It took as long as we thought...

The last time I blogged, we had just started removing shrubbery and prepping for new footings. As we got into our project, I quickly gave up blogging. It was just too much. I had to choose between my sanity and blog posts. I think I chose wisely.

We projected the remodel to take two years - we officially began in June 2015 and finished 22 months later. Well...almost finished. We still need to finish the garage by adding doors and the landscaping is sorely lacking. But we're okay with that. We're still recovering physically and financially. Remodeling isn't for the faint of heart and this was the first time we had LIVED in a home while we completely gutted it. I don't recommend it.

We decided to form all the footings and foundations on the exterior before we disrupted the interior. Lots of digging and concrete. We ripped off the shallow front porch and put in a new footing so we could pour a concrete porch. And yes, I sold the front porch on Facebook. It may have been sagging but the lumber was good and pressure treated wood is expensive! Here is what our front porch looked like for several months:

We affectionately refer to this as Phase One. This phase lasted from June until sometime in October 2015(?). Here is a very brief explanation of what that included:

We extended the small screened porch and connected it to the carport that would become a garage:

Speaking of the carport, we decided we would rather have a garage and to make room for another bedroom, we connected the house to the carport:

This house previously had a garage that had been made into a game room - one ginormous space. It was too big for a bedroom, yet too small for two. We mulled this over for several months and decided that if we connected the house to the garage and made a small addition on the end, we could make room for two bedrooms and a small bathroom while still preserving a good sized media area. Here is the foundation for the bedroom addition:

Phase Two consisted of finished the interior of what we dubbed the "Boy's Wing". Our goal was to have this section of the house finished by Christmas of 2015. We moved the boys in on December 23rd!

This is what it looked like before - one giant room:

After:

Bath

Ethan's Bedroom 

(bed was purchased through the www.milledgevilleexchange.com):

Media area 

(child not included):

Seth's room:

A Closing and Beginning

We finally closed on the last house and were thrilled to see it go to a young family that will enjoy it for years to come. It was bittersweet to walk away from a project we had enjoyed so much. 

We wasted no time getting to work. 

Eric borrowed a tractor and started breaking up the concrete where new foundations needed to be laid. 

Child #3 really enjoyed driving around the yard:

We had to remove all the bushes. 

Up close, they were in pretty scraggly state and were mostly holly so I wasn't very fond of them. The house looks naked now. 

Removing concrete took a couple of weekends because we had to bust it into small enough pieces for me to carry. Who needs a gym membership when you can tote concrete chunks for free?

Random pictures

Some pics of the great crepe myrtle pruning:

The branches lined the entire length of our driveway! 

I was able to re-use (again!) the mantel that my great uncle built in the 1940's! We had used it as an entertainment center in the last house. Most of our furniture fit and works well with the design. 

I chalk painted this "sideboard" to fit a wall in the living room. It is an antique vanity I found in a dumpster!

Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of the home and this one is smack-dab in the middle of the house. It's the largest kitchen I've ever had, albeit with the least amount of counters. It's really wonky despite its airy feel. 

Here's what it was like when we moved in:

Sometimes it's really helpful to be able to load the dishwasher while you're sitting at the table. 

You also can't see how crazily the cabinets had been painted.

For our Christmas gift to each other,  Eric and I decided to give it a refresher since it would be at least a year before we remodeled. 

No pictures of the sink area, it was filled with dirty dishes. 

I painted the cabinets with a fresh coat of white and spray painted all the hardware. Eric replaced all the countertops and the only-worked-on-occasion light fixture. 

The house began to feel like it was regaining some of its dignity. Eric did repairs to the siding but nothing major-we were biding our time til' the other house sold and we'd figured out what we wanted to do. 

Beginnings

First, we trimmed the crepe myrtles. We cut off the top 25' and they still towered over the house. 

View of the side, open carport with fence surrounding the pool:

We had the pool covered as soon as we moved in but fixed it in the early spring so we could enjoy it over the summer. The screen porch was in poor repair but it kept out most of the bugs-we ate dinner outside for as long as the weather was nice. 

New Project

I give up. I'll never be able to blog the way I envision about our projects and folks prefer pictures anyway, right?

Once we moved, our plan was to stay in the New Home for at least two years. Replenish our savings, catch our breath and then either sell it or move to another project house...it was tight but we really wanted the tax break that came with living in a house two years. Famous last words, eh?

We spent an enjoyable summer kayaking on the river, vacationing in Destin and generally just trying to regroup. After a few months we got restless and I started once again perusing Trulia for a new place (Confession: I never really stopped.). I was looking at cheap houses and one caught my eye...I had seen it pop up a month or two before but thought it was in a neighborhood across town. Suddenly I realized that it was actually in a neighborhood we had thought we'd like to settle in "one day." Our lazy Sunday afternoon on the porch got a lot more interesting as we considered our options.

Insert: Real estate agent, bank, offers, counter-offers, tears.

One month later, it was ours.

The setting is lovely, the neighborhood is quiet and peaceful. The house? Well, it needs love. Lots and lots of love. This was from September of 2014. Yes, nearly a year ago.

And the new little home I blogged? We sold it in May so we could focus on fixing this one up. It will take us about a year (we hope) and there's not much we're NOT changing. There are lots of weird quirks and although it's the biggest house we've ever lived in, there is a lot of wasted space that we plan to remedy. We're adding about 700 sq ft. but I'm pretty sure once we've re-worked the floor plan, it will seem like much, much more.


                                     
 You can't see the holes in the siding or windows from this angle.

 Not really wanting to swim, thankyouverymuch.

 Master soaking tub - not level ( it won't drain all the way). Yes, that is a hole where someone fixed a leaky faucet.

The eighties called, they want their countertops back...

Catching up...

I knew I was behind...but I guess I didn't realize JUST HOW FAR behind! Gah. October 2013 was my last post. I had such grand dreams...

:)


My last post saw me taking a break for my fall consignment sale (www.milledgevilleexchange.com) and all that entailed. Low and behold, our cute little first home (our "Little Square") received an offer the day after the sale ended and we rushed to finish our remodel so we could move. My thoughts of detailing our remodeling and updates just vanished into thin air.

Moving had always been something we meant to do, but were in no rush, and here we were with just a few weeks to get everything packed and vacate the premises...

Only our new house wasn't ready. My brother and his wife graciously opened up their home to us for the eight weeks we took (over Christmas, no less!) to close on our first home and finish our second. Despite the warnings that you should never live with adult siblings, we had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law even though we spent most weekends and many evenings working on our house.

To be honest, those eight weeks were a blur. I don't remember exactly what we had left to do nor how we did it. I do remember painting. Lots and lots of painting. I don't think the cashiers at Papa John's knew what I looked like without being covered with speckles of paint and wearing ripped jeans.

We moved in as soon as the interior was done and the driveway/patio concrete was poured. It was a snug fit (downsizing and all that jazz), but it worked. The house was well insulated and it was really nice to be closer to all the places we go on a weekly basis. As soon as we had a sunny weekend without our bebes, Eric and I tackled the outside. One funny thing I remember happened when we were painting the outside: we had tinted the primer to help the final coat be nice and solid. Primer doesn't take color quite the same way as paint and when we finished priming, the house was purple. Very, very purple. It looked like a giant grape. Fortunately, the final coat made it a lovely shade of gray that I intend to use again. I don't have an exact color 'cause I just mixed a bunch of random samples I had on hand until we found one we liked. We let the experts at Sherwin Williams color match my sample. We ended up hiring a contractor to re-roof the house. I'm scared of heights. We did add the gable on the front to add a little interest.

I think I'll let pictures speak for the rest of my post, these were taken after we'd been in the house for a couple of months and I had my pictures on the walls, etc. I only bought a few things. Most were recycled from our first house and made to match with spray paint.

The front - we planted more grass after this!

I love, loved, loved this color for cabinets! I was so happy with the way it turned out!

The eat-in area of the kitchen:

The Living Room:

Fun Note: We up-cycled this mantel we had been given several years ago and low and behold, when we cleaned it up, we found where my uncle had built it back in 1941! That was a fun experience. Our TV fit the opening almost exactly.

The hallway leading to the bebe's rooms:

Leading to the Master, doorway to the right is the Laundry Room:

Bebe #2's room:

Bebe's #1 & #3 room:

Master Suite:

Master Bath: