Re-Do / Re-Use

This isn't the post we thought we'd be writing at this juncture in our home restoration/renovation project, but here we are. After just finishing up the inside of the house, it was put up for sale. In eight months, we've managed to redo an entire house's interior, and although we thought we'd be making a lot of transformation to the exterior as well, that just didn't happen. Time is now in short supply and what has been done is all that we can do. It's a strange feeling to know that the house is finally ready for us to start living life, and to also know that our life won't be lived here. We took care and time to do our best to make this house something for us to enjoy and feel comfortable in for the foreseeable future -- choosing all the things that made us happy -- but sometimes life has plans that don't keep us on the most obvious path in front of us. The reason for our move to this central Oregon location is the very same one taking us away from ...

The inside of the house is closing in on completion. It's hard to believe that the interior is all going to be wrapped up soon. This house has been an interesting project and experience. It's also been very painful and challenging at times. Through it all, the goal was to have a home that we could enjoy, feel comfortable living in, and be able to have family and friends come to visit. I think we accomplished those goals, but it has come at a cost of personal time over the last eight months. Still, being able to completely change, update, and renew a large house with just two people doing the work that probably should've been spread out over years -- well, we are grateful to have had the opportunity. It feels as though we actually were able to save something destined for demolition.  Before getting to the upstairs areas (beyond the guest room, which we shared recently), we thought it would be nice to show the stairs.  The upper-level stairs. They look better in the photo th...

We are finally getting around to a post for the main bathroom and the guest room, despite the fact that the rooms (neither of them) are completely done, but because we must move on to the next phase, we thought we were close enough to do a post for each of these rooms and we'll just explain a bit of what still needs to be accomplished. We'll start with the guest room. This bedroom is on the second level of the house and because this house was never meant to have a second story, the ceiling height is an issue. At about four inches under 7 feet, most people can stand in the space, but some (like a certain family member who was paying us a visit recently) who stand at over 6' in height, will certainly not want to use the area to do jumping jacks. The guest room, after it had been cleaned up at move in. Beyond the issue of the ceiling height, the guest room was arguably up for the most disgusting room in the house when we purchased it. I know we've said that about nearly ev...

We thought we would share some updated photos of rooms we've already posted, since they've changed a little since the original posts were done of each of the rooms. It's easy to forget that it takes time to get all the little things in place and although all of the little things still aren't in place, things are starting to feel a little more home-like and less empty and sterile.  We would also share that it's been more than a little mentally (and physically) challenging to get this house to a livable point. It's easy to look at it from the outside and think of it like a television home renovation show, but it really isn't. The truth is that there isn't a giant crew behind the scenes doing all the work. It's the two of us doing our best to bust our rear ends every day to make this happen. We have no life outside of fixing this house. It is our choice to do this, but it's definitely not all roses and sunshine. Most projects don't happen as pla...