He did all of this with no help from me. My grandpa helped him a little in the beginning, but he did most of it all on his own. I really appreciate that every sunny day in the past week he has spent eight hours working outside at the parks, and then he came home, sometimes without even coming inside the house, and worked for hours on our own house.
So anyway, it's time for some before and after shots!!
Here is the side before...picture taken during our house-painting party fall of '08:-)
And here we are after:
Bushes and plants all the way back to my grandma's apartment
(Luke and his dad also built that ramp for her last summer...I don't know if I've ever showed it before, but they did a great job on it! And now we can advertise that apartment as "wheelchair accessible" when my grandma moves out...thanks, guys!)
And the front (our renter's bike is under the blue tarp in case you were wondering. It kind of ruins the aesthetic, even back when it was ugly :-P)
And after: (I did not pick the best time of day to take these pictures...the lighting is awful)
Close up of the ugly, overgrown bushes before
And here we are with a nice, clean look after:
It feels good to have so much accomplished after a year-and-a-half of living here. And most of it was done by Luke and our families. (THANKS!!!) So far, since we moved in the fall of 2008 we have (with the help of TONS of people):
1. painted the entire exterior of our house
2. Re-landscaped (obviously)
3. Basically rebuilt the entire kitchen from top to bottom
4. Renovated the bathroom and installed new flooring and created a laundry room in the bathroom closet
5. removed all the carpet and restored the hardwood floors
6. Painted every single room in the upstairs apartment (where we live).
7. Rebuilt a wall in the attic and then redecorated the whole thing. TWICE.
8. Installed all new lighting in most rooms (it used to be all fluorescent! YUCK!)
9. Mom and Dad renovated the entire back apartment, with a tiny bit of help from us, for my grandma to move in about a year ago.
10. Built a ramp leading up to the back apartment.
And that about does it. After all these changes and upgrades I really feel a sense of ownership like it's finally ours, and it's finally HOME.
Two changes I would like to make are
1. Rebuild the porch. It looks sooo dated.
2. Build a balcony/deck coming out from our kitchen (we live on the upper floors)
Both of these ideas are absolutely ridiculous and impossible :-P But I like to think about them anyway!
We plan for this to be a temporary home, and want to move out before we have child #2 whenever that will be. It could be awhile since child #1 seems lifetimes away :-P Our original plan was to be out in 5 years, but with all the car debt we have now, who knows. We aren't going to sell this house, but we want to keep it and rent out our top apartment, too. It's almost like having a third job between the two of us without really having to do a whole lot of work :-P When the house is completely paid off, it will be a really nice situation! Anyway, we want to eventually rent out the top apartment too, and then buy our own "forever" house where we can live and raise our kids. In the middle of nowhere with a lake and a fireplace or two. That's my dream, anyway!
Here is the side before...picture taken during our house-painting party fall of '08:-)
And here we are after:
Bushes and plants all the way back to my grandma's apartment
(Luke and his dad also built that ramp for her last summer...I don't know if I've ever showed it before, but they did a great job on it! And now we can advertise that apartment as "wheelchair accessible" when my grandma moves out...thanks, guys!)
And the front (our renter's bike is under the blue tarp in case you were wondering. It kind of ruins the aesthetic, even back when it was ugly :-P)
And after: (I did not pick the best time of day to take these pictures...the lighting is awful)
Close up of the ugly, overgrown bushes before
And here we are with a nice, clean look after:
I love it! And I will be sure to post more pictures when everything is blooming and beautiful...I'm thinking in about a week!
It feels good to have so much accomplished after a year-and-a-half of living here. And most of it was done by Luke and our families. (THANKS!!!) So far, since we moved in the fall of 2008 we have (with the help of TONS of people):1. painted the entire exterior of our house
2. Re-landscaped (obviously)
3. Basically rebuilt the entire kitchen from top to bottom
4. Renovated the bathroom and installed new flooring and created a laundry room in the bathroom closet
5. removed all the carpet and restored the hardwood floors
6. Painted every single room in the upstairs apartment (where we live).
7. Rebuilt a wall in the attic and then redecorated the whole thing. TWICE.
8. Installed all new lighting in most rooms (it used to be all fluorescent! YUCK!)
9. Mom and Dad renovated the entire back apartment, with a tiny bit of help from us, for my grandma to move in about a year ago.
10. Built a ramp leading up to the back apartment.
And that about does it. After all these changes and upgrades I really feel a sense of ownership like it's finally ours, and it's finally HOME.
Two changes I would like to make are
1. Rebuild the porch. It looks sooo dated.
2. Build a balcony/deck coming out from our kitchen (we live on the upper floors)
Both of these ideas are absolutely ridiculous and impossible :-P But I like to think about them anyway!
We plan for this to be a temporary home, and want to move out before we have child #2 whenever that will be. It could be awhile since child #1 seems lifetimes away :-P Our original plan was to be out in 5 years, but with all the car debt we have now, who knows. We aren't going to sell this house, but we want to keep it and rent out our top apartment, too. It's almost like having a third job between the two of us without really having to do a whole lot of work :-P When the house is completely paid off, it will be a really nice situation! Anyway, we want to eventually rent out the top apartment too, and then buy our own "forever" house where we can live and raise our kids. In the middle of nowhere with a lake and a fireplace or two. That's my dream, anyway!
Wow! He did such a good job!
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Good, good job!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great! Can't wait to see any other additions or changes that you make!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Your renting plan seems really smart too. Way to be good stewards!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the house! Always nice to have some of those long-term goals. :)
ReplyDelete