The 5 Year Itch

With bad news comes good news...-we've been in this house for 5 years now which in "olden days economy" used to mean that after 5 years or 80% loan to value of your home (whichever came first), your PMI would drop off. Hold still-that rule is NO LONGER. BOOOOOOOO. So we will continue to pay a needless extra $150 each month-thank you to all the morons who purchased more "home than you could afford", thus hosing the rest of us over. Whew-sorry, needed to get that off my chest. So with 5 years in and our anticipated day a speck of dust in the wind, I decided to make my OWN good news. It looks like this:

WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!!! I've been itching to get rid of this faux ceiling since they DAY WE MOVED IN! What on earth were they thinking? Less square footage=a good thing? Not so much!!!! So, with my 12 foot ceilings back in my kitchen, I am one step closer to a home with no sign of the 1970's creeping in. THAT makes me a happy camper :) I wonder what Mike will say when he gets home???? he he he. Better just leave it a surprise. No need to irritate him while he's at work. lol

Which brings me to another note about our 1910 house-the dad gum fence. Though I'm sure it's not worthy of even that much of the term "fence". Fine craftsmanship went into this puppy whenever they built it-probably sometime in that lovely 70's era again. Note all my favorite parts:
1. NOT ONE SINGLE FENCE POST! NOT ONE! Instead-they used things like metal plumbing pipes-AND it appears that whatever size was left over and hanging out in the garage was going to suffice....

years of winter wear does this to a make shift gate....it starts to sink and fall over...fun stuff

then there is THIS gate-again, held together with plumbing pipe. Also note the board that has been "pieced together" because splurging for a $2.50 board would have been drastic right? They attempted to piece together a part of the top of the gate also, as you can see-it didn't work out so well. This gate is also sinking so.....the lock broke off-all on it's own (LOVE that Ellensburg wind) and now it is being held shut WHITE TRASH STYLE-so the doggies don't escape.

yet another angle of the favorite fence-this is another corner where someone took great pride in their work....NO POST-just 2 L Brackets! Good times people-good times....

Another white trash fix-but not from us-pretty awesome! If you look closely you'll see the fence boards are being held up by old paint-no no, NOT nails.....PAINT! The nails have wiggled their way out ALL ON THEIR OWN-no joke. This fence is possessed-PUUUUUUUREE craziness. So here's the Kristi plan: we attempted beautiful vinyl fencing-but that's all it is PRETTY-TERRIBLE quality and TERRIBLE prices! We had it assembled and with the first sign of wind, kids &/or dogs= 3 sections were cracked-gone-POOF! SOOOOOOO irritating! So out with the "new" and in with the "old school" but we're doing it KRISTI style. Visualize: Good ol' cedar lattice top panels from your neighborhood Home Depot....get rid of that NASTY lattice of the past that is hanging along the top-replace it with vertical planks...concrete a BUNCH of actual pressure treated fence posts in the ground, splash on a little white wash paint.....and you'll have to wait for the reveal in the spring-duh-I'm on a major budget people! :) But the idea is to go from this:

to a look something more like this:

who wants to come help????? Any takers???? :)

Thank goodness for the good "bones" to the actual house or else I would have called this place "the Money Pit" forever ago!