HOME

I'm grateful for this castle

And for everything we've got

Especially my family

We've all been through a lot

I know how fragile things can be

If I lost them, I'd lose me

They're my ocean, they're my shore

I wanna give them more

They're my home

My home

Bless this happiness we found

Bless this good and solid ground

Our home

Our home

--Kristen Bell, Frozen 2 "Home"

 Our home-buying process was far from seamless and there were many times during the nearly three month process of securing our new place that I thought it may fall through...or that I might die from the process haha. It got ugly and caused us a fair amount of stress, but I can honestly say it was all worth it to make this gem our home. (Although note to self: NEVER buy a home sans Real Estate Agent again!) It's a 1960's custom build in the most charming neighborhood that has only ever housed one other family--the original owners. It has solid bones and needs lots of updating but has been very well maintained. The pink bathroom and dated kitchen were nothing in comparison to the huge lot, excellent schools, proximity to family and overall peaceful feeling we got every time we circled back to this place. We knew it was supposed to be ours...and now it is! It's nothing but a project, this house, and we've put hundreds if not nearly a thousand hours of sweat equity in so far, but it's coming along nicely. We're still a year or more away from the big remodel, but for now we are happy to be home. 

 The day we got the keys, sitting on our sea foam carpet in the window room! 

July 2, 2020

We literally were fueled by Big Gulps for weeks on end. Both the McKee's and the Wigginton's stepped up in the HUGEST possible way and helped us paint and do a million house projects. We've been here now for six weeks and not a week goes by that I don't have someone at my home helping with one thing or another. Gosh, I'm so grateful!

 This little lady always wants to help!

 Moving day!!! The piano is a beast and these people are toooooo good!

 The spiky, grumpy, heavy holly berry bush had to go. My dad took that thing down like a pro!

 Before: this is what our house looked like when you drove up. You literally couldn't see it and the property looked just a litttttttle haunted. 

This is after my dad and James started clearing, but we've since had three more trees taken out. It looks so clean and fresh and I'm so excited to start landscaping. And maybe someday the Green House will get a paint job! 

 Garage went from this ^^^ to that vvv! (And then made even more progress later).

We filled this massive dumpster on our second weekend here just from cupboards and bookcases and granny blinds that we tore from the house...plus a few thousand trees and bushes! James got heat stroke and I sobbed for a good hour in the middle of this day, but we got it done thanks to so many kind and helpful family members. 

One of my first projects was updating this fireplace in our family room. It was so dark and heavy, especially with the low ceilings, and I hated the color of the bookcase and mantel. We had the keys for all of 30 minutes before we started ripping that thing out!!!

 Painted the fireplace black...

 Then painted the brick white...

 ^^^He did most of the work, bless him!

 I mostly just make messes tbh, haha!

Chase made me that mantle out of a huge piece of lumber and oh. my. goodness. it's GORGEOUS!!! The fireplace still needs fire caulk and I can't wait to change the floors and baseboards but for now, this makes me happy!

I get so happy when little pockets start looking like a home instead of a construction site. I've made probably five changes to this space since this pic, but that little blue couch always puts a smile on my face. We're home.