So, you may have noticed that my dad is helping us a ton with our house. He's pretty amazing when it comes to what he can do. He is technically an electrical engineer, he attended the Maritime Academy for college and went to work on tug boats for the Merchant Marines after graduation. But don't let that fool you, he can do a lot more than just electric work. A while back I mentioned that I have quite a story about a trip to Mexico we went on when I was a kid. Well, I thought today was as good a day as any to give you a little insight into the capabilities of my dad...
When I was in 6th grade we went on an awesome family vacation to Mulege, Baja California Sur. You may not be familiar with Mulege... It is a tiny town way south in Baja on the Sea of Cortez. When I say way down south, I mean way down. It is past Ensanada, Rosarito, Guerrero Negro (near the 28th parellel), and even past Santa Rosalia (about 38 miles south), so when I say it is a long way down south, I really mean it. And we drove there. We had this old 3/4 ton dodge truck with bench seat up front and a 5th wheel trailer. We had a CB Radio between the cab and trailer, so my brother and I rode in the back almost always while we drove the long trek to Mulege and back. I have to admit, it was pretty cool seeing all of Baja from the back of a trailer. And it was an incredible trip. We met family who flew into Mulege and spent a week snorkeling, fishing and just living the small town Baja life. AMAZING! And then we headed home...
The roads in Baja are all 2 lane highways up on levies, and they aren't really kept up like in the states. We had traveled down to Mulege about 10 days before our trip back home and there really hadn't been many issues with the road conditions. Unfortunately that wasn't the case on our way home. While we had been in Mulege there was a huge storm with Hurricane winds and incredible rain. Apparently that had caused a wash out on the highway between Mulege and Guerrero Negro that we were driving to get back home. Because of the mirage of the heat on the pavement, my dad didn't see the washout ahead, and we hit it going about 60 miles an hour. The truck kind of jumped the washout and the trailer hit it hard. I was sitting on the bed over the hitch looking down at my brother laying on the couch of the trailer in the back... Okay, let's be real... We were fighting over what tape we should listen to next. But that gave me a pretty awesome view of my brother literally hitting the roof when the truck jumped the washout. And I pretty much gaurantee I was plastered to the ceiling up on the bed, but that wasn't nearly as far to jump as my poor brother who ended up on the ground between the couch and table. Next thing we knew we were stopped on the levy with no where to pull off the road. There really isn't a shoulder to speak of on these levies and they are about 5 or so feet higher than the desert they are surrounded by.
So there we were, trapped on the levy in the second largest stretch of desert between Mulege and California. Apparently hitting the wash out had completely broken off the motor mounts and the engine had fallen out of the truck. But never fear, my dad had a plan. While my brother and mom flagged down the big rigs to slow down as they went around our truck and trailer on the 2 laned highway, I found a great resting spot in the shade of a cactus and my dad put the engine back in the truck with a chain and some bailing wire. I know, totally McGuyver style, but it gets better from here.
We somehow managed to limp our way into Guerrero Negro, where we spent the night and my dad shirred up the engine to make it through the longest stretch of desert on our trip home the next day. At one point I remember my dad working under the truck and my mom stuck her head into the trailer and told my brother and I not to move, because the engine would literally fall out on our father. I don't think we more than breathed for the next 2 hours until Mom told us he was past the worst of it. Well, he got things together enough that he thought we would be able to make it to Ensenada, where there was a chance we might be able to purchase new motor mounts.
The next morning it was time to head out, and I found my mom standing outside the passenger door to the truck. I asked her what she was doing just standing there??? "I'm praying we make it through the desert today." Well, that kind of put a damper on the vacation feel of our return trip...
So, into the truck and trailer we loaded and started into the desert, day 2. While the chains did manage to keep the motor in the truck this time and we didn't find any more wash outs in our path, apparently chains don't hold things quite as steady as actual motor mounts and not too far into the drive we found ourselves stalled on the levy again. This time, when Jeff (my brother) and I piled out of the trailer we were met by instructions from our father to walk down the road and pick up every peice of metal we could find. Now, it seemed weird at the time, but you have to understand that when my dad says to do something, you just do it. No questions. So, we did. The problem was that all the metal we found was too hot to carry, so we pushed an old tire up onto the road from the desert and stuck all the metal in it and rolled it all back to my dad. Around then I got the nerve to ask my mom what was wrong. Apparently the movement allowed by the chained in place motor had knocked the driveline out of the truck. And that is what Jeff and I had been picking up off the road in the middle of the desert. Our only way out of the desert and back to California was lying in a discarded tire in small pieces. This was 1990. There were no cell phones, our CB radio wasn't that high powered (and who exactly were we going to call anyway) and we weren't in the states where they have really nice things like rental cars...
So back under the truck my dad went, back to flagging down big rigs for my mom and brother, and me? Well, I found another giant cactus to take refuge in the shade of. Definitely not our original plan for a vacation end. Remember, we are stuck on a 2-laned highway on a levy in the largest stretch of desert in Baja. I don't know how, but using some bailing wire and duct tape, my dad managed to get that driveline back together enough for us to limp our way to Ensanada (where we had planned to buy new motor mounts). Now our only issue was a language barrier.
So we proceded to stop at every auto parts store we could find, and it was slim pickens. And then using their handy English to Spanish dictionary, my parents attempted to translate motor mounts any way they could. They were met with one blank stare after another. Just about at the end of their ropes, they found a very nice Hispanic man willing to walk out to the truck and see if he could help. My dad crawled under the truck and pointed to the engine held in place by a chain and bailing wire and said, "Como se dice?" (Translates to "how do you say?") The very nice man smiled and said, "Oh! La motor monte!"
So when I tell you my dad is totally capable of helping us crazy, over-eager DIYers to fix up an old farmhouse, it's nothing to him! He can save his family of four in an old pick up and 5th wheel from the treachery of the Baja deserts and wash-out caused truck trouble beyond most imaginations... He can do anything!
Our Home
We purchased this 1920's-ish farmhouse on March 16th, 2012 and began our DIY makeover
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Torn Apart
Well, I think we have finally done it... We have officially taken out everything that needs to be out to start building things back up. I have to be honest, things look pretty rough right now. The only things that look good are the pine beams we have put up. Our work crew finished installing the beams where I tore down the wall last Sunday while I tried to sleep off the flu and this weekend, my dad and Matt installed beams on the kitchen side of the living area as well. They look beautiful. I can't wait to see it all put back together.
This week wasn't nearly as productive as I had hoped. I was finally allowed to go back to work on the house on Thursday, but my stamina wasn't all the way back to normal yet, so I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. With having to take a week off of my real job while still contagious, I had high hopes of getting all kinds of stuff done, but not so much. Hopefully this week will go a little better. On the bright side, Matt has been kicking butt out there. He even went back over to the farmhouse after we got the kids in bed on Tuesday. I think he was hoping that if he got extra work done there, it wouldn't be so hard for me to stay home and get better. I have to admit, it did help.
So, on the agenda for this week... I am prepping everything for paint. I have to seal all the window seals, repair holes in walls and texture everything. Matt being 6'4" helps with painting the ceilings, so I will be putting him to work on that and I will be washing down walls and taping everything to prep for wall color. I can't wait to see how it all looks as we get things put back together. In the mean time, here are a few pics to give you an idea of where we are right now...
This week wasn't nearly as productive as I had hoped. I was finally allowed to go back to work on the house on Thursday, but my stamina wasn't all the way back to normal yet, so I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. With having to take a week off of my real job while still contagious, I had high hopes of getting all kinds of stuff done, but not so much. Hopefully this week will go a little better. On the bright side, Matt has been kicking butt out there. He even went back over to the farmhouse after we got the kids in bed on Tuesday. I think he was hoping that if he got extra work done there, it wouldn't be so hard for me to stay home and get better. I have to admit, it did help.
So, on the agenda for this week... I am prepping everything for paint. I have to seal all the window seals, repair holes in walls and texture everything. Matt being 6'4" helps with painting the ceilings, so I will be putting him to work on that and I will be washing down walls and taping everything to prep for wall color. I can't wait to see how it all looks as we get things put back together. In the mean time, here are a few pics to give you an idea of where we are right now...
This is the new pine beam in place of the wall we took down between the living area and the "middle room".
This is the view of the new living area from the front door. It looks great, and much bigger!
This is just a reminder of a before pic in the "middle room" from the door into the living area.
This is a before pic of the wall we took down, and the gas heater we took out. Now the house will just be heated by the gas stove that was in the "middle room" and is now in the larger living area.
Another before pic of the wall and heater we took out.
This is the kids room now that the carpet, curtains and wall paper are gone. You may remember it as the pink room...
The "pink room" before renovations began.
The view of the kitchen from the living area. To the right is the dining area where I removed 4 layers of wall paper... Thank goodness for the steamer!
Dining area and kitchen in renovation process.
This is a little hard to see (it's an iPhone pic), but this is the beam Matt and Dad installed between the kitchen and living area. It's hard to describe, but the ceiling had a bunch of different header heights. We took them out and replaced them with pine beams that "flow" much nicer.
More kitchen pine beams.
This is a before shot of the headers in the kitchen. We took out the cabinets in the center and moved the fridge there from the location on the right. This really opened up the kitchen and makes it seem a lot bigger. (And the wall paper is gone, another improvement!)
I will post more pictures as we get the painting and floors done! I can't wait to see it all come together after all this tearing apart.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Influenza A
I noticed it creeping up on Thursday afternoon. That heavy chest feeling I tried really hard to ignore. While I ignored it, I ripped the wall down between the "middle room" and the livingroom. Friday was worse, but I managed to finish tearing down my wall and I even got some of that wall paper down in the diningroom. My mom stopped by for lunch and decided she should teach me how to use the wall paper steamer. It is probably a good thing she did... I may never have started that very intimidating process without her. And we discovered that there were actually 4 layers of wall paper to peel off. The steamer really did make it a lot easier though.
Friday night I broke down and took some nighttime cold medicine. I slept for about 15 hours and then convinced myself that the way I felt Saturday morning was simply a "cold medicine hangover". Saturday afternoon our work crew came over and helped us install the rough-cut pine beams where the wall had been. It looked beautiful! But it was about all I could do to make it until the work was finished up. I picked up the kids, went home and put us all to bed.
Sunday morning I had to face the music... I was sick. I knew church was out of the question, so I drove my sorry self down to Prompt Care instead. The verdict wasn't pretty. I managed to get Influenza A...The real flu. And that had apparently turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis and I was working toward pneumonia. Yuck. Armed with a prescription for a Z-pack and the doctor's order to go find somewhere to hide for a few days, I came to the realization that I would be enduring a very real type of torture, possibly worse than how I currently felt... I wasn't going to be able to go work on the house to finish up the beams with our work crew today. The only thing worse than feeling this miserable, is feeling this miserable and missing out on fun while attempting to get better.
When I got home Matt headed off to the farmhouse with a reminder that I needed to get better, "this is a marathon, not a sprint" and I tried really hard not to hate him for feeling well enough to work when I couldn't.
It sounds like they got a ton of work done today. The beams are up, the cabinets where we will be moving the refrigerator are gone, the carpet in the kitchen is pulled up and it sounds like they have plans for more beams on the kitchen side of the livingroom. I can't wait to see all the work. I will take pictures to share as soon as I am allowed back out there. I am hoping to drive over tomorrow, but since I can't even climb the stairs at our house without having to stop for air, I won't be holding my breath...
Friday night I broke down and took some nighttime cold medicine. I slept for about 15 hours and then convinced myself that the way I felt Saturday morning was simply a "cold medicine hangover". Saturday afternoon our work crew came over and helped us install the rough-cut pine beams where the wall had been. It looked beautiful! But it was about all I could do to make it until the work was finished up. I picked up the kids, went home and put us all to bed.
Sunday morning I had to face the music... I was sick. I knew church was out of the question, so I drove my sorry self down to Prompt Care instead. The verdict wasn't pretty. I managed to get Influenza A...The real flu. And that had apparently turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis and I was working toward pneumonia. Yuck. Armed with a prescription for a Z-pack and the doctor's order to go find somewhere to hide for a few days, I came to the realization that I would be enduring a very real type of torture, possibly worse than how I currently felt... I wasn't going to be able to go work on the house to finish up the beams with our work crew today. The only thing worse than feeling this miserable, is feeling this miserable and missing out on fun while attempting to get better.
When I got home Matt headed off to the farmhouse with a reminder that I needed to get better, "this is a marathon, not a sprint" and I tried really hard not to hate him for feeling well enough to work when I couldn't.
It sounds like they got a ton of work done today. The beams are up, the cabinets where we will be moving the refrigerator are gone, the carpet in the kitchen is pulled up and it sounds like they have plans for more beams on the kitchen side of the livingroom. I can't wait to see all the work. I will take pictures to share as soon as I am allowed back out there. I am hoping to drive over tomorrow, but since I can't even climb the stairs at our house without having to stop for air, I won't be holding my breath...
Thursday, March 22, 2012
My Treasure Hunt Finds
Remember the treasure hunt I went on Friday while I waited for official word our purchase had recorded? Well, yesterday I took a friend around to show her a few of my finds and took some pictures along the way to share with you. I know it is all dirty and in need of some TLC, but I have big plans for each of these items. I'll have to share pics as I finish each little project, but for now they will remain as they are... I have bigger fish to fry first!
Old tin wash basin.
Old door with glass panes and crystal knob still intact.
Sorry for the blurry photo... I took these with my iPhone...
Dresser needs to be refinished, but in great condition structurally.
Nice cabinet found in mobile home bathroom.
There ar probably 20 of these old oil cans that have been cut to create storage bins. What a cool idea...and I am sure I can use them somewhere...
Shelves in garage filled with hardware, junk and treasures.
This old woodstove is hooked up and complete with chimney to heat garage. It just needs a little TLC and some backing to protect the wall and my new shop has a heat source!
This old stove is in desperate need of TLC as well, but image it cleaned up. To sell or use somewhere???
I don't know exact terms for this find, but it is an old tin (I think) pot with a porcelin (I think) coating.
No, I'm not planning on adding birds to our list of pets (pretty short so far, just 2 dogs), but imagine this with a plant inside...
Close up of the birdcage.
Wall of old tools. It has been a long family tradition to find old tools and bring them to my Grandfather when we couldn't figure out what they were used for. I don't think any of us ever actually found one he didn't have an answer for.... So wish he was still with us today to solve a few mystery finds from this location!
This is an old stereo cabinet with the record turn table still in it. I'm not sure what exactly to do with it yet, but it is pretty cool.
I have no idea what this was originally, but I am relatively confident that I can make a nice candle lantern out of it.
Ignore the junk on top...Check out this awesome metal wagon!
On the right is a hand planer and on the left is what I am thinking was one of the first rotary (skill saw type) saw designs. There is a spot to attach a drill which will then spin the blade. How cool is that!
A not-quite-finished or slightly broken birdhouse.
Okay, on top may be the world's oldest air conditioner, but you can see the old wooden wagon it is sitting on.... Oh the possiblities with that beauty!
I know it is hard to see, but up in the rafters is some type of seat. I think it may have been a wagon seat at some point. So, will it become a shelf, or a porch swing??? I'll keep you posted...
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Outside Pics
Matt says I need to post some pictures of the land, for people to really get the feel of our new home. I have to agree, it's just that I get so caught up in the project at hand, I forget. So here they are... And since we got snow over the weekend you get to see a few with snow still on the ground. One of the wonderful things about where we live, let's call it "God's Country" is that it snows, and then it melts. You see, I love snow... For a couple days. And then I love for it to go. A few inches to a couple of feet and gone in a few days before the world turns into a brown slush. It doesn't get any better than that!
Monday afternoon
View from the back porch.
Our back yard.
Literally the next day...Tuesday afternoon. House looking from the garden.
The garden.
More garden.
Property west of the house and garden. (Had to check the direction with my hubby. I'm directionally challenged.)
East side of the house.
Back yard from the porch.
More back yard.
I hope these pictures give a better feel for the beautiful home the Lord has provided for us. Can you believe the beautiful blue sky and all that grass just 2 days after the biggest snowstorm we have had yet this year!
Moving Forward
Well, I finally got to get back to working on the house. I went there Saturday and my cousin even offered to watch the kids for me, so I was ready to get some serious work done on the place. With the help of my sweet husband we got all the carpet out of the livingroom and all the top layer of wall paper off the walls... Yes, only the top layer. It looks like the diningroom had been papered over paper about 3 times (at least that is all I found so far), so I will be using a steamer to get the next layer(s) off. Top layer was pretty easy, but I am afraid the next ones will be much more difficult...
As we finished up the living area, Matt headed off to work in our only 4 wheel drive vehicle and then it started to snow...really hard. Although it was tempting to risk getting snowed into the house with no kids around and get tons of work done, leaving my wonderful cousin with extra kids to look after and the thought of a night in an old farmhouse with no heat drove me home. Then it snowed even more Sunday (and one of those sweet babies was throwing up), so we stayed home again. I worked Monday at my real job, but I mananged to get half of Tuesday off, so I was out to the farm as fast as my mini van would take me. (Yes, I actually drive a mini van...How else can I cart around 4 kids with reasonable gas mileage?)
I got all the carpet in the pink room up and prepped the walls for paper removal... More of the difficult to remove stuff. Thank God for steamers! That's 2 rooms carpet free! Then I made some calls... This is going to shed a little light into my personality, so be prepared... It might get ugly...
My first call was to the propane companies. We decided to go with a different company than L, mostly because we got a better rate, but also because her company was a pain to deal with. First I called the new company to find out when they could set the new tanks. Monday! That means next time I have the opportunity to get snowed in, guilt over my kids will be my only motivation to leave, because I will have heat! Then I called the company with the current tanks on our property and asked them to come pull the tanks. I also asked when it could be done. I was informed that it would be done when their truck was somewhere near my location which may take up to 3 weeks. This didn't really work for me since I wanted the new tanks in the exact same location as the current ones. I told the attendant this and she said the new company would just put their tanks beside the current ones until they could be picked up. I informed her this wouldn't work for me as I wanted the tanks in the EXACT same location, not next to the current ones. She basically told me that it wasn't her problem, and that was the deal they had with the new company. ***WARNING*** This is where it gets a little ugly... My response was something along the lines of: "Let me tell you my deal. Either you get the tanks out by Monday, or I get the tanks out by Monday. Your tanks are now on my property without my consent. I'm just letting you know because my guess is, it would work out better for you guys if you did that process and not me." (I told you this would shed some light on my personality.) I then hung up the phone and called my dad. Let's be real, there is no way I can move 2 huge propane tanks over the weekend without help. I confessed that I lost my temper and threatened something I couldn't really carry out without help. He immediately said, "They will be gone by Monday." Sigh...My hero!
Then I made some more calls to find out where to get some old looking pine beams. We have decided to take out the wall between the living area and the "middle room" and since this is an old house, when we (let's be real, my dad) checked out what the structure of the house looked like in the attic we (he) discovered that the trusses were site built and it looks like some type of support comes down at that wall. This means we need to come up with a support system to replace the wall. We thought it would look beautiful and completely appropriate to use rough hewn pine beams. 4x6 for the vertical beams and 4x8 for the header. I got a number of a local mill and when I called the gentleman said I could come up right then. So, off I went.
Now, I know I am a complete dork, and I am pretty sure it is because my dad worked at a timber mill most of my early life, but I love wood. I can remember seeing my first blue pine and thinking it was just about the most beautiful thing God ever created. Then I found out it happens from beetle kill, and I figured there was a purpose to bark beetles after all. (I told you I am a dork.) Well, the mill had about a hundred samples of wood and in about 2 minutes I knew exactly what I wanted. The gentelman asked me if I wanted to take samples home to think about it or show someone (I am pretty sure that was code for check with my husband, but I had already asked and he told me I could do the choosing). I assurred him that I didn't need time, I knew what I wanted and by the way, when could he get it done? This weekend!!!! And as much as I love wood, I have no concept of it's cost so I was thrilled when he quoted the price. No thinking required...I had a wall to tear down!
While he printed up the bid, I admired all the samples in the shop and dreamed of how else I could use wood to make our farmhouse home. I think he was pretty sure I had lost my mind as I picked up and touched nearly every piece of wood, but I was busy dreaming, so it didn't really bother me.
After I left, I called my dad. You may be noticing a trend here... Everything I know about handy work I learned from my dad. He can fix just about anything (sometime I'll have to tell you the story of our trip to Mexico when I was a kid and how he saved us with his McGuyver-esk skills.) We planned a work party for Saturday and I promised to get all the prep work (like pulling off the drywall and paneling to expose the frame and wiring) done ahead of times so it would only take my crew a few hours to complete the task. Next I texted my contractor cousin and then begged a friend to borrow her contractor husband for a few hours. With Matt and I there, we had a crew of 5... I thought that should do it for the job and the muscle required to heft up the header. I'll let you know how that goes. In the mean time I am trying to decide what type of support hardware to use and how I will finish the wood. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated...
Did I mention that after we decided to do the pine beams, Matt and I also decided to use low grade pine for the floors? I know it dings, but that will add to the "old farmhouse" look we are going for. Matt spent Monday driving 5 hours to pick up the pine. We found it at 99 cents a square foot, so it was worth the price of gas. And let me tell you, it is beautiful. I love the look of pine and I know I am in the minority, but I could spend hours looking at the knots and grain. I can't wait to see it in layed down... But that will be a while. I have a lot of work ahead of me before installing floors. I snapped a pic of the wood to share while it patiently waits in the garage...
Isn't it beautiful?!? And it was pretty awesome of my husband to go pick it up on his day off. Not exactly how someone wants to spend one of their 2 days off, but he's a trooper and he has the vision.
So, now the plan is back to work on the house tomorrow. I had to go to my real job again today (and I honestly can't complain, that job helps fund our project and I really love what I do), but tomorrow I'm planning to start tearing down a wall!
As we finished up the living area, Matt headed off to work in our only 4 wheel drive vehicle and then it started to snow...really hard. Although it was tempting to risk getting snowed into the house with no kids around and get tons of work done, leaving my wonderful cousin with extra kids to look after and the thought of a night in an old farmhouse with no heat drove me home. Then it snowed even more Sunday (and one of those sweet babies was throwing up), so we stayed home again. I worked Monday at my real job, but I mananged to get half of Tuesday off, so I was out to the farm as fast as my mini van would take me. (Yes, I actually drive a mini van...How else can I cart around 4 kids with reasonable gas mileage?)
I got all the carpet in the pink room up and prepped the walls for paper removal... More of the difficult to remove stuff. Thank God for steamers! That's 2 rooms carpet free! Then I made some calls... This is going to shed a little light into my personality, so be prepared... It might get ugly...
My first call was to the propane companies. We decided to go with a different company than L, mostly because we got a better rate, but also because her company was a pain to deal with. First I called the new company to find out when they could set the new tanks. Monday! That means next time I have the opportunity to get snowed in, guilt over my kids will be my only motivation to leave, because I will have heat! Then I called the company with the current tanks on our property and asked them to come pull the tanks. I also asked when it could be done. I was informed that it would be done when their truck was somewhere near my location which may take up to 3 weeks. This didn't really work for me since I wanted the new tanks in the exact same location as the current ones. I told the attendant this and she said the new company would just put their tanks beside the current ones until they could be picked up. I informed her this wouldn't work for me as I wanted the tanks in the EXACT same location, not next to the current ones. She basically told me that it wasn't her problem, and that was the deal they had with the new company. ***WARNING*** This is where it gets a little ugly... My response was something along the lines of: "Let me tell you my deal. Either you get the tanks out by Monday, or I get the tanks out by Monday. Your tanks are now on my property without my consent. I'm just letting you know because my guess is, it would work out better for you guys if you did that process and not me." (I told you this would shed some light on my personality.) I then hung up the phone and called my dad. Let's be real, there is no way I can move 2 huge propane tanks over the weekend without help. I confessed that I lost my temper and threatened something I couldn't really carry out without help. He immediately said, "They will be gone by Monday." Sigh...My hero!
Then I made some more calls to find out where to get some old looking pine beams. We have decided to take out the wall between the living area and the "middle room" and since this is an old house, when we (let's be real, my dad) checked out what the structure of the house looked like in the attic we (he) discovered that the trusses were site built and it looks like some type of support comes down at that wall. This means we need to come up with a support system to replace the wall. We thought it would look beautiful and completely appropriate to use rough hewn pine beams. 4x6 for the vertical beams and 4x8 for the header. I got a number of a local mill and when I called the gentleman said I could come up right then. So, off I went.
Now, I know I am a complete dork, and I am pretty sure it is because my dad worked at a timber mill most of my early life, but I love wood. I can remember seeing my first blue pine and thinking it was just about the most beautiful thing God ever created. Then I found out it happens from beetle kill, and I figured there was a purpose to bark beetles after all. (I told you I am a dork.) Well, the mill had about a hundred samples of wood and in about 2 minutes I knew exactly what I wanted. The gentelman asked me if I wanted to take samples home to think about it or show someone (I am pretty sure that was code for check with my husband, but I had already asked and he told me I could do the choosing). I assurred him that I didn't need time, I knew what I wanted and by the way, when could he get it done? This weekend!!!! And as much as I love wood, I have no concept of it's cost so I was thrilled when he quoted the price. No thinking required...I had a wall to tear down!
While he printed up the bid, I admired all the samples in the shop and dreamed of how else I could use wood to make our farmhouse home. I think he was pretty sure I had lost my mind as I picked up and touched nearly every piece of wood, but I was busy dreaming, so it didn't really bother me.
After I left, I called my dad. You may be noticing a trend here... Everything I know about handy work I learned from my dad. He can fix just about anything (sometime I'll have to tell you the story of our trip to Mexico when I was a kid and how he saved us with his McGuyver-esk skills.) We planned a work party for Saturday and I promised to get all the prep work (like pulling off the drywall and paneling to expose the frame and wiring) done ahead of times so it would only take my crew a few hours to complete the task. Next I texted my contractor cousin and then begged a friend to borrow her contractor husband for a few hours. With Matt and I there, we had a crew of 5... I thought that should do it for the job and the muscle required to heft up the header. I'll let you know how that goes. In the mean time I am trying to decide what type of support hardware to use and how I will finish the wood. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated...
Did I mention that after we decided to do the pine beams, Matt and I also decided to use low grade pine for the floors? I know it dings, but that will add to the "old farmhouse" look we are going for. Matt spent Monday driving 5 hours to pick up the pine. We found it at 99 cents a square foot, so it was worth the price of gas. And let me tell you, it is beautiful. I love the look of pine and I know I am in the minority, but I could spend hours looking at the knots and grain. I can't wait to see it in layed down... But that will be a while. I have a lot of work ahead of me before installing floors. I snapped a pic of the wood to share while it patiently waits in the garage...
So, now the plan is back to work on the house tomorrow. I had to go to my real job again today (and I honestly can't complain, that job helps fund our project and I really love what I do), but tomorrow I'm planning to start tearing down a wall!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Our home-owning story
A year ago I never would have dreamt that we would own a home right now. We had a very rough few years starting in about March of 2009. Humor me with this. In church right now we are learning how God always has an "upper story". It's the story that you can't see when you are in the middle of your earthly experiences. We get caught up in the "lower story" that we are living. I think the last few years of our life have been exactly that...
Three years ago we found ourselves in a position we never thought we would be in... We were stuck in an awful home loan on a house that wasn't worth half of what we paid for it. We tried everything we could to work something out... A modification, a short sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but the bank would have none of it. We ended up foreclosing on our home in June of 2011. It was unbelievable. My husband and I both have good jobs and we make good money, but one agonizing turn after another lead us to the only option we still had. We moved out of our home and watched as the bank sold it for less than half of what we bought it for.
None of it made sense. We had done everything right. We had jumped through every hoop, filled out every form and made hundreds of phone calls. How could this have happened? We were baffled and completely scarred by the entire experience. We knew God was with us, but we were having a really hard time seeing Him through the mess. This time forced us to examine our beliefs and tried our faith. We learned to rest in the promise that God is faithful and we chose to believe He would make sense of this for us.
We watched as home prices dropped, and dropped. It was so hard to know we could buy a home for less than our rent, but we decided we would just have to wait it out. A realtor friend had mentioned that owner financing was becoming more and more common, largely due to the foreclosure crisis and so many people being in our exact situation. We started keeping our eye on homes available in our area. But this time we planned to be patient. We set our criteria for another home very high... We wanted a very specific area, the possiblility of owner financing, and preferably something with a little land. A place we could make home for many years to come. We also decided that if there was something out there God wanted us to buy, He would make it happen. We weren't going to push.
Then one day that realtor friend found a property that we might be interested in. It was an old farmhouse on 13 acres on one of the 3 streets we had specifically mentioned being especially einterested in. We went to look at it and completely fell in love. Matt's exact words were, "I really wanted to not like it." But he did. We both did.
I went home and called my mom to tell her all about this beautiful property and the sweet owner we had met. She was an elderly widow and we had the chance to meet her while we looked at the house. She and Matt hit it off right from the start. In fact he spent almost the entire time we were in her home talking to her instead of looking around. Turns out she knew Matt's dad and they visited about her property and her plans when she moved out. I kept saying the owner's name and telling my mom all about the place. Then my mom said, "I think I know her, or at least her nephew that takes care of her."
When we got off the phone, my mom called the nephew, and sure enough, it was exactly who she thought. And believe it or not, she already had an appointment scheduled with the nephew the next morning. At the appointment they talked about the property and how much Matt and I loved it. The nephew invited my mom and dad to come out and have a look that Saturday, and if we wanted to, Matt and I could tag along. Are you kidding? If we wanted to? We couldn't get to the weekend fast enough!
My parents loved it out there. We walked nearly the entire 13 acres. It was even better the further you went back from the road. There were building sites all over the back of the property. If Matt and I could make the 2 bedroom, 1100 square foot farmhouse work for our family of 6 for a few years, we could build another house on the property that would fit our family a little more comfortably. Then we would have a rental, or more probably, a second home on our property for family members to live in (either of our parents, my grandmother) that would make them close enough for us to help out, but far enough for privacy.
We wrote a letter to the owner and made an offer on Monday. There was a lot of work to do... The house is over 80 years old (probably more like 90) and it needs work, but Matt and I are not afraid of hard work. We would be able to have chickens, raise a steer or a pig, and let our children run and play until their hearts content. This is exactly what we had dreamed of. Now we just waited and prayed.
She accepted our offer!!! We were thrilled. And 3 weeks later we had the keys and so began our farmhouse dream.
Only God could have taken us from a tiny home, mortgaged to the hilt and without hope of ever getting the money we had put in back out of our "investment" and put us in our dream location, on land better than either of us had ever dreamed, with possibilities beyond our imagination. If Matt and I had sat down and come up with our own wishes for our future and the future of our children, we couldn't have dreamt anything this incredible. This is a God story. Only He could have written this, only He could have orchestrated the chain of events we lived the last three years that ended here. This road has been hard, and I have been angry (sometimes even with God), hurt, troubled, and completely dumbfounded. About the time I finally let go and trusted God with my story, He made it better than I ever could have.
This is the second time in my life where I spent months asking God what I had done to deserve something awful to happen to me. I felt like I was getting punished for something, I just couldn't put my finger on what I had done that was so bad to deserve something like losing our home. I mean, I'm a sinner, but just the little, normal sins... How haughty of me! How do I get trapped into thinking like that? That every bad thing that happens is a direct result of something bad the individual did to deserve it. I don't look at the lives of others like that, why do I fall into that kind of thinking in my own life?
Now that I can see the "upper story" in my life, I'm not asking why I deserved to have something awful happen to me... I am asking why God loves me so much that He would take my circumstances and change my hopeless situation into extraordinary.
Three years ago we found ourselves in a position we never thought we would be in... We were stuck in an awful home loan on a house that wasn't worth half of what we paid for it. We tried everything we could to work something out... A modification, a short sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but the bank would have none of it. We ended up foreclosing on our home in June of 2011. It was unbelievable. My husband and I both have good jobs and we make good money, but one agonizing turn after another lead us to the only option we still had. We moved out of our home and watched as the bank sold it for less than half of what we bought it for.
None of it made sense. We had done everything right. We had jumped through every hoop, filled out every form and made hundreds of phone calls. How could this have happened? We were baffled and completely scarred by the entire experience. We knew God was with us, but we were having a really hard time seeing Him through the mess. This time forced us to examine our beliefs and tried our faith. We learned to rest in the promise that God is faithful and we chose to believe He would make sense of this for us.
We watched as home prices dropped, and dropped. It was so hard to know we could buy a home for less than our rent, but we decided we would just have to wait it out. A realtor friend had mentioned that owner financing was becoming more and more common, largely due to the foreclosure crisis and so many people being in our exact situation. We started keeping our eye on homes available in our area. But this time we planned to be patient. We set our criteria for another home very high... We wanted a very specific area, the possiblility of owner financing, and preferably something with a little land. A place we could make home for many years to come. We also decided that if there was something out there God wanted us to buy, He would make it happen. We weren't going to push.
Then one day that realtor friend found a property that we might be interested in. It was an old farmhouse on 13 acres on one of the 3 streets we had specifically mentioned being especially einterested in. We went to look at it and completely fell in love. Matt's exact words were, "I really wanted to not like it." But he did. We both did.
I went home and called my mom to tell her all about this beautiful property and the sweet owner we had met. She was an elderly widow and we had the chance to meet her while we looked at the house. She and Matt hit it off right from the start. In fact he spent almost the entire time we were in her home talking to her instead of looking around. Turns out she knew Matt's dad and they visited about her property and her plans when she moved out. I kept saying the owner's name and telling my mom all about the place. Then my mom said, "I think I know her, or at least her nephew that takes care of her."
When we got off the phone, my mom called the nephew, and sure enough, it was exactly who she thought. And believe it or not, she already had an appointment scheduled with the nephew the next morning. At the appointment they talked about the property and how much Matt and I loved it. The nephew invited my mom and dad to come out and have a look that Saturday, and if we wanted to, Matt and I could tag along. Are you kidding? If we wanted to? We couldn't get to the weekend fast enough!
My parents loved it out there. We walked nearly the entire 13 acres. It was even better the further you went back from the road. There were building sites all over the back of the property. If Matt and I could make the 2 bedroom, 1100 square foot farmhouse work for our family of 6 for a few years, we could build another house on the property that would fit our family a little more comfortably. Then we would have a rental, or more probably, a second home on our property for family members to live in (either of our parents, my grandmother) that would make them close enough for us to help out, but far enough for privacy.
We wrote a letter to the owner and made an offer on Monday. There was a lot of work to do... The house is over 80 years old (probably more like 90) and it needs work, but Matt and I are not afraid of hard work. We would be able to have chickens, raise a steer or a pig, and let our children run and play until their hearts content. This is exactly what we had dreamed of. Now we just waited and prayed.
She accepted our offer!!! We were thrilled. And 3 weeks later we had the keys and so began our farmhouse dream.
Only God could have taken us from a tiny home, mortgaged to the hilt and without hope of ever getting the money we had put in back out of our "investment" and put us in our dream location, on land better than either of us had ever dreamed, with possibilities beyond our imagination. If Matt and I had sat down and come up with our own wishes for our future and the future of our children, we couldn't have dreamt anything this incredible. This is a God story. Only He could have written this, only He could have orchestrated the chain of events we lived the last three years that ended here. This road has been hard, and I have been angry (sometimes even with God), hurt, troubled, and completely dumbfounded. About the time I finally let go and trusted God with my story, He made it better than I ever could have.
This is the second time in my life where I spent months asking God what I had done to deserve something awful to happen to me. I felt like I was getting punished for something, I just couldn't put my finger on what I had done that was so bad to deserve something like losing our home. I mean, I'm a sinner, but just the little, normal sins... How haughty of me! How do I get trapped into thinking like that? That every bad thing that happens is a direct result of something bad the individual did to deserve it. I don't look at the lives of others like that, why do I fall into that kind of thinking in my own life?
Now that I can see the "upper story" in my life, I'm not asking why I deserved to have something awful happen to me... I am asking why God loves me so much that He would take my circumstances and change my hopeless situation into extraordinary.
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