Installing New Locks

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

Back in April on closing day, we planned ahead and both of us took a half day off work to sign the papers, to get our first set of supplies for the house, and possibly start our first DIY project. After signing away our first born child, we finally had the house keys- albeit 5 copies of each lock and it was time to get the house ready to live in. It was finally time to start one of the many lists.

As excited new homeowners, we immediately went to visit the casa to find the house still had an occupant. His father, the executor of the estate, was apologetic as he hired a crew to empty the house when we got there. Closing time was around 2pm and the occupant hadn’t started moving until 1pm.

Needless to say, we just wanted the house to ourselves and didn’t much care what was left behind or the mess left either. We ‘supervised’ to ensure no walls/framework were damaged during their quick move, and we also were the deciding factor on what items could stay or go. We ended up with some sweet finds:

From Left to Right: two refrigerators, Crown Royal bottle (could be antique?), nasty vacuum, wine bottle capper (could be antique?)

We had TONS more awesome free stuff left behind, but it has since been scattered throughout the house or donated or taken in for scrap. That vacuum may not look like much- the occupant mentioned it didn’t work. We think he may have been allergic to cleaning because it worked immediately after plugging it in. The vacuum was gross and filthy but it served its purpose cleaning up the majority of the grimy nasty mess left behind.  But that’s another story.

Back on track- so after the occupant left, we immediately went to the store to pick up locks, and supplies to make our own mailbox, followingrule #1- don’t buy anything until the house is ours.

Fist up, changing the ugly, old, nasty door knobs. Added bonus: peace of mind- who knows how many keys were made since the original set handed to us had at least 8 keys.

A little screw removal, shimmy and shake- those suckers were replaced. What a difference a small change can make huh? That and it was a relief knowing we wouldn’t have a creeper (aka previous occupant) sneaking in and sleeping on the stained carpet while we weren’t home. In addition, the metal finish- in brush nickel- provided a base in which we used throughout the house.

Don't mind the paint chipping away, it's just the garage trim and it's on a newer list.

  

Next post: DIY’ing our first improvement for the house- the mailbox.