a long time coming

In 2007, the same year Liam was born, Brandon and I decided to up and move.  We wanted to raise our little ones somewhere with space, with access to nature's playground and room for more sustainable living.  We lost a lot selling our suburban house at that point in the crash of the U.S. housing market, but it felt 100% right.

 

This is what our 60's farmhouse looked like in 2007, when we bought it.  That's my Dad in the picture, who advised we'd be better off bulldozing the whole thing and starting from scratch.



Honestly, the first time I set foot in this house I felt I could never live here.  It was run down, smelly, and just freakishly textured.



See what I mean?  The house was a disaster.  But, it was nestled on 7 beautiful acres in a nice area.  It was land we would never otherwise be able to afford.  We didn't have the money to rebuild, but we could remodel with our own sweat equity.  In fact, Brandon did most everything (with help from his Dad and mine). We gutted the inside, rented a dumpster, and put in new floors, walls, electric, even some plumbing.  My man is SO handy!





Can you believe these are pictures of the same two rooms in our house?
 
I love our home.  Hope we never move!  But, well, we still hadn't done anything for the outside when I first mentioned the idea of getting it painted this summer.  That's why I wanted to use the money from the craft show combined with my birthday gift to cover those dirty beige bricks with some respectable fresh paint.



Though, if we're painting, maybe we should get rid of those dated shutters?  Hmm... what about gray paint and black shutters?  (I really wanted gray paint and bright yellow shutters, or anything with some color, but men are so color-shy.)  No matter what we dreamed up, the annoying brown windows spoiled the look.  And then there was that rusty, iron porch.  How come you can't just improve one thing on a house?  It's always the snowball effect.



When I received an very unexpected and generous gift for my birthday we decided to go all in.  New porch, new paint, new windows.  White windows!  And all fully functional!  Like normal people. Yay! 





My favorite part of the exterior remodel is the porch.  I never realized how much the old one truly sucked.  Brandon and his Dad (both experienced woodworkers) built the new porch in 2 weeks, just in time for the painting crew.  I think it turned out fabulous!  And, it was the cheapest part of the remodel.  Score!



So, this is our humble home.  A friend said it looks like "us" on the outside now.  I say it's finally respectable.  Ok, I admit, I think it looks nice.  And "nice" has been a long time coming.



Thanks for stopping by and being part of this journey!  Who would have ever thought that sewing would be instrumental in bringing us home?