Every engaged/married couple dreams of their first house together; it is just perfect. The house is just the right size for you and your husband and maybe an extra room for guests or the first baby. There is a beautiful white picket fence and the flowers are lush and in full bloom…
When I first saw the home we were going to be living in, it was EXACTLY like that!
Well maybe not exactly..
But it was our first home (it actually had tons of flowers in bloom, so it kinda was what I envisioned) and really, how many newly married couples (or about to get married) actually have a house to live in, we were more excited then two kids who just found out they were going to Disneyland. The appearance didn’t worry us too much because we don’t let old or broken bother us, so we went to work.
With much help from his parents we quickly started making improvements to the house, starting with the porch.
Following the porch we found out that the back room, which you had to go through the bathroom to get to, needed another door to get into, so we took our hammers and saws out and tore through the wall. Little did we know that this would quickly become a snowballing project…
But after we tore through the wall, we realized that there was more to it then we expected. We took down that cabinet in the picture, which then brought down parts of the ceiling. Well, the ceiling was all tiles connected to each other, so we found out we needed to replace the ceiling. No problem, right? When we started taking down the ceiling it was connected to the walls, so it started to rip the walls out (it was all fiberboard, so it didn’t take more then leaning on it to go through the wall). So, we did the next best thing…
We gutted the room….
Which was actually a really good thing, but just made our project about twice as long. We found uncovered live wires, bottles of medicine, and a mouse nest that covered half a wall. Makes me wonder what other things lies in the walls of this house. There was no insolation in the room, so we then put in insolation and improved the electrical work in the room. Then it was time to put up the dry wall. Between Sean, his brothers, father, and neighbors he had no problem putting up the dry wall. However, it was the hours and hours of taping and doing the jointing that just about made me have to go to the loony house and the fact that I was loosing all feeling in my right arm. But we finally got it done.
Well, the back room was done (now called the sunroom). But the paint-job outside the house was not quite finished. Yet another project that was driving me mad, when I first started painting the house, I thought, “Oh, how fun! New colors! And it’s such a small house it won’t take too much time!” Famous last words… 3 months later and the house still had large white gaps. Once again, I had the best helping team in the world, Sean’s family, so it all finally did get done.
So in 4 months we added a porch, sunroom, new bathtub, windows, and painted the whole house. Sean and I’s dream to get a “fixer-upper house” became a dream-come-true… We can mark that off the things we’ve done and not to do again.
Liz!!!!
I love the pic of the house in the snow!
Honey, you look wonderful and content and happy. I didn’t know you had a blog, so now I can keep up with you!!! Blog more!!!!
Hey,
We only met once when you came to my wedding shower in Pleasent Valley School but i saw your blog about that house and just and to tell you a story about it.
I babysat the kids that used to live in that house a couple of times. Kirt and Destiny’s kids. There was a little boy and 2 of the most adorable little girls and they were a handfull let me tell ya! But they were still great kids.
So Kirt and Destiny had gone to a church function one night and Destiny had asked me to watch the kids. It was later in the evening when we were all in the living room watching a movie. If i remember correctly the living room opens up to the kitchen. Well the kids were pretty into the movie and i was to until i caught something out of the corner of my eye. I dont know where it came from by a HUGE pack rat was sitting, right in the middle of the kitchen, staring at us.
I stared back, not being able to comprehend what i was looking at. I mean this thing was bigger than a house cat, about the size of a small dog! I couldn’t move i was so amazed at the size of the thing. Then i just scurried away into the wall! I looked at the little boy, Kirty, and said, “Dont go into the kitchen k?” He looked at me and asked why. I didn’t want to tell him there was an animal in the kitchen that was big enough to carrie him off so instead i said, “Cause i said so k?” He shrugged his shoulders and went back to watching the movie.
When Kirt and Destiny returned i told them what i had seen then returned home freaked out of my mind!
Craziest baby sitting experience EVER! Just thought i’d tell you that funny story about your first dream home : )
haha, we have had a couple pack-rats since then. In fact just today I killed a mouse. However, with our cats its starting to get thinned out a little bit 🙂
LOVE what you did with the place! It looks great!
Liz have I told you lately that I LOVE YOU honey girl????!!!!!
THANK YOU for sharing your wonderful story!
You and your handsome husband are two of the best “younguns” I’ve been honored to know!!!!
Connie ;p
I love it!!! You guys are so great… and what an amazing job on your house! Beautiful!
I love your wedding photo! It’s beautiful. Our first house was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (not exactly in that order). I know how you feel! It’s worth it when it’s all done though, and it’s really yours. There’s something special about a house you really worked on.
Congrats!
-FringeGirl
I LOVE your new home! It’s beautiful! Praying for and missing you both!
~Caitlin
thnx bro