The day after the closing, I thought that being a homeowner would be smooth sailing. And it was, for just that day, because the locksmith was at the house on time to re-key all the locks. I had my coffee and my work computer so that I could work mostly offline.

At the end of my workday, I walked around the house to really assess what needed to happen to the house, because I felt a LOT of pressure to get a growing list of house tasks done within the 2 weeks before moving in! Every day and evening was a LONG LONG To-Do list that kept repopulating every morning. And, to get this list done, I was realizing a hidden lesson of homeowning: Any money I had was going to be absorbed into this house, to get it moving-in ready.

Others’ standards of sale-ready or move-in-ready were much lower than mine, especially because I knew that the sellers’ renovations of the house were mostly cosmetic illusions. Painting the rooms was essential because I could NOT work in a 1980s-peach-colored home office, or watch tv in a dirty-white living room. I was done with renting, and needed to live in a space where I could make the décor entirely my own.

I was somewhat intimidated by booking people for some of these house repairs/tasks. I already talked to people ALL DAY for work, and adding on phone calls for my house’s repairs was adding to my mental exhaustion.  I had a mild panic attack on Halloween, while out with friends.  And, I was packing every night for the move, which meant I was ridiculously overloaded and sleep-deprived between Thanksgiving and early December.

My dad installed some items such as the towel racks and toilet paper holder—he said he wanted to make sure to “get the paperwork right” (his actual words).  But I couldn’t overload my dad with too much, so one of my friends suggested some websites/apps to find someone. I went on Nextdoor app, a web message board that’s location-based, and people often post reliable resources for any type of service on there.  I messaged a few different handymen about the priority projects I needed help with: shower curtain rod installation, installing a light for the ceiling fan in the sunroom, installing a light at the stairs to the basement, and try to get the ancient dishwasher hooked up.

I booked Sal B., a transplant from Brooklyn, who had done plumbing and any other home repair/renovation you could think of, for my home repairs/fixes. He and I spoke on the phone after messaging, and then he did a consult, gave me a written quote, and was very clear on the expectations with one of the tasks (said he could not guarantee that the dishwasher actually worked, even after hooking it up). I appreciated his honesty, and decided that if the dishwasher might still be functioning then I could delay replacing it. If it accidentally caught fire, well, that would be a home insurance situation requiring me to buy a new dishwasher, right? He and his cousin split up the tasks and were pleasant and professional.

It was surreal to be excited about items like a curved shower rod or a motion-sensor light for the basement, but I wanted to have items that were good-quality and matched. But, each item was adding up….everything was getting so expensive, and I hadn’t even thought about holiday shopping! When possible, I tried to use discounts, credit card points, and gift cards that I had saved, to buy the least expensive housewares I could.

I bought some items (bathroom hardware, curtain rods) at the local hardware store, but my dad had to advise me on the light fixture to purchase for the sunroom. The sellers had installed a ceiling fan but it didn’t have a light, which meant the sunroom could only have light from the ACTUAL SUN, not from the normal installation of a combo fan and light.

I also had to buy a washer and dryer, because the house didn’t have those either. For that, I asked a few people what they had, and I looked on Consumer Reports. Then my mom told me I needed to check what the stores had in stock, since some popular appliance models were delayed by months. I couldn’t wait that long for them—I needed the convenience of laundry at home, because using my parents’ house as my laundromat would drive us all insane! Thank god I was able to take advantage of Black Friday sales to buy the washer and dryer, and some other housewares.

Within a week, I was so relieved that the silver LG front-loader washer and dryer pair were delivered and installed.  When I did my first loads of laundry, I discovered they were Irish—the songs they played when cycles finished were cheery Irish tunes!

Having a dishwasher was the other appliance essential to me, because I was so tired of handwashing dishes at my apartment. It was a happy moment when the dishwasher DID work, though there was no Irish jig playing for that appliance!

I also ordered paint with a discount, from my “painting nephew” (coworker’s son) for most of the rooms, so that I could get those painted by a family friend and his crew before moving day. The timeline for the painters ended up being too close to moving day, partially because they had to do a LOT of priming the walls. The sellers had done a hurried painting job in light colors like peach and yellow (ick), which had done nothing to disguise the uneven texture of the bad paint jobs.

The painting crew had questions for me about the paint colors, because I chose vivid colors for the bedrooms, the living room, and especially my home office.  One of them asked me, “These are really nice colors, are you some kind of designer?”

I wasn’t expecting that really nice question, so I laughed as I replied honestly, “Not at all, I just knew I wanted a colorful décor, and it matches the art I’ll hang up soon.”

They were done around December 8, which was perfect since the movers were scheduled for two days later. After two weeks of projects, the house was ready for moving day!

Tune in next week for the packing and moving ordeals!