Our Old House

So in 2003 I was 9 months pregnant and HAD to find a house. We were living in a 2 bedroom house with 5 kids and one on the way….for 9 months…..it was difficult to say the least. I told Rob I would be getting an apartment if we didn’t have a house when my baby was born. LOL

We had 3 houses to choose from in our price range on the market when we were looking. This was before all the new housing projects that have come in. There really wasn’t a lot on the market to choose from.  I told Rob we had to have at least 4 bedrooms, Air conditioning and it had to be stick built. Other than that I wasn’t going to complain. In all actuality…I like the other 2 houses better.  They had more character. They were prettier. But one was in the flood zone and had no garage. The other one got an offer before we could decide. So this was the one. There was a hiccup on it as well and it was really a blessing that we got this house. It was a little pricey for us….and the last lady was getting ready to lose it or something. So she had to do some work on our behalf so we could buy it and not let the bank take it. So God came through for us ….and we got the house. We were never “In Love” with this house. It was functional and it worked for our family. I have always thought it was a blessing and loved it for that reason. But it doesn’t reflect my style.

In fact when we bought it originally it had burnt orange trim, a bright purple door. The house numbers were stove knobs that were hot glued to the side of the house. I was less than thrilled. But it had been maintained and all we really had to do was paint the inside and move in. We got the keys exactly a week before Clarissa was born. So we got to painting and decorating. Before I knew it this house was stuffed to the gills with kids and stuff. We brought Clarissa home from the hospital here. We raised our family here. We started our business here. So many memories in this house. It’s a modest home but it has provided us a home.

When we got new windows installed they had to side them in…so I wasn’t going to let them use burnt orange. So we painted the burnt orange that gray color. I painted the door beige….and then eventually red.

This is our original door:

Our house was built in 1979….and much of it was the same of everything when we moved in. All of the 1970’s cabinets, linoleum, appliances, light fixtures. everything was harvest gold and art deco or gothic looking. the window on the side of the door was that beveled harvest gold stuff that you couldn’t see through…..Imagine that next to the purple door?

I was so happy when that became an actual window and we could see through it…and it wasn’t harvest gold.

We decided this fall to get our house painted. We had some areas that were chipping….we didn’t think it was as bad as it actually was…..once they power washed we really had to replace lots of areas. We didn’t realize how much dry rot there was. I thought while we were painting we may as well get a new door with a window. Clarissa and I wanted a door with a window. The entry way doesn’t get much light and we wanted it to look a bit more modern. It took me all of ten minutes to choose the color way for my house. The guy at Sherwinn and Williams said he has never seen that happen before. LOL. I work with color every day of my life.  I am doing a project with my old door. No worries I will share that later.

Rob doesn’t like change…so changing colors was going to be a change. Then also not painting all of the trim areas so that our house looks more modern and updated. Clean fresh lines….I had to do a little work. In the end he likes it.

Rob had to install the new door and do some prep work before painting could start. See that little square next to the door? Back in the 70’s when this house was built there was an intercom system installed. LOL It still worked when we moved in. Our kids could talk to each other from room to room without leaving. LOL It was a fun novelty at the time. But then everyone got cell phones and life changed. Slowly but surely we have removed all of the boxes and gotten rid of the system. So this and the one on the deck were the last units and it’s permanently gone now. It’s kind of sad to me in a way. But that is just part of life and progressing, I guess. But all of the laughing and fun time of hearing our kids talk to each other through the intercom system are fun memories.

So this is our new and improved house:

We are still putting everything back and getting order again.

I am so thankful once again that God provides. Honestly Rob works 60-70 hours a week and I work more than 40 hours a week myself. This year Rob’s season is extended until Thanksgiving. Which is a month longer than usual….and he is making it through. We didn’t know if his back would even be able to operate….and now it’s an extra long season. Due to that we were able to afford to have a company come and do this work for us. We typically, have to do everything ourselves because we simply can’t afford it. We don’t know what we are doing and we have to watch you-Tube videos and read books to figure it all out. I am thankful we are capable of doing that too……but honestly it is nice leaving it to professionals to do this stuff…and quite honestly it saves fights……a marriage was saved. LOL. Anytime we have to work on a BIG project together there are issues.  We think so differently and we communicate differently….so it causes issues. LOL. I am just thankful for the job being done by others.

When I was getting estimates to get the house painted…every painter groaned when they saw the deck in the back of the house. All of our estimates…half of the cost was the deck. Nobody likes it. So much work……it goes across the whole back of the house ( the intercom was back there too..lol)….but it’s an important part of the house.

So here is our new deck:

I changed all of this too. I wanted it to be white on top and dark on the bottom….easier to keep clean. I like the lighter roof because it feel open and airy. I love the pop of color on our french doors. We installed those french door a few years ago. It used to be sliders. I hated the sliders. We still have sliders downstairs that go to our patio.

here is the new sign i bought for the house numbers:

So the colors are Sherwin and Williams

Trim is “Eider White”

Base is “Sensuous gray”

The door is called “drizzle”

the shutters are just black.

So this has been my life for the last 3 weeks. It’s been crazy. I am glad that I don’t have to go through that regularly. But I am thankful for the finish and end result.

I have lots more to share. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

Charisma