This House

In July of 2014 we bought a house with the help of my parents.

The first time we looked through it everyone agreed, this was it... except for me. I looked at the beautiful house and thought, "this is going to be a lot of work". And it has been, but it was so worth it. We had agreed that we were looking for a house with "good bones" but that we could update and then enjoy living in afterwards, somehow this turned into the phrase that we were looking for "Baba's house". On our first showing of the house, out in the backyard we discovered a sign that said "Baba's Garden" and everyone else says that they knew this was the one.

Once we decided on the house and all went through we made a list of our goals for the summer (an overview at least):

• Renovate the basement from it's 70s glory to an updated, clean suite.
• insulate the ceiling/walls/foundation
• new flooring (carpet in the bedrooms and the lino in the bathroom and on the stairs)
• drywall (there was wood panelling which isn't really fire safe)
• paint
• new toilet
• new kitchen (cabinets, appliances, and all)
• baseboards
• add a second water heater
• Replace the light blue shag-like carpet in the upstairs (they owned cats which I am terribly allergic to).
• Replace the roofing on the house and the garage.
• Replace the tub and toilet upstairs and install a shower (and tile too).
• Replace all the rotting wood on the deck.
• New front door.
• Paint the ceiling.
• Paint ALL the walls upstairs.
• Insulate the attic.

And so we started. For the most part the list was completed by the time the snow fell with a few projects extending until ... next weekend? But all the necessities just in time for our wonderful babe to arrive. We had a tall order to fill, but my husband and my father took it on like champs with immense help from my brother and my mother and many people in between. Sadly with my pregnant state I was unable to participate in the physical activities of the renovation, but I took my position of "upper management" quite seriously and contributed wherever and whenever I was well enough to. So get ready for some, in my opinion, impressive before and afters.