Pre Renovation, rear view

Here is the rear view of the house and property --The large bank of windows that you see along the back of the house are in the family room, which leads out onto the concrete patio. The bank of four windows just to the left looks into the 3rd bedroom and they will just be replaced.

The huge sycamore with the split stump has eroded the patio with its roots and creates work all year round to clean up after its shedding tendencies. Raking its leaves in the fall takes days and though it is a wonderful tree that offers us much needed shade, it will have to be removed not only for safety b/c of the split stump and bugs that are hollowing it out, but also to make room for the new family room and covered porch.A 22' family room addition will be added to the existing structure and a 17' covered porch will extend beyond this new room.

The existing family room will be converted into the new dining space and the chimney that you see in this photo rising from the center of the home will be removed so that most of that wall that separates the kitchen from the living spaces can be opened up to create an open feel with the kitchen overlooking the dining room and family room beyond.

These are before pictures of the front. While clearing out the garage to make room for the construction to begin, I found my planner from 1999 (along with many other things that I save for sentimental reason and no good reasons at all), which likely was saved because it documented the timeline from offer to closing on this property - June 15, 1999.

Since 1999, dreams have been brewing of making this wonderful property into a home we can stay in for a very long time to come. The current footprint is about 1500sf, 3br/2ba with a family room, kitchen, dining room and a two car garage with attached storage shed. The plan is to add a front porch (where you see the set of six windows to the right of the garage) so the new front door will no longer be hidden behind the umbrella tree. Then, the garage space will become a family room/media room, and the shed to the left of the garage, which is hard to see in this pic, will become an office space. The new garage will be built at an angle off to the side of the office. And that is just the beginning. . .

(Click on the photos throughout this blog to view a larger/closer image) This is a project that has truly been in the making since I walked the property in May of 1999 with tears rolling down my face wondering if a home purchase was either a brilliant idea or totally stupid. My mom was the one who talked me down out of the tree when she said, "well, if it is a mistake, you just stick a for sale sign in the yard, that's all!"


While cleaning out the garage this past week, I came across my day planner from 1999. It reminded me that I closed on this house on June 15, 1999 - wouldn't that have been weird if the construction started on that anniversary? I say it is close enough to be surreal.


Anyway, 9 years later, the dream is becoming reality. We have not talked about it too much with our friends and family for fear it would just be a lot of talk with no action. After many heart-felt conversations debating whether to move to a newer, more spacious home or to just stay here and modify this one, we decided to stay put, enjoy our location, and let our roots grow right here. It is crazy to think we will have lived in only one home together (for the forseable future, anyway), especially when we are both in businesses where growth, movement, building and relocation are everyday happenings. We are so excited!