Floating Fridge

Jesse and I have taken numerous pictures throughout the renovation. Looking back on these, I notice just how much the fridge moved during the process. It kept moving closer to our living quarters, which was in the den. This made it easier for me to cook those oh-so-lovely crockpot meals that we had for months.

 So where is this amazing refrigerator now? We've decided to keep it in the family and give it over to Jesse's parents to use in their garage. I'm sure it likes its new location and is happily living out its retirement in a more stable and less stressful location.

Kitchen -The Putting Back Together

 

If anyone's ever remodeled a kitchen, they know that it is by far the hardest room to work with. There are so many little parts and jobs. Even now, as I'm writing this, we have finished a living room, den, laundry room and half bathroom and are still working on little details of the kitchen. Ours was especially hard because we literally moved the kitchen.
First, we replaced all electrical, insulation, and plumbing. And...let me tell you, to a girl, this was not exciting. It didn't even look like much progress-they're all hidden anyway behind walls.

Next, we Jesse built an archway going into the kitchen:

 And also a pantry (where the fridge is in this picture). To see more pictures of the "floating fridge," click here.

Next was drywall-which I'm so thankful for the friends who helped hang all that beautifulness. I don't think I would've lasted long on the ceilings trying to hold it.










Okay, ready? Here is where the women come in....drum roll please? The painting! And I have this wonderful lady to thank for it! (Jesse's mom).
Prepainting                                                              Postpainting

 Just look at all that beautiful sunshine!

Next, cabinets.







 The difference:

 Next, a hardwood floor. This was the point where I really started seeing it come together. I had become so accustomed to looking at all kinds of dirt and filth and pieced-together parts that, when the floor was finally put down, it made all the difference. Sooo...if you are going through a remodel, hold on til the floor honey! It makes all the difference.







The details:
Last, and always ongoing, are all the details of lighting, cabinet knobs, counter-tops (yes, for 6 months I cooked on plywood counter-tops!), etc., etc. etc. Was it worth it? Yes the memory of stud walls and dirt floors is starting to fade and I do love my kitchen! We've designed the entire thing-it is truly ours. However, I don't want the memory to fade completely, for it developed some character I never would know, empathy for others going through hard times, and a greater faith.

The pantry that you previously saw the fridge in.

Kitchen -The Demolition

The kitchen was our first priority and I'm glad we started off with it. The kitchen is the heart of a house and also the most complex. If you're doing a renovation, you might as well jump in head first!

A week after moving in, we started the fun process of demolition. You've heard it before but demolition really is a great stress-reliever. Nothing like getting out the ol' sledge hammer after a rough day!


However, what we weren't prepared for was how long demolition actually takes. We gave it 1-2 weeks on our schedule. It actually took us a good solid month. Here are some factors we hadn't considered.

1. Face it-houses built back in the day were much stronger and better built than they are today. The cabinets that we took out were custom-built into the walls. In other words, we could not pull out an entire cabinet. Instead, each piece had to be torn out individually.
2. Things cost money. We saved everything we possibly could. This means, we did not just rip down trim. We gently pried it off, sanded it, primed it, and painted it.
3. Finally, during a house renovation that you are doing the work for, always budget 2-3 more time than you think it will take. This was the consistent lesson we learned throughout the entire process.

Ahhh...now that's much better. Only the fridge and a lone sink remain. And...as the renovation continues, you might see them in different spots. We called them our floaters (click here to see more). I never knew from one day to another where the sink and fridge might be.





Another thing we wanted to do right away was take the diner out. Again, we used the table throughout the entire renovation as a working space to set tools on. The orange bench is still sitting in our garage...any takers?

The old kitchen had lots of walls and built-ins that were confining the space.


Sooo...we took them out.

Before you can place anything new in a room, everything has to be torn out. So...that's what we did! A little scary huh...?

Kitchen- The Before

Before:
Here is the kitchen the day we moved in. The color scheme? Orange, Teal, and Brown. The entire house was redone in the 50s. No....really? I know you're shocked.

Okay, let's talk about the before:

Paneling. This woman, bless her heart, loved this stuff. Lots and lots of paneling. Paneling on the walls. Paneling on the ceilings.  There was even paneling on the fireplace. Really? On a fireplace? If you look closely, you can see the fireplace had small "windows" that they put-yep, you guessed it-paneling inside of.

 Then there was of course the fireplace itself. An entire wall of stone, an entire wall....of stone.

Okay, next, there was the fifties diner. Let me just tell you, though, before we start bashing it-this thing was solid and came in handy. I think the base of it was made out of solid steel. It took two people to move it at all times. And...it was helpful throughout the renovation because it provided a great spot to set tools on, etc.

 But...I just had to do it. Here is a shot from "Happy Days" and there's our diner! I guess they needed it to shoot this scene.

The kitchen itself was decked out with orange counter-tops and teal carpet. I know this used to be in style and some day I'm sure some young kid will give their opinion without being asked and and laugh at my style too, but really?! However, we were so blessed everything worked. I did get to cook a lovely lasagna meal for some friends that first week before demo started....

Here is another view....The cabinets were pretty much separating everything!

How It All Started
Love:

          Jesse and I met and fell in love when we were teenagers-at the tender ages of 15 and 17. We met through church (the best place to meet people) and built our love on a strong foundation.  

          We dated for 7 years and then I married my best friend. 

 

Our First House

          After being in an apartment for a year (and watching a whole lotta HGTV), we decided we were mature ready to buy a house. Our first house was what "normal" people would call a "normal house." It was a 5 year-old, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house. It was a nice house. It was in a nice neighborhood. There was only 1 problem-It just wasn't for us....and we knew it the night we moved in. You know that feeling...the feeling of "Oh crud, I just signed my life away to a 30 year mortgage and I'm not even sure it was the right decision" feeling.

Don't get me wrong-we have a lot of great memories in that house. Like the Christmas we totally took advantage of the 17 ft. high ceilings in the living room and brought home-yep, you know it-a 17 ft. high Christmas tree. Or the time we had a New Year's Eve party at our house and totally broke out the Nerf guns. Yep, we had good times and God definitely had a purpose for us being there. It's how we were able to get so involved in our current church. After a while though, we knew God had a plan for us in a different location. Here are the 3 main reasons we moved:

1. Jesse and I are project people. The kind that always have to be working on something. So....we did the only thing we could do to that house-we Jesse built a deck. However, this small taste of "projecty" things made us hungry for more and there was just nothing we could do to this house.

2. We learned a lot about our tastes in that first house. We found out we like old houses. We were both raised in old houses growing up-yes the kind that squeak and make weird noises- ahh....music to our ears. The new house we bought just didn't seem to fit with our quirky personalities-it was way too square. We needed something a little more random and misfit.

3. We wanted to save more money. Jesse and I both have great full-time jobs. He's an accountant and I'm a speech therapist who works in the public schools. We were doing fine, even putting away extra money each month. But that's all-just fine. We wanted to be better stewards of what we had been given. We realized it was the "newness" of the house that we were paying for, not necessarily, the quality. We wanted a house that fit our style and one we were comfortable in and wanted money left over be more generous do more fun things! We wanted a lot and so...we prayed. 

The Hunt

          After a year of living in our first house we knew God was leading us someplace different. We prayed and trusted that He would guide us and He did. We knew we need a great-no, unbelievable-deal on a house. We started the fun process of researching. (You only think I'm being sarcastic). We looked into short-sales, foreclosures, and sheriff auctions. We would then input data into super cool spreadsheets which included stats on the surrounding houses, prior sales, and comparable real-estate. Then, one day it happened-we attended our first real estate auction. We were hooked! The fast pace, the auctioneer's voice, the signs, the rush-we loved it all. But we also knew from the numbers that people get carried away and thus-not all auctions are good deals.
          In May 2011, we were very interested in a house for auction. It was close to our first house, and had previously been auctioned for very cheap. We prayed, did our research, and determined our high bid. We thought the chances were good. The day of the auction came. Jesse's parents came and I so glad. The room was full! Could people hear my out-of-control heart keeping pace with the auctioneer's voice? I wiped my dripping palms on my jeans. One bid-then another! Jesse moved behind me but I dared not look or move for fear my move would be taken as a bid. I felt Jesse wave his number in the air-we had it! We had the bid! Whoa-wait a minute-another bid? Then another....past our set amount. We lost that house and went away sooo disappointed. We thought we knew God's plan. In fact though, God had a different, much better plan for us....

Our Current House:
           A few weeks after, still reeling from the other auction, we heard of another. This house was 125 years old-(yes, that's twice the age of both Jesse and my ages combined!) in a small town of only 800 people. This house also happened to be smack-dab in the middle of both our work settings, which was only 10 minutes each way for both of us. Previously, it was taking Jesse 30 minutes and me 40 minutes to get to work. The town was known for its meat market across the street from this house. The people who started and owned this market lived in this house for 67 years-67 years! Again, we prayed, did our research, and visited it several times before the day of the auction. Jesse and I struggled to agree on a set high bid we were willing to offer. He wanted to go higher, I wanted to go lower.We prayed and split the difference, meeting in the middle. We also prayed this time a very specific request: "God, show us where You want us by making it completely obvious-so that we don't have to guess. Amen"
          On June 16, 2011, we arrived at the house for the auction. I had trouble finding parking. Apparently, in a town of 800, everyone shows up when it is the auction of a well-known and loved house. It was quite a sight! On a normally quiet street, families had their lawn chairs out, hotdogs and cotton-candy was being sold, and children ran in and out of the auction house, playing tag.
          The auction was about to start! I loved this atmosphere and somehow was not as nervous for this auction like I was the previous one. I was so thirsty though. Jesse had a good spot on the side of the crowd so I went to grab a lemonade before the auction started. I returned just as it began. Again the auction began like lightening. One bid was thrown, higher than what we expected it start out as-then another and another. I started sweating again and nervously took a sip of my lemonade. It was a whirlwind of chaos. In no time, the bid was over our high bid and then came to a stop before we even had a chance to bid. The house was sold for just a little more than what we had agreed on. My heart sank. I looked up at the auctioneer. He was looking at me and said "Congratulations to the young couple!" We looked behind us. About 10 older people stared back at us. Who was this "young couple" that outbid us? I turned to Jesse, "Ready to leave? I just want to go home." We made one step to our car but someone interjected and shook our hand-"Congrats on your new home!" That was all it took-suddenly-we were swarmed by people coming over to congratulate us. "We're your new neighbors, right behind you. If you need anything, just let us know." What was going on?! The auctioneer made his way toward us...."Congratulations!" He said as he eagerly shook Jesse's hand. Here was the moment of truth: Jesse turned and said, "Sir, we never bid." He looked at me and said "But I saw her nod her head at the winning bid." Then I remembered and I felt the color drain from my face: I had taken a sip of my lemonade and kept eye-contact with the auctioneer. What happened?! I was always so careful not to move at auctions and here I was-my small movement just bought a house. This was the first time I had ever won anything at an auction. And no, it couldn't have been a dresser or desk-it was a house! My sip of lemonade had placed the winning bid?! There was one problem-it was still more than what we had set our bid on and we had made a promise to stick with our amount no matter what. Jesse resolutely stepped forward: "It went for over what we wanted." The auctioneer looked nervous then and called Jesse over to the side. He asked him what our bid was and we told him. He immediately got on the phone with the other bidder and asked them if they wanted to outbid our high bid. They said "no." What! This is truly from God-we got our house by doing absolutely nothing ourselves and at the amount we wanted.
           Everything was a blur-we were actually signing our names to a house. We looked at the numbers again. Compared to our current house, this house was bigger and less than half the amount of money. We made our way back to our car through through a mass of more "Congratulations" and handshakes from the neighborhood. People kept coming up to us saying "We're so glad a young couple bought this house!." We even met the major of the town! Jesse wanted to make a good impression because he thought this might come in handy if he ever got a speeding ticket-haha! (Which, as we later learned, didn't help). As we got into our car that night, we looked up again at the massive house we just bought. It was obvious to us, that more than just the neighbors wanted us to be there; Someone else had a plan for us as well.

Life After the Auction
          When we got home that night, we were ecstatic-Praise to God! He knows the plans for our lives and blessed us by answering our prayer of knowing this came directly from Him. We didn't have to even wonder if this was where He wanted us. He basically did "bidding" at that auction. However, soon the world and decisions started setting in....What about our current house? Will it sell? How long will we have to straddle two mortgages? Our current house was in a cul-de-sac where every other house was up for sale. The market was at an all-time low. Our neighbors had just sold their house after having it on the market for a year. Also....their house was much nicer than ours and we were selling ours for the same price. Uhgg... Again, doubts started setting in. We had some major praying to do and fortunately many people were praying for us.We met a real estate agent who leads our small group at church. We immediately put our house up for sale. Here's the neat part: we had an offer and accepted it within  2 days. Did you hear that?- 2 days!! and...we received 96%  of our asking price. More than what we expected. God is good!
          Why am I saying this? Many of my friends have houses that have been up for sale for months and they are praying with the right motives...Do I think that God listens to us but not others? NO. I don't know why our house sold that quickly when others have not. The only thing I know is that God wanted us here in this house. I have felt it. We are here for a purpose. And through this blog I will share why.

We moved in July 22, 2012 and began our story of:
packing,

putting everything we owned into a garage, 

chaos, 

having no kitchen for 7 months,

having no living room for 11 months, 

GROWTH.

I hope you enjoy our story!