The loveseat is here

Yay, the love seat arrived in our house a few days ago, and I am thrilled with our purchase! I think the leather love seat(I'm calling it a couch from now on.....love seat sounds stupid after awhile in the same way that fiance sounds pretentious) will look very nice in our new home. Typically I am not a leather person, but this couch is soooo comfortable, and it really looks good. That picture I found is not really that close to the real thing now that I've had time to enjoy the real thing. I will have to take and post pictures once we get it moved into the house. Oh and speaking of the house:

5 days till we close!!!

We got the final numbers as to what we need to have for closing.....um yeah, we're a bit short. So, we are taking some loans from family (not a huge amount, but enough that we couldn't come up with on our own) and should be ready to go for Thursday. So yay for family help, yay for almost owning our house, and yay for the couch!

Exploring the blogosphere

So I have started playing around and looking for other blogs to read.....you know so I can get remodling and designing ideas, learn stuff I had no clue about, and pretty much entertain myself during those downtimes. I have listed some of my favorites of what I have found so far on the right, but today sumbled across an awsome list that I felt the need to share. It is a list of 21 items "you didn't know you could recycle." I love it! For a green nerd like me, that is the best list ever. I will certainly take the hint on recycling old tennis shoes. I have a ton of those sitting around my house.

http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/caq/articles/21Things.cfm

The new stuff....

Now that I have figured out the picture in a blog thing, I will share picture of some of the new stuff that will be a part of our new home.

I have been looking for some pictures of my new couches to share with people until they finally arrive at my new home. I found the sofa, but the love seat will just take a little imagination.

So here is the room where they will live:















This is the sofa (just the sofa in this picture). It a small picture I know, but you get the general idea:


And then this is the love seat....well okay this isn't the actual love seat. I can't find a picture of the actual one online, but this is the general idea; square shape, and brown leather, however the feet are wood just like the feet on the couch. We think they will work well together: Our other new purchases we will be making include a new back door and new knobs in the bathroom for the tub. We're looking at these knobs:


And then this is the new backdoor we are considering, and the room in which it will go:















So this is the first in a long list of new stuff we will be buying over the next....oh, forever. Also on the list are the bed mentioned previously, other living room furniture (side tables, coffee table, entertainment center, etc.), a new TV, a new mattress for the guestroom and furniture for that room, an island for the kitchen (with an eventual total kitchen overhaul), and other various art work for the walls and area rugs for the floors.



It's exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

Homeowners insurance....check.

Woo woo, another big check on the gigantic home buying to do list.

We went to the insurance agent's office today to sign our final paperwork and give him a check for our year's policy (more money leaving the pockets). We went ahead and paid now instead of waiting for closing just in case a storm felt the need to crash our party. See the insurance people don't want to write you a policy if there is a named storm headed for the state, and while currently we are safe, there is no telling what is going to be happening with all that come Oct. 4th. Now, no matter what happens, we have insurance on our home. Yay!

We have exactly 14 days till we close on the house. It's crazy to think about.

Also completed from the check list:

• I faxed in all our missing paperwork to the mortgage people. It was a 21 page fax, but I checked the mortgage app. online and the giant fax was recieved. The only thing left on that to do list was insurance, which as of 1:00 today is done.


• We purchased a new couch and loveseat from American Signature Home. We were planning on going the Rooms to Go route, which is a fine place for furniture, but pretty basic and not always the best quality. However for people that are looking for decent furniture that looks nice and is a great price, they really are hard to beat. We just couldn't find anything at their store that really blew us away. It was all fine, but when we left the store, we honestly couldn't remember one thing that stood out. In the end it all was the same couch. So in expressing this dissapointment to my loyal blog reader (hello), it was suggested that we try American Signature. Well she was right. For a little more money we got great quality, great looking, great financing, warranties, and cleaning guarantees. I am very excited about my very first furniture purchase (yes I have lived this long off of family and friends hand-me-downs). Our next purchase with them will be a bed....I can't wait to have a grown-up looking bed :)

Oh and I decided to try my first picture on the blog. It is a picture of our home that we are buying. It is just a cute little 2/1 and almost ours. Yay!

So the whole house thing.....

You know, I had heard from friends that had bought their own place about some of the stresses of purchasing a home, but man....it's crazy.

My latest headaches:

Insurance: I live in Florida. No insurance company in Florida wants to issue homeowners policies. Absolutely no insurance company in Florida wants to issue a homeowners policy for a home built in 1955. Do you see the issue I am having with insuring my 1955 home that we are trying to purchase?

Interest rates: Yesterday, the lady from the mortgage company calls me and asks if I want to lock in my mortgage rate. The rate was really great; almost .2 of a percent lower than our original quoted rate. I tell her I will call the husband and get back to her. I call the husband, he enthusiastically tells me to lock and I run out of time to do it. I figure it's no biggie, but then today I call to lock and the rate has gone up .13 of a percent. Still below the original rate, but higher than that good rate from Wednesday. Why? Why did I not lock my rate when I had the chance? I went ahead and locked this one. Rates will probably will be lower tomorrow, but since there is no guarantee, I just did it. Plus who really wants to call their mortgage people everyday to check on rates.....actually I know someone who might do that.

Paperwork: I am one of the few people I know that actually enjoys paperwork. It helps me stay organized. Plus when everything is a little chaotic, paperwork is that one solid and easy thing that keeps me grounded. Buying a home requires massive amounts of paperwork. More crap that needs to be gathered and signed and faxed to everyone and their grandmother than I have ever encountered in my life. I don't like this paperwork. It does not make me happy.

A home

So as mentioned previously, we have been searching for a home....

We have made an offer. It's a good house. One that I think will serve us well for the next few years. I mean there are things that are not great; the kitchen needs work and the A/C vents are on the floor, but overall it is a good place that we will be happy to call home.

We are on counter offers now. You know that point where you try and negotiate over the smallest, stupidest detail. It's fun. Yeah, not so much.

I can't wait to get the phone call saying that we are set to go. I've already picked up paint swatches and info from Home Depot. I'm ready to go.