How Did We Get Here?!

It all started with HGTV's hit show, Fixer Upper. My husband Mike and I had been living in "master planned" suburbia for our entire married lives. You know the type - cookie cutter homes stacked in so close to eachother you could hear the neighbors' conversations in their backyard. We were over it, and longed for space and something we could make our own. Watching Joanna Gaines take these old homes and turn them into dream houses is what finally convinced us we could do it. We called our realtor and had our home on the market in a few short weeks. Just 6 miles from us (and still close to our kids' schools and grocery store) was a quaint gated community of nearly 100 homes on 5-7 acre lots. THAT was where we were aiming - and although nothing was on the market there in that moment - our realtor helped us by calling and sending mailers to the residents. Now one would *think* that would have been what helped us land our dream property, right? Well - it helped - but what helped more was my SUPER social husband, who had no problem walking door to door - asking the kind residents if they planned to sell anytime soon. While most of them did not plan to sell - they always were willing to point him to the neighbors that had discussed the possibility.. and off Mike went. Before I knew it, Mike was missing dinner on multiple nights because he was having a beer with one of the country residents on their back deck.. after having just toured their home. It really was crazy.

While we toured a few, and even were beat out by another buyer on one we made a formal offer on, I still hadn't walked into one that totally felt like home. That is, until I heard about this 5 bd / 3 bath ranch style home on over 5 acres on the end of a country road. The owner planned to move - but hadn't listed yet. Mike had spoken with her, and our realtor was kind enough to schedule a personal tour for me. Having just been beat out on the previous home, I knew that if we found a property we liked, we'd have to make a strong offer and fast. We knew we would update anything we ended up buying anyway.

The home was set pretty far back on a gated property, so I couldn't get a good look at it from the road, which caused me to fear the worst. But when my realtor arranged the showing, and I was able to drive in the gate for the first time - my jaw dropped at how beautiful the property was. The house was in good condition, a canopy of trees covered the circular drive and there were open pastures with hundreds of oak trees for days. My heart was in my throat. We got out and walked to the front door, where the lovely older woman welcomed us in. I was so amazed by the views through the many windows - I hardly saw all of the cosmetic changes we would need to make. All I saw was pure potential. I could not wait to get in the car and call Mike. This was the house, I knew it. The only problem was that the owner wanted to sell to horse owners only. The property was set up for horses with fenced pastures and a barn. I had no intention of buying horses, and though my labradoodle is the size of a small pony - I was afraid I wouldn't be able to convince the owner. Fortunately, my 5 year old daughter won her heart - and her desire to have children grow up in the home (as her own daughters had) overrode her need to have horse owners buy the property.

We made a full offer before it even hit the market, and waited on pins and needles until it was finally accepted. Flash forward to a few weeks later - and Mike and I stood in the middle of over 5 acres, with a barn, our kids running all around - and a 30 year old home that we swore would take a few months to remodel. Well folks, life does not imitate HGTV in this case. It turns out renovating a home takes lots of planning and T-I-M-E. While we did install new wood floors, and repaint inside most of the house, we knew we also wanted to knock out walls and turn this maze of a rancher into an open concept beauty. That means SOME of the floors and walls were left to wait for the first big update. It has been 9 months - and we've hired a local designer to help us turn our dreams into a reality. She comes next week, and I can hardly wait!! She has encouraged us that the waiting period, though frustrating, was a good thing because the things we would have changed before we moved in will undoubtedly be different now that we've lived in the home in its current state. (I can attest to this - there are now lots of little features that I plan to keep for functional reasons.) We will start demo shortly thereafter and I plan to document everything here - for my sanity, and your amusement. Thanks for joining us on this journey!!