Our house!

This house has been a project times 10 million. I knew when we bought it that we had a lot of work ahead of us. Everyone who saw the house secretly felt sorry for us... I'm sure! There were lots of laughs about the "black wading pool" and Drew is still trying to get me to use it. I REFUSE. I have to draw the line somewhere people!

We bought our house as a foreclosure. It had not been taken care of and had not been updated since the flood. That's a long time. There was mold growing down walls, on floors, in sinks. The hobo's had made this their mansion. There were no floors in the bathrooms, just rotted sub floor. We had no appliances except a dishwasher with mold growing inside it. The lawn was completely dead. The list goes on and on and on and on. Doesn't it seem like a house you couldn't pass up?! HA

 It was in April 2011 that Drew and I took a drive and decided that we wanted to be out in the country. That was our dream. Acres. Horses. Land. Pigs. The whole shebang. So we listed our house and a few short weeks later it SOLD! We were shocked! I started packing everything up and we started shopping. We went to houses. We looked online. I was open to pretty much anything. One day when driving my kids to school I had my GPS take me to a house that was listed as a foreclosure. I wasn't sure of the address but I knew it was close. When I realized the house I laughed out loud. It was about 2 blocks from our other house BUT was still further North (that was Drew's one requirement). I came home and told Drew about it and he said HECK NO! There was no way. Well the next day we drove by and there were workers here putting a brand new roof on! That definitely sparked Drew's curiosity. A new roof costs a lot of money!

So we called up our Realtor and we met at the house later that day. When we walked inside WE WERE SHOCKED!!!!!!!! The house was so bad. So so so bad. SO bad. REALLY BAD. Get the hint?! It was bad.  Mold. No floors. Pink tile. Blue tile. Mold. Mold. Mold. More blue tile. Earwigs EVERYWHERE.  It was dark. Lots of closed off rooms. We took one look in here and Drew said... UM... NO LADY. This is not happening. So, I let it go. We had a good laugh. Wondered how long it would be on the market for the asking price and left.

Later that night, I started thinking about all the space. I started dreaming about the CENTRAL AIR and the possibilities of the dining room. It had beautiful crown molding and wainscoting already done and it needed a little TLC but I started to envision it. I actually dreamt that night about the main bath and having a "toilet room" just like I have always wanted. Oh, it was old and stinky though. It wasn't anything to brag about... that's for sure. The other "meant to be" was the lockers in the mud room. 7 of them. How perfect for our family of 7. :)

Long story short, we moved out of our house and then made an offer on this beauty. The bank rejected it. SERIOUSLY! So we made another offer and went back and forth a few times and finally they had accepted our offer.  On August 1, 2011 we closed on our house and that night we slept on the floor! It was so fun! I was deathly afraid of hobo's or earwigs crawling on me. After a long summer of living in boxes and working with the bank and dump appraisers we finally had our place.


There is lots and lots of work to do. Most rooms have phases because there is just so very much. The first thing to get worked on was putting in a new bathtub and then the kitchen get phase 1 done. Lots of work. Lots of arguing with Drew. Lots of learning and growing. Lots of dust. Lots of vacuuming. Lots and lots of help. Lots of enjoying and lots and lots of love going into this home! I sure do love my house. Even if it isn't a beautiful new home, we are loving making it our own and feeling awesome about all we have accomplished.

                                                Dark scary kitchen!

Built ins on both sides of a door to the left

 

 

I tore out this built in while Drew was at work! Kenzie called him to tattle on me! :)

 

 
                   Tore out the door and 3 ft of wall

            

  Phase 1 of kitchen complete... cabinets, ceiling, tearing  out wall and door. Got new appliances. Found a lots of spiders and the skeletal remains of a mouse.

                                                                   BEFORE




                                                                   AFTER