Home Renovation Projects

We bought our house a little over a year ago and have been in a state of constant renovation ever since.  The house was built in 1880, and has been mostly maintained, but of course it was very dated and needed all new floors, etc.  We did what we could where we could in the beginning with the money we had from selling our previous house, but it’s amazing how quickly that can go when you have the unexpected expenses you always do with renovations.

When we purchased the house, we thought we would be able to hire a contractor to do most of the work, but quickly found out that the good ones were busy or too expensive and the cheap ones we hired we fired just as quickly and had to redo their work.  I remember one guy came to the house, walked around and then proceeded to talk about how it was so easy to do what we were asking that ‘even she could do it’ (referring to me).  Well, to be clear, I may have more reno skills than most, but never insult a woman who controls the check or job your trying to get!  Yes, I could do it, I just didn’t have the time, which is why I called you…. Anyway, he clearly didn’t get our business.  Once we finally got into our home, which was a nightmare itself (I don’t care how well you know someone, NEVER NEVER NEVER sign a real estate contract without a realtor OR having an attorney review it.  I can say that I typed it up, signed it and thought everything was good to go until the seller refused to leave the property.  Months into the process, we finally had to have an eviction notice served.  I promise, even our mortgage lender said ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ and ‘no one I’ve talked to has ever heard of anything like this’ with regards to all the drama involved in simply purchasing this particular house. 

Just to provide some context on this particular house I wanted (I say I because my husband hates it, says it’s old, which it is, but I think deep down he likes the finished product it is becoming), this is a house I grew up across the street from, this is a house that is still across the street from my parents, this is a house that is two story, 5 bedrooms, two bathrooms and has a great wraparound porch.  This is a house that has a big fenced back yard and has all the character of the old Victorian farm houses, but is close to town.  I knew it needed work, LOTS OF WORK…like every surface needed something, but it was a deal I just couldn’t pass up.  It meant every kid got their own room (we have 3), and we had an extra bedroom for crafts/office/etc.  It meant that we had a mostly fenced back yard and could maybe one day get a dog that my boys desperately want.  It meant that maybe, just maybe this was a forever, never have to move again home that had room for us, room to have company over and the best part was the ability to make it ours with a little elbow grease!

So, now that you have some of the back story, my goal with this blog is to share some of my successes, some failures and maybe get some feedback and new ideas too!  Not everything will be about the house or craft projects, sometimes I may just rant about a frustrating day, sometimes I may share ideas I’ve seen but not yet tried, and, sometimes, I may just need some advice!  Thinking outside the box and getting other opinions is sometimes the biggest difference in getting things done and getting them done on a budget!