The first order of business after moving all our stuff into the home was appliances. Long story short, we had been renting for quite some time in Lakewood, OH. The place we were in was beautiful, but falling apart. A few months prior to our exodus, the shit pipe from out toilet broke from decades of neglect (it was a lead drain pipe) and caused a pool of filth to slowly build up in the bathroom ceiling in the downstairs tenant's unit. One day the ceiling gave way and poop and things came tumbling down. This led to weeks of demolition and construction in the downstairs unit (I work from home, by the way.) THE KICKER WAS THE LANDLORD HAD BEEN WARNED....like three YEARS ago...that the plumbing needed to be replaced. So, with the poop incident, and a falling-apart back porch featuring protruding rusty nails, and a window in my dining room broken from a storm (broken for 2 years), and a leaking roof, plus the city threatening to shut off the water because the landlord had 'forgotten' to pay the bill, and a slew of other shit (like his friends he moved in below us being drunk assholes), my requests and complaints became too much for the landlord to handle. I had been on a month to month lease for 4 of the 5+ years we had resided at the location, so he gave me a 30-day notice...on New Year's day.
I bought a home (cash), packed and moved (with the help of a friend), and was living in my new place within those thirty days. He still has a mortgage, a ton of what was preventable repairs to do, and a failing soup business. I uh...have a home and a thriving home-based freelance income. I'm still a little bitter but never having to pay rent to an asshole again is helping me get over it.
So yeah, the appliances. The last place the fridge (freezer on the top, fridge on the bottom) and the stove (ceramic element) had been slowly going. I had asked for the assh...landlord to replace/repair them, but alas; new appliances or a repairman failed to appear. Eventually the fridge took on odors since it barely reached 41f, the freezer part had to be manually de-iced weekly. The stove just reached whatever temp it felt like.
To make up for the previous 5 years of bullshit, I purchased my dream appliances:
Front-load washer and dryer. Super quiet and Energy Star compliant. I love watching them twirl the laundry...still...after dozens of loads. I giggle every time.
THIS DAMN FRIDGE! LOOK AT IT! So damn shiny and awesome. No smells, holds a precise temp in both the fridge and freezer portion. Also: ice maker. The last one didn't have one and the ice tray ice always tasted strange. DID I TELL YOU I WAS PAYING $775 a month in RENT? For that bullshit? No? Well I was.
A gas stove. A real one. Nothing beats cooking on gas. NOTHING.
Oh, now my dogs can go to the bathroom without me having to make sure they don't cut themselves on nails from a dilapidated back porch. They're pretty damn stoked about a bigger yard that's all theirs.
The last owner of the house was a smoker, but I bleached and scrubbed that shit out immediately. This wallpaper will not be staying but you can see the amount of gross nicotine and smoke that had built up:
The best so far? Solid hardwood floors everywhere. Safe beneath layers upon layers of other flooring.
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