It took a storm!

 I love our homes location, but have never loved the house. When I was working this rarely bothered me, as I was hardly ever in it, but after being forced to quit working by my family and doctors the house has bothered me more, and more. 

 Last year after finding a floor plan that would fit our home I convinced my husband to start on a remodel. For part of the remodel we had to relocate stairs to the basement. The only place to put them was under the slab, that was supposed to be a front porch. Only it faced the back yard, because this house is an old prefab, and had been put on the lot backwards…. You can start to see why I have never loved the house. 🙂 

 We enclosed the concrete slab and incorporated it into the living room, and relocated the basement stairs. Beings the new addition went to the edge of the roof, leaving no overhang we had to redo the rood on that side of the house and input new eves. We waited until fall when we have the best weather. Usually. Labor day weekend we pulled the roof off and put tarps on it to protect it from the forecast rain. My husband then left the house to go buy his buddies dinner out as a thank you for helping, 15 minutes later the tornado sirens went off, 5 minutes later the entire west side of the interior of my house was soaking wet. 

 We had been remodeling the house very slowly over the last couple of years. Doing what we could as we could afford it. Slow going considering my loss of income and the mounting medical bills. After the “it’s raining IN my house” incident though we decided to go ahead and do a full gutting. Insurance paid to replace the west side of the house, part of which had already been remodeled. The photo above is looking in from what used to be the living room, into what used to be my master bedroom. Because the front door of my house walked into the kitchen – remember the whole backwards house thing I told you about – we were already planning on moving the kitchen onto the master bedroom area. Our electricians told us if we were going to do it we needed to do it now, so we gutted the east side of the house too. We had to take out a small loan to cover the kitchen cabinets, rest of the flooring, and additional drywall. Luckily my husband is handy and he did (is still doing) the work for anything not covered by insurance himself. Actually this is the 4th house we have lived in and done major remodel job on. We’re those worst house in the best neighborhood people. Anyway it was very weird to have workers in the house tearing things apart and putting them back together, when your used to doing everything yourself. 

 Now the kitchen is moved and this week my husband moved my bed from the basement into my new master bedroom area, and it’s starting to happen, I’m starting to love my home. 

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6 Comments

  1. 1

    I’m glad that things have turned around for you in your home. If we can just ride out the tough times, it’s usually worth it. Good luck and please post updates. I love your “profile” picture by the way. The statue and the oversized letter are great!

    • 2

      Thanks Barb, the statue is a McCoy Aunt Jamima cookie jar given to me by my grandmother when she moved out of the home she was born in, and the letter “C” was made for me by my 16 year old daughter who wants to become a general contractor and is taking all the shop classes they offer in high school. She was the highest scoring student in metals class this year. 🙂

      • 3

        Aaah well your daughter has a good eye for design, she should be very successful in her career choice! I do know of mccoy, what a wonderful piece and for you, a treasure because it’s handed down from family.

  2. 4

    Wow, talk about doing things the long way round! You have been trhough quite a saga with this home alone, and to think you had three house remodels previous to this one?! I am so impressed! Can’t wait to see how your miracle house turns out.

    • 5

      Thanks Diane,
      Three other remodels but this is the first time we have ever had to get insurance involved! As I said we have always bought the worst house in the best neighborhood we could afford, and we have flipped all the other houses for double what we paid for them. This home might be my forever home though, even if it is a prefab and not the two story farm house of my dreams. The location is beautiful and there are only 10 houses on the dead end country road, the nearest one is 1/4 mile away. We have been here almost 10 years and have all the same neighbors. most of whom have been here since the 70’s.

      • 6

        Your location sounds like heaven to me. And not to trample on your dreams, but sometimes what we want is not what we need. Right? I can’t wait to see your transformation!!

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