When last I reported in “The new house is progressing nicely. As normal, there have been a few hiccups along the way but everything eventually gets worked out and we keep moving forward.”

Oh how the tides turn on a dime. It has been a brutal few weeks.

First, the painter ROYALLY screwed up my gorgeous custom cabinets. Not a “little mess up” but a life shattering major screw up. That was over three weeks ago and they had to completely strip and repaint every door and drawer front and they came this week to strip and repaint the island and uppers. Fortunately I put the finish on the walnut cabinets (OMG they are amazing!) so those didn’t get destroyed.

The upside to this colossal screw up is I realized that the “off-white” trim color, the same color I painted the island, was waaaaay to yellow against the white quartz counters so I was able to switch gears on a color choice. Of course that means I have to repaint ALL the trim in the house, but that will happen in time.

Silver lining.

Oh, and no I did not paint the island a different color as I thought I might. I did as I usually do…bought sample colors and painted big swatches to see if I would like the. Turns out I like white. The piece is such a focal point of the entire living area I just didn’t like it painted a dark and different color. I like my “big stuff” (couches, walls, islands, etc) to be neutral and bring color in with accent pieces. When you see this island you will understand why it is NOT just a little accent piece!

Second, the tile I picked out for the master shower was back ordered. That’s okay, I would rather wait than settle for a tile I am not in love with so we knew we would be moving in without the master shower…no problem since we can use the guest bath.

The yard can not be landscaped because they can’t get our fescue sod for a few more weeks…soooooo…..

The extension for the exhaust hood over the stove is back ordered.

Because of the cabinet screw up all the painters time and energy has to go into the cabinets so the trim didn’t get painted.

So when moving day arrived we had no master shower, unpainted trim, no sod, no range hood or doors or drawers in the kitchen. Deep breath…we can do this.

What is done…the wood floors. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I got my interior doors painted black…LOVE! The new front door is in, but the insert with grids is not…. that is something that will eventually be changed out! Even though we don’t have a master bath shower, the vanities are done so we can use those areas.

So the house is not “complete,” and there are a ton of things that have to be completed and then a laundry list of “projects” but it is livable!

Two days….it took TWO days to move!!! That was with four guys busting it! We made a total of four trips back and forth and that was in a big truck. Then I had to unpack about 843 boxes (okay I exaggerate)!

The BIGGEST screw was on the closing of the house we sold.

The buyer had two co-signers…both out of state. The title company, Washington County Title (yes I am naming names) over-nighted all the docs to the co-signers…no biggy but it did delay the funding from Friday, the day we closed, to Monday. Okay, again no biggy. We signed the deed, the buyer signed her loan papers and we all walked away from closing believing a transfer of ownership had transpired.

The lender (Highlands Mortgage) decided they didn’t like the fact that all the borrows signed one particular document separately…even though they did all sign. So the lender refused to fund the loan…basically the lender and the closing company screwed up (or as I was told “there was a miscommunication) but I was the only one who paid the price because I didn’t get paid for a house I had already moved out of and the buyer had already taken possession of.

When you close on a house you sign an indemnity form that specifically states that if the closing company fails to have you sign a document, or something is signed wrong, you will come back in and sign properly. No where did I sign anything that said if the closing company and lender had a “miscommunication” I wouldn’t get paid.

Also, if somewhere along the line the lender has a “loss” due to a title glitch or closing screw up they have a mortgagee insurance policy issued by the title company to indemnify them for their losses. As the seller, I do not have that safety net if the closing company and lender have a “miscommunication” resulting in a loss on my end.

This made for a VERY unpleasant four way call Monday.

I try to keep this blog positive and informative…so, I am informing you I am positive I will never use Highlands Mortgage or Washington County Title.

Unfortunately for the buyer she had to go back in Tuesday and completely redo her end of the closing. Fortunately my title company refused to make me resign all my documents…the loan was funded and I was paid…it only took them 5 days to correct the issue.

Little by little I will start sharing the new house and all the little projects I have completed…and trust me, there are A LOT of little projects to complete. I have already completed a few, like painting my doors black and installing the shelf system in the hall pantry….little things to make this house more like my home.

I wanted to post at least one picture but when I looked around there seemed to be NOTHING complete…no sod in the yard, no drawers and doors in the kitchen, no shower in the master bath, no couch in the living room (oh yeah, I ordered a new couch!). Hopefully I will have something completely done next week I can share…hopefully!

And of course it is fall and I could not wait to get the fall decor out of storage and scattered about the new house!!!!

IT’S FALL YA’LL!!!!