1 YEAR!! 2 weeks from move in!!

Its been a  little over a year since we bought our wonderful little dump house. I couldnt be more happy with what we have accomplished. I finally have a house that I can do whatever I want to and not have to fix it before we move out. I have been so busy lately trying to finish up the house so we can move in that I havent taken the time to post some update pictures. A LOT HAS CHANGED! All we have left to do right now (just so we can move in, lol) is to wrap our support beams in the living room in cedar, finish our linen closet, hang a few more doors and Monday we are getting carpet installed! Over the past few months we have finished the sheet rock, we (me, my dad and my husband) textured our house in one day, and I, myself, painted every square inch of the inside of our house. In order to stretch our tax return money the most I convinced my husband to let me put paperbag flooring in our laundry room, hallway, kitchen & dining room. Although hes not a huge fan, I think its pretty dang good looking. Although I did learn that it doesnt like to stick to swollen MDF which we have in the dining room. But thats okay, I put a rug over most of the ugly places. I give us a couple of months and we will put down our vinyl wood planks. At least for now we arent walking on plywood! Last weekend my husband and my dad worked their butts off and installed tile in our bathroom, a square in the living room and did our fireplace. My husband did an amazing job on our fireplace especially since it was his first time ever! This week I am working on finishing up the last few bits of painting, and laying the epoxy layer on my DIY faux granite countertops I have been working on in the bathroom & kitchen. We are so close to being finished! Direct TV is coming out sunday to install cable in all the room & after the carpet is installed on monday I will start bringing over stuff to the new house. Since we opted to finish out the house instead of getting central AC this year I have to for the first time in my life get accustomed to life with window units and space heaters. Thank goodness I live in Texas where our cold months (NORMALLY) are very short. Ill be counting down the days until our next tax return where we can drop $6k on a new HVAC. That my friends will be a good day! Anyway, I figured I would update you all on our progress. Maybe one of these days I will actually have time to sit around and blog all day! Atleast I know next month I wont have a house note due!!!

Sorry, Im a little late... but, here are all the ugly, ugly befores of our house..9 months ago!

I realized that I dont really have any pictures on here of exactly what we bought back in February.. So glad I took pictures because it looks nothing like this anymore! Crazy, how much work we did in 9 months. Me, my husband, my dad and pawpaw make an awesome team! I wonder how much we would have spent if we paid people to do what we did. :)

hta7911's 296 Barker Lane album on Photobucket

9 month Update!

Update Time! Well, I successfully de-popcorned the whole house, all 1600 sq ft, by myself! It looks a LOT better! And, after a very quick class from my mom I learned how to tape and float. All I ask for my future visitors is... don't judge me for my ugly drywall skills. If I had an extra 3k to pay for a pro team to come out I would! Too bad, we just spent 7k on brand new, super cool, charcoal gray metal roof! That and 2 grand on a new bathtub, expensive toilet (because my husband is a snob) and new front and back doors. We are getting so close to move in. Im totally enjoying being unemployed! Although my new life requires me to have a 3 year attached to me all day which makes it really hard to be my normal work-a-holic self but I cant really complain. We have spent the last few days re plumbing the whole house. When I say we I mean my dad has. I just sit there and hand him pipe fitting after pipe fitting until I give him the one he was actually asking for. Plumbing is boring. Ill be glad when its over. We should be done this coming weekend then we can finally put up the walls in the bathroom and have a TOILET! I cant even begin to explain how annoying it is to have a 3 year old who needs to potty every 30 mins and you have to drive up the hill to the other house for her to go. It really makes it hard to be productive. I love her. Ill love her even more when our house is finished and we can finally relax be buddies and do crafts and go places all day. ONE DAY VERY SOON! All we have left before move in is to completely refinish the bathroom (that's the one room I refuse to move in unless its completely done). Then we (I, since im at home all the time) can finish tape/floating, then texture & paint (walls and floors)  and we can move in! Sooo close. Im hoping to be in by the first of December that way I can decorate for Christmas! Anyway, just wanted to do an update and post some current pictures of our house. I love our new back porch and our covered carport the house looks so different already!

Our house Today! I love our new roof!

Our house when we bought it in February!!

New Back Porch & Door

Our boys helping take up the ugly particle board.

New Window in our bathroom :) Oh, and its gutted except for cabinets.It was gross to say the least....

Patience is not a virtue for me.But this renovation is helping!

When my husband and I bought our first home we knew it was going to take a lot of work. When I say a lot.. I mean.. A LOOOOOTTTTTTT of work. This home renovation has taught me a lot. Over the past 6 months we (me, my husband, my dad and grandpa) have worked very hard to clean up both the house and the property which was used as an Illegal dumpsite. We are now at the point where we can start the fun stuff. If you asked me last month what my plans were with the house... I was set on getting everything done and be ready for move in by the times the boys started school. I wish I had taken a picture of my day planner where I had sticky notes on every day showing what I needed to get done. The reality of it all?? When it comes to remodeling/pretty much rebuilding a house, everything takes a LOT longer than you think. The kids start school in 3 weeks and honestly I've come to terms that we are no where near ready for move in. Ive realized that when my husband and I move our family next door, I want the house to be perfect. Even if it takes us longer to move in I want to make sure we do everything the right way. Last week was a big milestone. We had a team come out and level our home. When I walked through the house yesterday I felt overwhelmed. It was then that I realized just how much work we had left and my dream of moving in got pushed back even farther. After a phone call to my dad I agreed the best thing for us to do is focus on the house one room at a time. Whats next on our to do list? Tackling each room by scraping down all the popcorn ceilings, replacing sheet rock peices. Then when Im done with all the rooms we can start to  tape/float the whole house. Then its time to re-texture the walls and then paint. After that, its flooring time! Whats great about all the hard work were putting in, were pretty much going to be living in a brand new home (and not owe anything on it). I like to think of this house as my craft house. I can do whatever I want to this house when I want so honestly, whats the hurry? We live in a super cute secluded small house in the woods directly next door to our new house and come September 1st I will have more time for my family and to work on our home because I wont be working anymore. YAY!!  Life is going good. Im learning to take this home renovation day by day and to enjoy the fact that in time we will live in our beautiful country home on 6 acres and we can finally do all the things we've dreamed of. Im looking forward to getting my chicken coop and having fresh eggs and putting our kids in 4-H. I want to fill our land with fruit and pecan trees and lots of gardens. Ive always been country at heart and this house is everything Ive always wanted. Right now, our house is a blank slate, I can be as creative ,crafty and as frugal as I want when we're building it up (oh and I will!). There's always a project to be done, lots to look forward to :)