For those of you that don't know, Jarrod and I bought our house last August. It's been alomost a year, and I am so proud of the progress we have made. Going in, we were so haughty. Jarrod would tell everyone how easy it would be, and how it would be done in a couple of months. He was absolutely mortified when the house wasn't even in livable condition until January (and even then, I wouldn't have moved into it. Jarrod's brave.) And neither of us would have ever believed it wouldn't be finished by the time we were married.
The house was a bank repo, and that's the only reason we could afford it. The price was nice, but the damage the previous owners had done was awful. The carpet was completely ruined from the mess that several large inside dogs made, there were holes in the walls, one that was several feet long, light fixtures were either missing or damaged beyond repair, there was a rat problem, and the layout of the kitchen was quite interesting, to say the least.
Fast forward eleven months and the house is livable; it's actually starting to look cute. We ripped up all the carpet and refinished the hardwood that was underneath. We retiled the kitchen, the hallway, and the bathroom. Every wall in the house was painted (after repairs had been made to several walls.) Light fixtures have been replaced, the rats have been gone for many months, and the layout of the kitchen has been updated. It was a LOT more work than we had originally thought. We have had several setbacks, and as life goes on, we continually become more and more busy. The busier we are, the less time we have to work on the hosue. We have learned a lot from this process, but the end is finally in sight. I could not be more excited. The only big jobs left are the kitchen grout, and some kitchen wall repair. After that, it's just details. I hope to post pictures of the finished product soon!
Jarrod and I talk about what a stress this has been. As true as that is, I wouldn't think of anything else for our first home. If it wasn't a bank repo, we would have probably wound up renting for a couple of years, and had nothing to show for it. How many people are homeowners at 20 years old? This is a house that has the potential to last us 10 years or more. Our kids will be born into it. That makes me so excited. And in the rebuilding process, we got to personalize the house, and make it ours. The end result will be an reflection of Jarrod and I, and our personality and taste.
Here are a few pictures of the eleven month process so far:
Master bedroom before
Master bedroom after: painted walls, refinished floors, new light fixture
Office before
Office after: Painted walls, major wall repairs, refinished floors
New tile in our hall. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of the old tile.
Living room before (this was right after we had removed the carpet)
Living room after (minus a few details)
