Bedroom headboard

1920's doors. Free from a family home renovation. The hubs built the giddup. Love it 

Pack it up

So last night I got the official call from Daniel that we are indeed going to pack up the rest of our home that has not been gutted and yes... Gut it. A huge huge HUGE blessing... But a lot to do obviously! I took a trip to home depot and have literally packed my day away. Why are we gutting it also after earlier renovations? Electrical is complicated if we don't... And everything costs less if we just take the plunge. So we are very fortunate to be able to stay at Danny's condo for the next month or so. No more camping downstairs... Cold nights... Wearing sweats to bed... Tonight we get to rest on the couch and even walk barefoot. Crazy! Lexy and Cleveland get to stay with their Grammy for this stage. As hard as it will be without them... I am happy they no longer have to breathe in all of the dust and they get to spend some QT with Gram. I am just hoping that Cleveland behaves himself and doesn't cause too many problems. Not even kidding... He's a little rascal. Welp... That's my soap box today. Very thankful for every bit of this process. One day we will be laughing about blue carpet, dead mice in the walls, sleeping in the upstairs living room (on our mattress), stipled walls, cactus wallpaper... Space heaters... And much much much more.

Monday. Week #3

So the house is stripped... The new framework for our bedroom, closet, and bathroom is all installed.. And electrical is almost complete!
Here are some pics to start the day off with...

Special thanks to our cousin Brannon for his knowledge and help with electrical! Him, Daniel, and My father in law worked all weekend from early to late to get it all installed! Blessed.

1/24/13

Our new bedroom and bathroom framed :) progress progress! Also went to pick out some tile! Some for backsplash, kitchen floor & bathroom. Whatcha think so far?

Something to Blog About

I have gotten a lot of questions lately---The funniest inquiry is if we are doing okay financially since I posted that we were freezing at our house with no heat!Another-- What happened to your house? Why are you having to rebuild it?So I figured instead of just loading pictures of a gutted home I would also explain!After 3 years of living somewhere not knowing what to do or how to fix certain things...we got the answer-- Gut it. Emotionally when we first moved in we tormented ourselves trying not to take away the history of the home. After living through the remodeling and day to day 'problems'...we both agree that the history of the home is always here, and we can tell stories, and we can still say we live where we do...and have a home of our own...one that is a healthier lung friendly environment!So here goes-- We have gutted the entire 2 top levels of our home. (We live in a 3 story Split level-home). Where are we staying? In the basement. And yes its cold-- but we do have a fireplace & we do have space heaters! It's pretty much tiny down here but I will take this with no complaints knowing whats in store. We have been quoted for about a 7 week project...we are pretty much counting on it probably being around a 3 month project...but once again, NO complaints! We are moving our Master bedroom to the top level-- we knocked out a wall between 2 bedrooms--and are expanding a smaller bathroom to make our master bathroom as well. So far, Daniel & his crew, some friends, and some family have been diligently removing the old to prepare for the new! What happened to the cabinets we were working on for 2 years? Well-- they were also gutted. #bittersweet Daniel assures me that once the new are in that the bitter will only be sweet. When someone tells you that cabinets are a hard project to take on, they are NOT lying. Especially when you are us and we are going for the antique washed more modern look. #overachievers #projectfailedSO-- without boring anyone to death-- I am going to post pictures galore of the nonstop work going on at our house. Today I got to watch how you take a wall out and secure it to create a bigger room. As if I don't already have more respect for the hardworking man through the men in my life....I now have a new found respect for construction workers. Truly a talent & art!Hello 2013.On to the Pictures....

The pics didn't all upload in the right order....and the kitchen pic is before and the after is a just completely gutted! More later!

Our first day in Blue Ridge

So we have made it to Blue Ridge! The mountains are blue... The trees have just a few leaves left... And the sky views are absolutely beautiful. No cable.. No computers.. And hardly any phone service--- as much as I hate it.. I love it!

2012- Bittersweet. Grab a tissue.

I have told my mom that maybe she would get some sort of comfort from writing..because after all...she is an English teacher and she knows how to write...well. After reading a friend's blog I have decided that maybe I will start blogging also. Just to kind of have a place to vent..write & be able to somewhat express whats going on in my world without having to have some sort of limit on words or pictures. I am sure that some of my facebook friends will appreciate me not updating my status every hour on the hour with vague quotes about how I feel about anything and everything...Instead I am going to resort to using my blog to whore out my emotions! (And then probably link my blog to my facebook...so I can, of course- publicize my thoughts..afterall, doesn't everyone want to read aboout my life? ha) So I guess I am going to start with the obvious--2012. 2012 is let me see-- bittersweet. I got to marry my best friend, and have the most beautiful and wonderful wedding I could have ever imagined. From just the beauty of a perfect day to walking down the aisle with my father guiding me to someone that he more than stamped his approval on. I got to share the best day of my life with the people that we love and cherish the most. It doesn't really get better than that. I bet a lot of people feel that way about their wedding day. I honestly hope that they do--because I'm not sure I could dream a better day than the one that we had. My daddy got to drive my father in laws '56 Chevy (Danny correct me if I'm wrong on that)-- and the fact that Danny let my dad drive that thing not even half of mile, meant the world to him. To me, I just wanted to flatter my daddy by making part of the day about him-- let him drive an antique car to walk me down the aisle. But back to the point-- I remember that drive down the driveway--he couldn't stop staring at me...gleaming ear to ear. He kept telling me how beautiful I was, (which I only believe 2 people when they tell me that--my daddy & my husband), how much I reminded him of his mother, how he couldn't be more proud of me...then back to ..."gah, you sure do make me proud..you are so beautiful." I will never forget that drive--the tears in his eyes, and how proud of me he was that day. So. 2012. Back to that. August 4, 2012. My daddy--- my prince charming that I modeled my own world & husband after, my hero..unexpectedly passed away. It all happened so fast & I don't want to make anyone sob so I will spare the build up of the confusion, desperation, and panic I felt in an hour. Clearly, anyone that knows me, knows the story. The last few months are pretty much a blur. Thanksgiving is next week and I am nowhere near ready for it, but guess what...its coming whether me or my family are ready for it. My goals mainly rest in my mothers peace. I spend a lot of time worrying on what we can do, how many times I call or text her, how we can keep her busy....but really I think I've gotten the big picture lately...just being with her is her dream come true...for any of the 4 of us, or for all 8 of us (our spouses), to just be with her..occupy her space. Let her know that we are here, physically. Not just on the phone or computer, but physically in her space. So, I am thinking next week will be perfect. We are taking her to Blue Ridge and pretty much holding her hostage to a week of antiquing, driving, exploring winerys...doing the best we can do, to get her through the holiday. onward.. 2012. October 12, 2012 I get a phone call from one of my most cherished, dearest friends, Kara. I learn that my 29 year old friend--my sane friend, my sweet friend, my steady friend...has been diagnosed with Colon Cancer. Kara is still currently in the hospital..after a few unexpected things occurring after her surgery, but fighting strong...and currently--the blessing that I am holding onto...Stage 1. Which was our absolute best outcome that we had hoped for. This isn't exactly what you think you are going to be experiencing or having to watch your friend's parents & sisters watch their sweet Kara fight something so serious, but we can keep praying for her recovery-- and that it only goes uphill from here. So I know that this post is super serious--super sad....but on this bittersweet year, I do know that there are blessings, there are moments that we have had that are unbelievable, exciting---and I promise that I am holding onto those things. Babies are on the way from very special people in my life---Weddings are in the making---I guess that the ironic part is that even though we've taken some pretty big hits this year--life does go on...it does happen. I guess what I am going to take from 2012 is the very cliche thought...we really have no clue what tomorrow brings, and that some way, some how..we have to embrace this very day and our very blessings, because it isn't up to us. I know that I will babble more, and rant on about all of these topics in more posts--some more in depth, but I wanted to get at a starting point--although it is beyond deep, and probably super depressing.....just keep in mind I may be doing this for a healing process---or perhaps just to entertain my own thoughts.

I would like to ask for Prayers for My family, especially my beautiful Mother to get through the holidays in peace and somehow find the comfort that we usually do in these warm, snuggly, cozy days to come. I would also like to ask for Prayers for my sweet, Kara, a strong recovery and to get home so we can start to spoil her with love and attention, and more importantly more than jello & popsicles--perhaps cookies & breads, & good ole southern comfort foods.