Our house. We purchased our house seven years ago. It was repossessed. It was disgusting. And that is a kind description, really.
Really.
The short version of the story is this: We walked into the house, and part of the ceiling was lying on the floor. I looked at Josh and said, "We are not buying this house."
Josh is a visionary...not to mention he was obsessed with the 5 acres, the barn, and the 1/4 mile long driveway. He was in love. I was disgusted.
We discussed it. It met and surpassed all of my expectations except for the condition of the house (we were looking for a paint and carpet house since we had two kids and were trying for a third).
We put an offer in, we found out we were pregnant with Amelia the follow week, and our offer was accepted a couple of weeks after that.
We couldn't believe that we owned it. It was amazing, exciting, and overwhelming.
Josh worked tirelessly...and then some. Of course, there was so much more work to do than expected. We thought we weren't going to have to redo everything. We were wrong. The house was torn down to the studs, and Josh worked on it for 7 months straight. Amelia was born 17 days after we moved in.
There was only one major thing missing from our house. An attached garage. It originally had a garage, but a previous owner had turned the garage into a family room and a laundry room. So, no garage.
We have wanted to add a garage since day 1. There is never a good time.
Then, we had to decide where to put this garage and if there would be more than a garage. Our house was built in the 70s. It is obvious to me that people who designed houses in the 70s had z.e.r.o. clue that people need to STORE things in their houses. Closets, anyone?! Seriously.
Please allow me to whine for a moment about my "first world problems".
We have closets, but they are itty-bitty. Josh and I share the one in our bedroom. Claire, Meredith, and Amelia share one in their bedroom. Olivia shares the one in her room with all of our homeschool curriculum, winter coats, Halloween costumes, the pack 'n play, and kites.
Seriously, though, we only have 3 small closets in our house. Three...for six people. We had a front coat closet when we first moved into the house. We stored all of our coats, hats/mittens/scarves/etc, our luggage, and all of our board games/similar items there.
Then our furnace died. And it was in the attic. And the furnace guy said that the new furnace had to go in the coat closet. Cue dread from Jackie.
I had to find new places for all of the things in the closet. And these aren't random we-don't-need-these-things items. I'm not a hoarder. I get rid of so much stuff on a continual basis around here. Josh accuses me of not having a sentimental bone in my body.
So, we currently have 3 bedrooms plus an office (doesn't have a closet {of course!}, so it's not considered a bedroom).
When we decided on the addition, we needed an entryway to the existing house. The most logical place was our current office. However, if we enter through the office, we can't use the office as an office.
The current office is hardly usable because it tends to be the "catch all" room in the house. It currently houses two desks (one for each of us), a huge utility shelving unit that holds pantry-type food/our canning jars/old photos/etc, a bookshelf, our safe, random Christmas things that can't go in the barn, my nice cooler, and 126 other things that are randomly piled everywhere.
It is a disaster. I organize it once or twice a year, and it never holds because it's just a catch-all. Horrid. I just keep closing the door.
Okay, so with this being our new entryway into the house, we needed a new office. What else are we lacking? Storage.
Josh cannot stand the thought of adding on to our house and not doing it right. We're already spending the time, money, and energy. No regrets. We're planning on staying here forever. No regrets. Storage room, it is!
One thing that I've always disliked about our current house is the entrance and entryway. It is small, tight, awkward. I could go on...I'm whining again, I know. So, we're getting a beautiful new entryway.
Our current office will be converted into half entryway, half pantry. I am so spoiled.
Do not let me complain about anything house-related again...ever...I mean it.
The new entryway meant that we needed a new driveway to the new side of the house.
Can I take a moment to completely brag on my amazing husband? He designed all of this himself. This man continues to impress me with his skills. How do you learn how to do things like this?! I have no idea, but I'm beyond thankful for it.
And here is where we (finally!) begin with the photos, which are in chronological order...
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| This is our current driveway. It continues forward, then curves around to the left. This will remain the same...we're just adding the new driveway there on the left where you see the dirt/opening in the trees. This photo was taken pre-construction, and you can see our house back there on the left. |
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| The concrete guys pouring the foundation!! They were supposed to start at the end of January. This was the beginning of October. Patience, patience, patience. :) |
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| Josh even got in on the action. The foundation is being poured! |
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| Foundation complete! This photo was taken from the back yard. |
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| This is the opening for our new driveway. I love it. I'm standing right in front of our future garage looking down to where the current driveway crosses. We are considering connecting them in front of the house, but our septic system sits near that location. We'll see if we can make it happen. |
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| This is kind of a hard one to see, but this shows what is already there. House in the middle, barn to the right, the new addition is going out the left side of the current house. |
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| The builders came early on a Monday morning. These TWO guys were incredible. It was amazing to walk away for an hour and come back to see what they had accomplished. |
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| This is after Day 1. This is our new entryway: porch, front door, a window on each side. The garage is on the left (not pictured). The office is behind the entryway. |
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| This is after Day 2. Sorry for the crooked picture. |
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| The backside after Day 2. The opening that you see is one of the windows in the office. The remainder of the wall to the right of the window is the storage room that goes across the back of the garage. |
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| Day 3. Eek!! The design of the roof makes it look ginormous. It's all aesthetic (plus attic storage!!). |
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| Day 3. See those big tire ruts? Yeah, a large delivery truck got stuck there for a couple of hours during Day 3. |
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| Another view. |
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| Backside. |
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Day 5. Amazing.
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| Up close. |
They did everything in 7 days. It is now roofed and wrapped as well. Once all of our doors arrive, they'll come back and install them.
Now comes the hard part. The DIY part. We've barely picked anything inside the house...lots of ideas just nothing in stone. There will be plenty of decision making to do over the next several months.
We are super excited to use these new spaces. I can't wait to have a garage!!
