Renovation Update.

I am often asked if we are done yet… HA!

The answer is no. The thing is, we are quite literally doing it all ourselves and at the mercy of a budget. The first thing we did when we moved in in September 2022 was have the 17 massive trees removed and replace all the exterior doors and windows. That alone hit the budget HARD. The original quote for the doors and windows was a third of the cost by the time inflation did its trick.

So, we are doing it step by step, bit by bit. Some days it is magical, the connection of building your home with your own two hands - others feel like chaos will never abate and swallow you. Renovation homes are messy, dusty, and a constant game of Tetris while fixing up each space.

We have spent the last year mostly demolishing and resetting the bones of the house - the stories I could tell about what we found behind the walls and unaccessible places… it’s really gross, so I won’t.

I have dreams of a kitchen. It is a ways off yet, but I am a firm believer in living through all the possibilities over time and seeing what settles.

Here is the original Kitchen on the day we moved in… if smells could talk…

We removed the wall between the Kitchen and Dining Room and part of the wall between the Kitchen and Laundry Room. Every room in the house had walls and doors - it felt VERY tight. I am not a huge fan of open concept design, but the flow needed some breathing room!

Here are some pics of the process. That is my 79 year-old mother… I have LOVED working with her throughout this mess. What a treat.

Here is the current state of things. Living our Tetris lives, slowly rebuilding.

And HERE is the current vision…