Our house is a very, very fine house

Although Crosby, Stills and Nash might not have thought so a year ago....

Last February we became the proud owners of a lot of work, I mean a new home! I have to admit that Kevin had the vision from the start. Driving by, which we literally did practically every weekend from the first time we spotted it, we knew it needed landscaping, but just fell in love with the neighborhood and couldn’t wait to see the inside.


When the long awaited time came to tour the inside of the house I was floored. Well, not actually, because I if I had touched the floor I probably would have melted in the filth and grime. (Exhibit A- Before picture of the kitchen). At this point, the house was in short sale and the previous owners were relishing in the opportunity to stop caring. Our realtor tried to warn us of this alleged money pit and told us tales of dozens of viewers flocking in fear from the promise of A LOT of work. Much to her surprise, this information only encouraged us and fueled Kevin’s ambition to tackle this beast!

Since taking over we’ve joined in one of the neighborhood pastimes of trying to piece together the mystery of our home’s previous owners. It’s not hard to know the ex-duelers must have been somewhat dedicated owners and most certainly overly ambitious ones. Apparently, they started many projects around the place that were slowly abandoned for new and younger ones a short time later. The poor walls were left half painted, some only trimmed around the ceiling and floor boards while others were boldly splattered smack dab in the center. A wall in the middle of the house was torn down leaving hanging wires to tell the tale. (Exhibit B- Before picture of living room. Note the floors and new wall we built). A few major appliances were gone along some missing doors, fans and other odds and ends. .. All things that sent most folks a runnin’.


Fortunately, as we slowly started peeling away the misleading mask of what turned out to be mostly trash and dirt, we discovered that the house wasn’t a complete disaster after all. With a few days of the deepest cleaning I’ve done in my life and more coats of paint than seen on an entire season of While You Were Out, it was ready for us to at least move in.

That’s when the real fun started! Seriously, besides having kids I think this house has been one of the best parts of our marriage so far. We're on a tight budget and have a lot to do, so we've had to learn to rely on own two hands and get a little creative. It's given us such an appreciation for what we have and most certainly a new respect for each other.

We've learned SO much over this first year of projects and can't wait for what we have on deck!! I thought it'd be fun to post a few of the flips we've finished over the next week. Please email me or leave a comment if you're interested in how we did any of it. We haven't hired out for a single thing so far!!!


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Showered with love for before and after pictures of our shower remodel