Hello World!

And with this extremely original post title, starts my blog, welcome! I want to start by explaining the intended purpose of this blog, but don't hold me to it, I'm not good at following rules. Here's what you need to know:

Last month, my brother and I both bought houses down the block from each other. The houses are quite similar, both are around 1,830SF and  built in 1964  (my house is actually 14SF bigger, so I'm winning already). My house hasn't been updated since it was built, the carpeting that covers all the floors and the wallpaper that covers the walls, seem to be originals. Even the appliances seem to be several decades old. His house has had updates done and doesn't have the ugly 60's look, but still needs work to be be considered a nice, livable house.

We're having a competition of sorts (one may even refer to it as a "war" ;) , although we hope it won't be violent) to see who can fix up their house, nicer, cheaper and faster. I intend to post pictures and details of all the projects I attempt on my house and on other interesting things about the house. Perhaps my brother will write on his projects as well, although I'm thinking that with his lack of education it might be better if I write the posts for him (hey, it is a war, I can be mean. I'm actually just kidding, he could probably write just fine, if he wants to).

I'll start off today with a couple pictures of my house, so you can get an idea what we're working with.

An old picture of the exterior of the house, from the front.

A recent picture of the front, note the newer roof and bad landscaping. 

Looking down the stairs from the upper level. That wallpaper is everywhere!

My modern kitchen, complete with carpeting that's worn through to the sub-floor.

The first project I've started and the topic of my next post is, shockingly, wallpaper removal. I will try to post fairly often, but please don't hold your breath, it's dangerous!