Craftsmanship

We had the unfortunate experience of being bamboozled when we bought our house almost ten years ago.  Okay it hasn't exactly been ten years and maybe I am exaggerating for dramatic effect but it has been pretty close to that.  So back when we bought our house, we were young.  Young enough to be asked if my parents where home when I answered the door.  One lady who was selling water even took it upon herself to argue with me that I couldn't possibly be the homeowner.

We were young and we did everything we thought was right.  We got the referral of a realtor and looked at a couple of houses.  When we found one we liked we thought we were in love.  Everything was shiny, the house was bigger than our two bedroom apartment.  We weren't given time to properly get a good look at the house.  We were rushed in and assured that "in this market" if we didn't place an offer, someone else surely would.  How could we let our "dream house" slip away?  We were rushed.  And they knew what they were doing.  Was it legal?  Yes.  Was it ethical?  No.    

After the nightmare that was the paperwork of buying a house and the slipped under the table fees, we had the keys.  While we were painting before we moved in we noticed all sorts of things.  

While siting down after painting I noticed the tile work on the floor.  No spacers and grout everywhere.  Haven't they ever seen HGTV or DIY?  And let's not ignore this beautiful piece of craftsmanship right here.    

Why yes, that is crown molding on the floor.  

The lip of the crown molding that is supposed to connect with the ceiling it was filled in with some sort of silicone caulking or something I can't quite identify.  I mean just look at that beautiful mitered joint right there.  Can you sense the sarcasm?  Can you tell what years and years of looking at that have done to me?  Hubby and I have sat down and decided that we just couldn't look at it anymore.  We couldn't look at that brown color anymore either.  It's time it goes.  It's going to be a lot of work.  A lot of hard back breaking work but when it's done right and beautifully yellow it will look amazing.  

You would think that some point in the many years we have been here we would have fixed all the stuff that is bothering us.  But that is life.  Things get in the way and things get moved farther down the list.  The living room itself has vaulted ceilings so painting the walls is not going to be a small task.  This is one of the reasons it got moved further down the list.  

It boggles my mind how long we have been here.  It doesn't seem that long.  Long enough however to make the conversation that transpired in the kitchen two days ago laughable.  

Hubby:  Juju come here!  I have to show you something!

I walked to the pass thru (large window cut out of the wall between the kitchen and living room)   

Me:  Whatsup?

Hubby:  Did you know that when you turn a burner on the stove a red light comes on?

Me:  Blinkity blink

Hubby repeats himself even more excitedly.  

Me:  Yes honey.  I've been cooking on that stove for almost ten years.  I know about the red light.

Hubby:  Now I don't have to walk over and see if the stove is hot to make sure it's off.  

He's so cute when he learns new things.