10 Years Later . . .

A little over ten ago we bought a really crappy house on a really nice lot. We dis-affectionately called it "The Ugly House" (sometimes I still do). A common phrase we heard from friends who visited our new purchase was, "Wow, we could never do what you are doing, we just aren't that skilled." My FIL strongly urged us to walk away from it but AH and I saw the potential that others didn't. We knew that what was wrong with the house was strictly cosmetic and that the investment would pay off since it was the crappy house in the nice neighborhood. We also knew that it was 100K less than other houses in the area that weren't that much newer or nicer, and our house had more square footage and is on a great lot of land.

Over the years we remodeled virtually every room in the house from the attic on down. Nearly ever penny we earned went into the house as we tackled each new project as we could save for it. I'll admit we did it the smart way but boy has it been slow!

I am beyond thrilled to say that we are on the last "big" project. The family room we literally lived in for the first 6 months is now the last room to be completed. When we moved in this room had acoustical ceiling tiles, 6" wide OLD cedar siding (set on the diagonal) covering the walls (think lots and lots of places for spiders to hide!) and a very interesting footer shelf that lined the walls but not at the same height in all areas. AH and I could never agree on how to best finish the room so we just ignored it... for roughly a decade.

This last fall we decided it was time to tackle that beastly room. We had our wonderful friend and cabinet builder, Don, come over on several occasions to talk about what could be done to balance the room and make it inviting. I will brag here and say that Don agreed that my idea for fixing the footer issue was the best idea. What amazes me is that 10 years of telling AH my idea resulted in nothing, but when Don gives the okay the materials are bought the next day and the wall is fixed within a couple of weeks! Silly men.

So Don built my cabinets and even painted them for me (he prefers stained wood but the room is so dark I wanted to make it lighter and brighter) and then he and AH installed them. Did I mention that Don is 80? Yep he sure is and yet I hardly ever think of him being older than us because the man is more youthful than men half his age.

The room is not done but it is in immediate progress. The carpet is ordered and AH has finished painting the wainscoting and can start working on the trim for the wainscoting.

The poor stairs have not had carpet on them since we remodeled the kitchen over two years ago! Soon, poor stairs, soon.


Laying the foundation for the cabinets (See how high the footer (shelf) is? It changes height 3 times around the room. It's crazy.).


Ooh progress. AH feels the need to mud every wall to death before he paints thus the big white mud spot above the slider door (and the rest of the walls, but we'd already painted them so you can't see how spotted the room was prior. It looked like our walls had calamine spots all over them.). I love the lighter yellow color (a very soft yellow, not neon!).


I love that Don includes AH in the process. AH loves to be handy.


Nearly there. . .


Oops, no more pictures. They didn't finish up that night and I was out of town the next day when Don came back. Since then Don and AH put up all the beautiful trim around the edges, AH took up all the carpet in the room and has been a painting fiend on the wainscoting. I don't have a specific date for the carpet yet but it is ordered and now I wait anxiously for their call to schedule installation.

I am so so happy to be nearing the end. AH thinks that we'll finally be able to save some money now but I think he had forgotten. . . the new furniture.