Our 1st Home

We bought this house in April, after 3 months of looking at about 30 homes in our area. We planned on spending a few months cleaning it and fixing it up and moving in over the summer but we ran into a few problems:

1. There was more work to be done and that we wanted to do than we had initially planned.
2. Tyler was going to school and working two jobs.
3. I am basically useless as far as home repairs and construction go.

We tore out almost the entire upstairs to the studs and re-did nearly everything in the house, including the plumbing and electrical. (Side note: when I say "we" I mean Tyler, so keep that in mind here.) Tyler tore down 3 small sized arch-ways to open up the rooms, took down a wall in our room to make a closet and removed all the old kitchen cabinets. We replaced all the flooring: new carpet in the bedrooms, tile in the bathroom and wood laminate in the living room and kitchen. We cleaned, textured, sealed and painted all the walls and ceilings. Tyler completely tore out the entire bathroom and reconfigured a new one with a bathtub and a window. He also did all the tile work on the floor and in the shower on his own. We hired some local guys to build and install our kitchen cabinets (which cost about the same as rest of the remodel!).

We took one gigantic load of debris to the dump and sent a heaping trash can to the curb every single week, all summer long. We spent hours scrapping nasty-weird brown felt stuff off of the kitchen walls. We went to Home Depot and Lowes almost every day. We ate countless cardboard dinners on fold-up metal chairs in what would someday be our living room. We worked when it was so cold we couldn't feel our fingers and when it was so hot we thought we might pass out. We pulled out trees and we weeded and watered the lawn several times a week. We cleaned walls, windows, ceilings, baseboards, and floors constantly. We burst candles and opened windows whenever we could to get the smell out. Friends, family and our new ward helped out whenever they could. We went home late, tired and exhausted every night.

We ended up moving in the day before Tyler started school for his first semester in the Physical Therapy program. There were a few details that still weren't finished (and some that STILL aren't) but it was good enough to live in and we were out of time!

The first collage is the bathroom remodel.

The second collage is the kitchen remodel.

And of course Van had to help "fix it" too! We tried not to bring him here for most of the remodel, because it was too messy and dangerous, but there were times where we had no choice and he loved every single one of those times. He so badly wants to be helpful and big like daddy and it is pretty cute to watch him try so hard... except when you have to fight him to get the tools back!

Every time I walk into our beautiful house, I can't believe it is the same dark, dirty, smelly house we looked at in March. At the same time I am overwhelmed with pride at the capability of my wonderfully hardworking husband. I am amazed at all the work he did and the exceptional quality of it. He did every single extra project and tedious little thing I asked him to do and he did it fantastically! I love our house, I love the love we put into it and I love having our own place for our little family to be together in.