How Did We Get Here?

I have been married to Kevin since 1992. We have 2 children, Marissa (19) and Timothy (14). We have made moving a hobby. Not long distance moving, just "lets get a new house because we are bored with this one" moving. In 20 years, we have owned 5 homes. Three of those were new construction. The last one was supposed to be our dream home.

Not so much. It was too big, too expensive, too far from town, and too much work to maintain. So we decided to move closer in. This time we chose an older home, built in 1968, that has never been renovated.

It has great bones. It looks great in pictures. When you see it in person, you begin to realize there is quite a bit of work to do. The bushes are really overgrown. The azalea bushes have almost no foliage at the bottom and are nearly 7 feet tall. The house is filthy and needs a really good pressure washing. Inside, the hardwoods were covered by 40 year old smelly carpet. The kitchen and the breakfast area were closed off spaces.The 3 and 1/2 bathrooms are original with the fashionable colors of the time; avocado green, yellow, and brown. They did a modest update to the half bath by adding a granite top and massive vessel sink to the original vanity. It looked ridiculous! Unfortunately I do not have a picture of that.Anyway, you get the "picture". This will be a multi-year project. It will also be a small budget project. Kevin owns a drywall business. With the down turn in the economy, his business has suffered greatly. A large non-payment from a general contractor (after building a hotel! Imagine how much money that is!!!) nearly put us out on the street. We are fighting our way back. I am determined to have a beautiful home on a reasonable budget. I know many of you can relate!