December 9, 2015
Well, where did I leave off with you guys?!
Oh, I believe it was on my list of things I’ve learned about taking on a fixer upper. And remember when I mentioned how I learned tasks take longer than you think…?
Well here we are! Smiling pretty big, but a few (several) weeks later, and we are….(cue confetti) LIVING IN OUR HOUSE!
This dream fixer upper of ours is definitely a dream. Heck, our first two nights that we stayed in it, we literally only had our mattress and Keurig. And we borrowed a Keurig, because ours was (and still is) somewhere deep in storage! But you know what? It was so fun. So minimal. So adventurous. And we’ll always remember that.
Even though Jordan thought the idea was a little crazy. A little too rushed. But come Sunday when our loved ones helped us move the big items like our couches, refrigerator and washer dryer, he looked at me and said, “good idea”. 🙂
We’re finally starting to see this house we’ve been putting so much sweat and planning into as a home.
And the dreaming isn’t stopping here.
We’ve still got to dream up the plans for our kitchen, bathrooms and probably plenty other smaller jobs. But for now. Our house is so functional. So loved. And so worth it!
For those of you who are jumping on the wagon later, Jordan and I bought a fixer upper in October and, with the help of loved ones, tore down a wall, ripped up the carpets, painted the living room, dining room, entryway, kitchen, bedrooms, hallway and laundry room, and laid wood flooring.
We’ll still need to finish just a little more of the wood flooring, trim jobs, base boards and little touch up paints here and there, but for the most part, the bigger jobs are tackled.
Below you can see some before, in between and after pictures. There will be more to come! I wasn’t the best at taking pictures, because I barely had time to keep up with work photos!
Viola! Not the earliest “before” picture, but you can see!!
Our living room was a complete labor of love. We tore down half of the wood paneling and tape, bedded and textured the top half. We painted, and researched this brilliant idea of white washing. I wasn’t terribly familiar with it, but once we YouTubed it, we were set. We white-washed our fireplace and replaced our sliding glass door with French doors. Jordan and his dad redid the wooden beams in the ceilings and did so much handy-work with crown molding and all the little jobs that go with finishing out the ceilings. Seriously, y’all. They worked so hard on this room, and it’s so special because of it.
I can hardly wait to host loved ones in this very room, relax and watch Jimmy Fallon in this very room, open Christmas presents in this very room and make this very room a room of family-time and love.
I could be wrong, but I think the times of maximum frustration between Jordan and I will be fewer. I think our marriage will be stronger. And I think we’ll cherish this home more than one than didn’t need a little tender love and care.
The picture above was taken by Lauren Guy Photography at the creek behind our home. We’ve already walked and jogged it a time or two to just completely fall in love with the area. It served as a nice getaway from the stress during the meatiest part of our reno. The days just didn’t have enough time in them, but somehow after a short walk along this creek, it felt as though we had more time. I’m sure there are many problems to solve and talks/walks to be had along this creek!
This has been an adventure, y’all. And like I said—we’re not finished now! We’re just functional! 🙂
I opened a box with two decorative plates I had gotten for Christmas last year, and one read: “it’s about the journey not the destination”.
Yes. I do believe so! It’s been a sweet one, and we’re feeling it right about now!
We’ll be sure to share some finished products when we have them, but for now, you know…there are boxes everywhere!
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