More Diamond, Less Rough: Fly on the Wall

2026-07-24T08:00:00.082-05:00

Welcome to our monthly Fly on the Wall, a blog post written in snippets. Marcia, Diane, and I invite you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes, at our writing desks, and in our worlds. Come on in, buzz around, see what we've been up to. Bet you laugh!

In last month's Fly on the Wall, Exciting and Exhausting, I talked about how, after living in Boulder for 7 years, PurDude is coming home. In a market where, especially in the part of town he wants to live in, houses sell in days, he was missing out on any that interested him.

His realtor, a friend of Hubs' went to an open house right where PurDude wanted to be. He viewed and taped and had PurDude make an offer. I won't repeat the whole story of how that went, you can read it in last month's post. But I will say that Hubs and I later went in to see the house for ourselves. A 106 year old traditional home, it had been loved in the distant past, but definitely not in the recent past. When we walked out we told the realtor that this house was a diamond in the rough.

After 7 exhausting, frustrating, productive, and rewarding weeks. I think we've accomplished more diamond and less rough.

In the end of May, PurDude flew in on a Wednesday night to see his house in person for the first time on Thursday, and close on it on Friday. He would then be here for another week in which we would try to get quotes for HVAC, painter, electrician, general contractor, appliance repair, plumber, landscaper, radon mitigation, garage door, cement, wood floor, carpet, and ceramic tile. We'd look at some samples so I could get a feel for his taste, but after that it would be all up to me. I'd have to get further estimates, make choices with him through text, schedule, follow up, and pay the trades.

All of this at his house (1/2 hour away from mine), while still maintaining the day to day in my own home.

And speaking of my own home:

Thursday, the day of the walk-through, my bathroom flooded.

Sunday, Hubs tried to back the car out of the garage before the garage door was open.

One plumber (me) and a new garage door ordered (me, too), PurDude left.

Week one on my own, while trying to nail down estimates and services and colors and choices:

On Monday, I realized I was missing a check from my checkbook.

On Tuesday, I found out they no longer make the (broken off) knob to his oven.

On Thursday we had a huge downpour and in the middle of the night the tubes to our sump pump separated.

But there were some laughs, too. My text to PurDude:

Dad mowed your lawn. Your lawnmower doesn't like him, it kept shutting off. Probably because he kept trying to mow straight up the bricks around your tree.

Let me explain here that there are issues we are dealing with that came up in the inspection and that the sellers provided some funding for us to remediate. Not fun, but necessary.

Then there is the rest of what we're trying to get done. The things that he wants done to realize his vision for the house, to make it his own. Like the painting, carpet, and ceramic tile. But most important was taking down a partial wall between the living room and dining room, and ripping up the carpets, praying the wood floors can be restored.

Week 2:

We were getting somewhere. HVAC done. Garage door (his, not mine), done. Weeding done. Mulching way more exhausting than I thought so Hubs and I aren't quite done. Painting done, Carpet done. Ceramic tile starts Monday. Concrete scheduled. Radon mitigation scheduled. I even figured out how to get his oven knob replaced. I am on a roll.

NOT.

One step forward 2 steps back is the saying, but it's 3 for me:

The electricians are still here, taking longer than expected by up to 3 days. Everything else comes to a dead stop until they finish. Good thing I wrote that schedule in pencil.

AND 3 different plumbers told me 3 different things. I just don't know. What I do know, however, is that he has to be able to take a shower . . .

AND the contractor (wall) can't get us onto his schedule in our time frame.

But the floors are the biggest priority, we still have a prayer of getting those done.

Week 3: Disaster.

Remember I said that everything is at a dead stop until the electricians finished? We were hoping they'd be done after the first week, but they found more issues so they planned to be done after 1/2 day on Thursday the latest.

Nope. After Wednesday, the electrical contractor we hired pulled his guys from the house and doesn't know when they will be back. WHAT?

The carpet was supposed to be pulled up Thursday to see where we stand with the wood floors. Nope. We're at a stop.

And I am trying so hard not to cry. But then PurDude made me laugh:

PurDude (via text): I never want to see another electrician again. If any electrician comes within 2 miles of that house, I'm going to have them arrested for trespassing.

Don't blame him.

And me? You know what I do for stress release. I bake.

Lemon Strawberry Love Cake

Week 4:

So, the electricians said they'd be back in 2 weeks . . .

Went ahead with pulling the carpet to see what we were dealing with and the floor guy got us locked out of the house . . .

But I think you get the drift. So where are we now?

A picture's worth 1000 words.

As I said, the previous owners did not maintain the house or the property.

Front yard before:

And after. Pat on the back here, I did the mulching.

Walk up the steps to the front porch. Look up, that ceiling is one of my favorite features of the house.

But then look down. Dirty, stained indoor/outdoor carpet.

Carpet gone, we replaced it with ceramic tile. White, with grey veining to go with the grey and white house paint and trim.

Inside the front door to the right is the living room. The doorway closest to the fireplace is to the dining room. Opposite that doorway along the wall to the right (not shown) is the sunroom. The doorway (shown) furthest from the fireplace is the kitchen.

On the floor of all of those rooms except the kitchen, (which had LVP), was dirty, ripped, threadbare carpet.

living room looking iinto kitchen and dining room

sunroom

And what was under that disgusting carpet? Beautiful original hardwood floors.

living room looking into sunroom

sunroom

From the front door to the left is the stairway. You can't tell from this picture, but that wallpaper is shiny, pink, and flowered.

The wallpaper was throughout the upstairs hallway too.

The walls are now grey with a hint of green and the floors are hardwood.

There are 4 bedrooms upstairs. The master is the largest, but also the ugliest.

Now it's the color of the sky, looking out onto the treetops, with a complimentary grey carpet.

The other larger bedroom will be his home office. The third bedroom is very small, and will be his walk-in closet. The last bedroom, a medium size, will be the guest bedroom. And this one had dark orange, yes I said orange, carpet.

Every scintilla of carpet that was in this house is now gone. Gone! This bedroom got new carpet before I set it up with some furniture from our house.

And although we have the guest bedroom, the bathrooms, and kitchen set up for him, I made it clear that when he comes into town, he is NOT to go to his house, but come to ours.

Me (via text): When you get to town, do not go to your house, come home. Your dad and I busted our asses on this transformation and there isn't a chance in hell we won't be there to see your face when you walk in for the first time!

The back yard is a true oasis. Well, it was an oasis wannabe.

But it's an oasis now.

We had met the neighbors on both sides of PurDude while he was still here. After he had gone back to Boulder, we had a chance to chat with them now and then as we were working at the house.

As we were about half way through the process, we ran into one of his neighbors. We talked for a while, the conversation ending this way:

Neighbor: You really are great parents, you've done so much for him.

Me: Yeah, we kinda like him.

And we do. We also kinda like having him just a half hour away, too.

Now click on the links below and see what my friends have to share:

Menopausal Mother

On the Border

Lemon Strawberry Love Cake

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 box strawberry cake mix

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup strawberry syrup

3 eggs

4 strawberries, hulled and chopped

32 oz ricotta cheese

3/4 cup sugar

2 TBSP lemon juice

3/4 tsp lemon extract

4 eggs

1 box lemon instant pudding mix

1 1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp lemon extract

Directions

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 X 13 baking pan.

*Beat the cake mix, oil, water, strawberry syrup, and 3 eggs for 2 minutes. Fold in the chopped strawberries and pour evenly into the prepared pan.

*Whisk the ricotta, sugar, lemon juice, and 3/4 tsp lemon extract. Mix in the remaining eggs, one at a time. Very carefully, completely cover the cake batter in the pan. Bake for 55 - 65 minutes, until the center is set. Cool completely.

*Whisk the pudding mix and the milk. Set aside.

*Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and remaining lemon extract and beat until stiff peaks hold. Fold into the pudding mix, spread on the completely cooled cake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (but best if refrigerated overnight) before serving.

Baking in a Tornado

More Diamond, Less Rough: Fly on the Wall