The Good News!
I scanned some photo's of our very first home.
She just needs a good lawn aeration and she'll be ready to go.
When Tom and I were very first married, we had the lofty dream of finding a beautifully fancy home and living there forever. We rented an apartment for just shy of the first three years of our marriage. It was actually a heavenly apartment with the whole complex in a "U" shape including seven small one level homes. Our home was in the middle with a breezeway on both sides. It was like an individual home with a center front lawn that everyone gathered on. We met some of the loveliest couples there. Every night Tom and I would hang out with them, our kids became best friends, Tom and the boys became inseparable and I couldn't have been happier. Looking back, it was one of the happiest times of our lives.
Until one night on my way out the door Tom mentioned in passing, "Oh, by the way, I may or may not have spotted a mouse a few days before." Sadly, my happiness could not be maintained knowing I was sharing a home with such a scandalous housemate (The mouse, not my husband). I called our landlord, and to make an already long story a little less long, we had to be out by the end of the week. Though Tom may have disagreed at the time, But I thought me getting us getting kicked out was a blessing in disguise as we were finally forced out of our comfort zone and given the option of becoming homeowners. "The one thing I craved more than anything", I had said to Tom. "An opportunity to paint my walls whatever color I wanted. The chance to plant a flower and watch it grow. The ability to pull into my driveway and know that this is my home." I had wanted my own place my whole life and finally that was just around the corner.
Of course with our very small budget of $110,000.00 our lofty goals were not even close to being realized. We found our price range allowing us either a track home (I'll pass) or a very old, very small, low ceilinged homes filled with either offensive odors or toilets out on the front lawn.
I remember the day we finally found her. Tom and I had been out all day house hunting. We had just about given up when we turned down a street filled with old homes and big trees.
There she was. A beautiful two story home with red brick and a shake roof. Huge windows and an immaculate lawn. I told Tom "This is it!" We called immediately and to our dismay, the house had been sold that morning. "But I do have another one just around the corner, more of a fixer upper, but still a very nice home." "I don't care what it looks like." I told Tom, "I am tired of looking, if it's livable, we'll take it."
There she was. A beautiful two story home with red brick and a shake roof. Huge windows and an immaculate lawn. I told Tom "This is it!" We called immediately and to our dismay, the house had been sold that morning. "But I do have another one just around the corner, more of a fixer upper, but still a very nice home." "I don't care what it looks like." I told Tom, "I am tired of looking, if it's livable, we'll take it."
A fixer upper?
Indeed.
It was a filthy, gross, smelly beyond belief, abused home. But it was everything we ever wanted. High ceilings, twelve inch thick lath and plaster walls, archways, floor to ceiling windows, original wood floors and a blank slate all in one beautifully smelly package. And we loved it instantly. Three rooms and a bath upstairs. A family room, formal dining room, office, kitchen and bathroom on the main. And a spooky a haunted cellar for a basement. All for $96,000.00
I'll never forget pulling that first tampon out of the heating duct.
I owe so much to this home. It was here that I started my interior design business... My first client was a realtor that was showing the place. And from there, the jobs kept coming one after another.
The Bad News!
I don't have any after photos for you at the moment. You'll just have to trust that it turned out smashingly.
1 comment:
Loved the post Lynds! And I am looking forward to seeing more pictures.
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