The Money Pit The Work is Progressing

Here's a few pics of the progress to having our hot water heater on one side of our #retrorenovation duplex break, flooding BOTH sides. The work was getting done pretty quickly, what with so many in our area having flooded homes from Feb.'s freeze and needing renovation services.

TOP TO BOTTOM: Yay, for brass/gold hardware side!
My little helper painting to cover some of the old green #leadpaint
Yay, farmhouse sink!

And then...nothing...and then, all heck broke loose. In just a matter of about four weeks, we got all the duplex flooring/baseboards and the cabinets replaced, and some flooded doors fixed, and had chosen/bought all sinks, faucets, its first-ever dishwasher, a new garbage disposal and tile backsplashes.

Then for 2 weeks nothing happened - we'd already paid for our quartz countertop slabs but just couldn't schedule them. Then, when they did show up, here's how they cut them (hot water heaters were supposed to have a butcher block on top of them).

We were in a race because we had 7 people coming to stay (in addition to us 4) on July 1. (Counters were getting installed June 29 or so? We were even still thinking we could also get the backsplashes done on June 30!)

So here is a list of all that went wrong between then and now: 1. Counters were cut wrong - they were able to re-cut the one cut too large, but just had to add on to the edge of the one cut too small, and put a small seam. I'm happy to get the $500 back we negotiated, but Mike is picky about the seam...

2. Had the electrician out b/c a new electric box we had installed to make the garbage disposal, you know, work (old box no longer worked), stopped working. Meanwhile, he was getting shocked by outlets in our Unit 2 kitchen. He said that whole Unit 2 kitchen needed rewiring because as the codes changed, the updates people made did not follow code.

3. The non-problematic (or so we thought) Unit 2 hot water heater seemed to go out while we had house of 11 people...and when Mike messed with it, smoke came out, plus he got shocked. We had tried not to have to replace this one too for obvious no-time/cash flow (at this point) reasons, plus it would have to be brought up to code - which was an ordeal that included drilling through our concrete walls to put in a drain (which is obviously a good thing to have - see the fact that our whole place got flooded b/c of the lack of one on Unit 1).

4. Mouse. I saw our first-ever mouse inside that house WHILE we had our guests sitting right outside the door. We quietly tried to put out enough traps to kill it after heading to store the next morning (we found a trap and put PB on it the first night...it enjoyed the PB but did not get caught). BUT it went over to the side where ONLY guests were, and were sleeping in the open area connected to the kitchen. So they saw it, and had to sleep terrified all night. However, the next night we caught it...and were even tinkering in the the room where it was...it was not scared of us! Not sure if the various construction made it able to get in easier.

5. Unit 1 kitchen had to be rewired (pic of its look/progress below).

6. Now we are getting shocked in Unit 2 bedroom...so the electricity problem just keeps migrating.

7. Home warranty just expired...we could have gotten the second hot water heater replaced at least, also! But they were kind of a pain to deal with. The first plumber they made us use (and only one they had in system) stopped calling us back and seems he went out of business!) Luckily our homeowners' insurance seems to cover a lot! If we hadn't gotten upgraded counters, sinks, etc. we probably would have come out ahead and maybe even covered these new, fun discoveries of having electric currents going through to the handles in the shower, our computers, lightswitch plates, etc!

NOW all that's left is getting old adhesive off walls in the kitchen on the non-tiled areas - barring other future "discoveries" (oh, and electricity)!!

PICS: Speaking of progress, space for #PearsonPointe's first dishwasher!
And...Picking up 850 lbs of tile from the ceramic warehouse - it doesn't look like much, does it!?

Sad Alert: Demolition is This Week :(

Thanks to THIS happening,

these kitchens are gonna be gone next week after 66 years.

Look how cute they are!

You do appreciate what you can no longer have.

To the relief of many, though, LOL, we will have basically brand-new kitchens AND all new floors. It's a duplex, so times two on all of it. New cabinets. New floors. New cabinet hardware. New counters (insurance did not want to cover, but come on, these old formica ones will break, and they are one thing I won't miss so much ;). New sinks. New faucets. New backsplash. A few new or refinished exterior and interior doors. Lots of decisions. Times two! (The duplexes are sisters, not twins.)

Bad things, man, bad things

When you pull up to your weekender/investment property, and see water coming out from under the front door, that's not a good sign.

After we had been busily trying to spruce up the 1950s place for 10 months, it was under at least an inch of water -- an entire side of the duplex, save maybe a few-foot corner of the bedroom. A quick 7 hours of running two shop-vacs and mopping, and most of the water (except what was squishing up near the baseboards when you walked over them) could no longer be seen.

Life-hack discovery break: Hershey's Kiss "Starbucks" Peppermint Mocha

What to do when you are away from your fancy coffee machine and want an indulgent, seasonal, latte eye-opener? (And what to do with those leftover holiday Hershey's kisses?!) If you are stuck 25 minutes away from the nearest Starbucks (definitely not complaining, though!) but growing tired of black coffee, and have those post-Christmas Hershey kisses, then you're in luck. (For a peppermint drink, the Hershey candy cane kisses taste closest to anything else out there anyway for that craving.) I made this from what I already had on-hand during the holidays, and without an espresso machine.

Since it's so simple, I'll not make you have to read a novel just to get to the instructions!:

You really only need 3 ingredients (INCLUDING the coffee):
1. 3 Hershey's candy cane kisses (the white ones with the red stripe around them)
2. Black coffee (I used our Keurig)
3. 1 or 2 regular, milk chocolate, Hershey's kisses (or higher-end chocolate sauce)
(Optional: half and half, whipped cream)

1. Brew your coffee. Gather your ingredients while your coffee is brewing (start unwrapping!).

2. Stir in the 3 candy cane kisses and 2 milk chocolate kisses OR the chocolate sauce (something like Ghirardelli's or Sanders, but the chocolate kind. The kind I had out at the lake where I created this out of necessity was good - Sanders). Yes, they will melt all the way! (as long as the coffee hasn't been sitting around).
- OR - Use the chocolate sauce in place of milk chocolate kisses. I used under 1 tbsp., and it made it nice and creamy, too. No extra sugar or sweeteners needed for either method!

3. You're kind of done! Taste it; you may want to add half and half/creamer (I do when making it with the milk choc. kisses, but find it's super creamy just using the choc. sauce method). And you may want to spray on a flourish of whipped cream!

Notes: I LOVE Starbucks peppermint mochas and find this to taste VERY similar. All the other coffee shop copycats I've paid $5 for over the years that were meticulously made don't even taste this similar.

You can use any kind of coffee...I found it a good chance to use up some of the coffees that aren't my favorite. I love dark coffees, so I would use my medium roasts, since they lend themselves to the mildness of a Starbucks mocha.

Through Rose-colored Bathrooms

We knew as soon as we saw this property we were going to try to buy it, and were kind of shocked there were still intact identical (duplex) pink original bathrooms. Our flippant 'yeah, but we can tear out the fixtures (at least eventually),' was quickly replaced by other people in our ears, including our realtor from the start, saying, no, you've got to leave those. In fact WE had sort of an appreciation and respect for how long they'd lasted (They really don't make 'em like they used to), not to mention the beautiful (I think) pink variegated tiled floors,

in pretty good shape. And the pink tile showers are in EXCELLENT shape. And heck, I've never lived in a house with an actual tiled shower! So in a sense, this was NICE to me. However, we wanted to give the duplex bathrooms a little more personality, and suit to taste, but keeping a mid-century flair in some of the decor.

BEFORE

AFTER - UNIT 1, "The Flamingo"

AFTER - UNIT 2, "The Jimi"

Well, a Lot's Happened (in the last 10 years). AKA Introducing Pearson Pointe (with the pink bathrooms)

It's been 10 years since my last post, Father. Forgive me.

And while I'm appropriating my wildly unpopular blog solely as a venue to talk about our fun new project/investment, I can't not mention the most important thing that's happened in the last 10 years: our daughter Evie! Just to recap: our kid count is 2: Brody, 10, and Evie, 8. Pets currently: Sadie, 27 (in dog years).

This whole adventure started when son Brody got (and asked for, often) a bow and arrow. We realized the irony of them not having a place to shoot it given the amount of rural country land I come from; even archery-learning places don't let you use your own! So then we were like, hey, we wanted to buy future build land, and make that investment in the Austin area as it's growing so quickly anyway. We started looking, then Covid hit and that was our only hobby. We wanted a great view and a few acres but then realized the kids HATED our "land-looking" and didn't exactly appreciate our amazing views - over something to actually DO - once we got there.

So, once this old duplex cottage in some pretty elevations ON a lake AND seeming like a steal for all we got (even a place to stay...and we had planned to buy an RV on other land, and have to install septic, electric, etc, etc) we jumped on it...kids getting carsick every time we drove out there be damned!

Well, the challenge, or awesome bonus - to some, maybe - is that it's almost all-original 1955. The pink tile is still in the (identical) bathrooms (yes, that thar' is a pink toilet); the knotty pine and geometric green formica is still in the (identical) kitchens. And the prison/school aesthetic is strong, with the concrete block construction, unencumbered by any additional, warm, wall treatments.

I'm coming to learn that this whole pink bathroom thing is a rare find, and worth keeping, to some. And, for me at least, it's taken a lot of my time and fascination to research how to make them look, well, more inviting to those who see them as 'old,' and to those who had them growing up and would want any bathroom color BESIDES that. Anyway, here is where I'm going to post pictures of the minor updates we are doing to our 1955 cottage duplex on the lake, which we had to name Pearson Pointe (since previous owners had named and signaged it Reily Pointe). On Paleface Point. On the Pedernales (River). With pink powder-rooms. Pretty perfectly imperfect, pinch me. I plan to do more blog posts detailing certain projects, in future, such as:

Original pink bathrooms, updated, and formica/pine kitchens

Minor work to update/make it our own

Some fun purchases to complement the place

Slowly changing the decor over (but leaving it "Texan")...minor painting to come

Lake rookie purchases "We bought a dock."

Exterior and view

*Pardon some of the low quality photos...I didn't get all the 'before' shots and had to use some realty website pics. I know, we are ALL doing a collective SMH right now.

A new side to "Grandma"

Was talking to my mom tonight, and she said "Oh hell, no!" in regards to something. Obviously she felt strongly about this, or I've rubbed off on her. Either way, I'm proud!