Housing Update

So when are we moving?

Well, first we have to sell our house--and settle on the right house in Kenosha.

We haven't really advertised our home at all, other than putting a sign out in front, because it just wasn't ready to show...it's aaalllmooost there now. We need to put a couple of closet doors back on that we had removed for convenience, and there are still several more bookshelves that I'd like to pack up and be rid of too--it will definitely make things look bigger and neater in those areas. But since we got the most important painting done, we actually could show it now.

So yesterday, the kids and I drove around putting up flyers in stores and restaurants. We'll finish up today...and then we'll see what happens in the next week or so. We still have a lady who says she's planning to make an offer on it, but we haven't seen it yet.

Meanwhile, in Kenosha, the house we want is sitting vacant. There's an offer on it, but it's contingent on the sale of a house, so if our house sells quickly or if we decide we can afford a bridge loan, we could still get it if we can make a non-contingent offer. Now we've learned that the investor who owns it is in dire straits financially; he may have skipped town and there are liens against his properties. Depending on the details, which we're trying to find out, we believe God may be giving us the clear direction we've been seeking, by either shutting this door--if it goes into foreclosure it'll be unavailable for years--or urging us on in the timing.

The second choices aren't as ideal, so we're praying that something else comes on to the market soon, if this doesn't work out.

And why haven't we rushed to list our house with a realtor? Well, with six kids, you can imagine that the high-traffic rooms really needed some paint before we could show it, and I'm not being the least bit perfectionistic or anal when I say that! Our friend had limited time, but he got all the main rooms and most difficult areas done--the ceiling of our great room, the double-tall wall on the landing. However, he ran out of time to do...

THE BASEMENT.

The final frontier.

We have a large rec room down there, which we've used as a bedroom for three boys for the last four years.

'Nough said, for some of you parents of boys, right? For the rest of you, here are the visuals:

The basic decorated wall--mediums include pencil, pen, marker and a foamy sticker that has been partly picked off. Note the dents and nicks that lend texture to the surface.













The whimsical Tic-Tac-Toe design--a recent addition.







Here we have the gouge, a motif repeated on the ceiling as well as the walls. The artists used any of a number of blunt objects to produce this effect.







The colorful marker scrawl was used rarely, but with exuberant effect, as one can see from this example.








The eye is immediately drawn to the colorful orange crayon design, but don't miss the texturizing dents and scratches, or the perfectly circular indentations lower down, an elegantly subtle effect created by Airsoft pellets fired at short range.







This bas-relief was produced by an obsessive sculptor in possession of a brand-new pocket-knife. He made at least 20 studies before producing this, his most deeply-carved masterpiece.


The photos don't show them, but every wall and the ceiling was covered in pinholes too, from years of tacking up artwork to inspire this artistic team, as well as to display more serious artistic efforts by individual members of the team.

One container of vinyl spackling was not enough.

After days of helping to render their masterpiece paintable, the artists have promised not to repeat the feat in our next house.