Our New (old) Home

Since the spring of 2009 I have had my eye on this beautiful home for sale on the main street of the town we live in.  I LOVE old homes, and have always wanted to buy one to restore or remodel.  It sits on 3 lots and has large oak trees in the front lining the street and a HUGE one in the backyard.  We had been in the market for a home for a while.  I called my mom, who happens to be our real estate agent, and set up an appointment to see the house.  We looked at MANY other houses during this time, and nothing seemed to be a fit for our family.  The moment we walked into this house we all looked at each other and  just knew this was it!  We didn't even see the rest of the house before we started talking about how this was our house we had been looking for.  The house needs MAJOR remodeling, but we knew what we could do with it IF we bought it at the right price. 

We made an offer, they didn't accept it.  I was crushed.  We made another offer...they turned it down also.  My mom called me told me to wait a few months and see what happens.  She said, "I bet you will get it super cheap if it goes into foreclosure."   I told her "yeah sure" sarcastically.    I prayed about the situation, and just said, "Lord if this house is meant to be ours I know you will make a way."    A few months passed and every time I drove by the house I was happy there was still a "for sale"  sign out front.  Eventually the house went into foreclosure, like my mom said, and we looked at it again.  We made another offer...they turned down it again!  By this time I have to say I gave up.  We started looking for land to build on. 

This past November we noticed that they lowered the price of the house again.  We offered again...didn't accept, but we kept counter offering until we finally got close.  The bank said they would respond to our final offer after Thanksgiving.  That Monday morning we got a call that they accepted our offer!  What?  I was shocked!  I will tell you why...we offered less than half of the original price.  We bought this house for $22 a square foot!  That is cheap!  The Lord has his hand on the situation the whole time.  We totally feel blessed and a bit shocked at the outcome of  the house. We are now starting to remodel the entire house, and it will take a couple of months to finish. 

The house was built in the 40s and is about 4,000 sq. ft. and 2 story.   Everything is original inside and out.  We plan to change the outside of the house. 

The entry.  All wood walls will get sheetrock.  To the right is a half bath and behind the door is a coat closet.

The view of the living room from the entryway. 

Living room again from the other side of the room.  You can see the entry to the right of the wall in front. 

Dining room.  The wall to the left will be opened up to the kitchen. 

We call this room the library.  It won't be used as a "library".  I just like the name.

The library has another fireplace.

Sun room opening up from the library looking out to the backyard.  This room will be our home office.

Stairs.  Celeste and Trinity will have their room and playroom upstairs.  I didn't take any pictures yet of the rooms up there, but the girl's room is very large, and has a "secret door" in the room that leads to another room.  That "secret room" will be their playroom.  There is one bathroom, a walk in closet, and my sewing room upstairs.

The kitchen.  Is soooo ugly.  We are going to extend the wall with the vintage vent hood out and make the kitchen bigger.  Everything will be ripped out. 

I will not bore you with pictures of all the other bedrooms and bathrooms.  I plan to update on the progress of this house.  Now you can see why we needed to buy it right.  It needs sooo much work, but will be beautiful when we are finished.