to do in it! I can't wait to share the process with you all! Redoing the bathroom was something that we were wanting to do - eventually - but it seems as though we will be working on it sooner than originally thought. 

Leaky Faucet 

We are letting this one slide for right now. It seems impossible for us to be able to fix it right now. The pipes seem to have a lot of calcium on it, which doesn't help. Perhaps we will hire a plumber at some point, especially if we have someone come out to do other things. In the meantime, I think we'll put a bucket underneath and water plants with the water that has dripped out. Eh, it works! 

Huge Branch Falls

Considering that we were supposed to get possibly severe weather tonight, we were proactive with contacting some tree services to get some bids. If a tree branch would just fall with calm winds, what would happen in severe weather?! We had one person come out today and will have another bid or two tomorrow. But, we were able to get rid of that huge branch! We met a very kind neighbor today who offered to come over with two chainsaws and help us chop it up! Him and Z cut it up in 10 minutes! We'll use the wood for our chiminea and when we get our fireplace finished (Oh goodness.... that's another one for the list!) we could use it for that, too.

So, that's where we stand right now. It looks like we have a few projects ahead of us! Even though these things were unplanned and a bit frustrating at times, I must say that it was fun to add the text and doodles to the pictures. I took the photos with my iPhone and added text with the A Beautiful Mess app. Check it out if you haven't already! 

Have you run into any problems with your home, a place you live, or your apartment? What was your experience? 

-E