A new house that has become our home

"What dad?? You want us to look at THIS house?? You have to be kidding me." "Rachelle, just humour me and come see it". "FINE"

October 2010. We're off to view this "new" dump, er I mean house. We get to the street, and right away I'm moody cause i don't want an "older" house. (this house is maybe 30 years which isn't THAT old). I ignore my surroundings and the other houses on this street. I am judging it from the beginning. (i knew what it looked like from MLS-the place you can find homes for sale in my area)

Dad unlocks the door. He walks in ahead of us. Right away it was "OMG this smell is freking sick". We start to tour this shit hole. (yes i was that cranky) Right away i say "dad i don't want this house. We can look for fun but there's no way, NO how I'm moving into this gross house".

Now most of you saw the "before renos" pictures (i'm going to post a few before, during and after pictures). The pictures don't do it justice. This house was in such bad shape when we saw it. From far it looked ok ish, but believe me you would of puked just walking through those doors. The stench was enough to make your eyes water.

After about 15 ish minutes of touring, my dad says "you can do this, and this and this. It shoudlnt' take you long and it would look good. The potential is there". I glaze at Jason and I KNEW right there I was in trouble. He had a twinkle in his eye. No lie. I kept my mouth shut at that moment so i wouldn't make my dad upset.

When we were done I just looked at my dad and said "jay and i will talk about it". He proceeded to tell me "make your move quick cause this house will sell very quickly". "Um sure dad, whatever you say".

We get the in the car and we aren't even OUT of the driveway when I look at Jason and say "no way hosay. We are NOT getting this house". He said so much about what he could do to the place. I was like "Jay, it stinks, it's gross, it's got paneling ALLL OVER including ceilings and walls. YUCK".  He said we can talk about it for a few days, which i proceeded to tell him we could talk about it but my answer is NO.

SOLD-freg we bought the house...omg what am i gonna do? I have butterflies (poo cramps)  in my belly now, at the fact that I have to endure "weeks" or renos into a house i don't want.

October is when we bought the house, and December is when we got possession. Renos start in December and jay starts "gutting" the whole house. He found mold, drug paraphernalia inside drop ceilings, among a crap load of other stuff. I wondered WTF did we get ourselves into.

In his mind he thought we would be moved by Annabelle's birthday (January 22). HA... Sure Jay.

The months go by and the more he does to the house, the more he realizes that the place has to be completely gutted in order to look good and non stinky.

The weeks have now turned to months and in his wonderful mind he says "we will celebrate Arielle's birthday in the new house". (may 3). HA... Sure Jay.

I would say that 3 ish months into renos, I realized that the house was going to in fact be our dream home. The more i came here, the more i realized that the lay out of this house is gorgeous, and it DID have potential. I trust Jay, and his taste is very similar to mine and he's very much a perfectionist when he does something. Nothing is half assed. He is by far (and everyone who knows him can attest to this) the most patient PERSON (not just man) I've ever met in my whole entire life and then some. I don't know how he does it but he does. If i had half his patience I'd be lucky.

Our "old" house is sold in March and closing June 15. YAY, we have 3 months to finish this new to us house. LOTS OF TIME eh? NO, not really.

Today, June 15, my poor hubby was STILL at the old house getting crap out. We spent all day yesterday purging and cleaning. I vacuumed areas in that house that had not been vacuumed in our 6 years there. It was amazing the JUNK we've accumulated over the years together (almost 12). But as I always say (actually i don't say that very often) someone else's junk is someone else's treasure.

Jason did all the gutting of the house pretty much by himself. Once renos started, he had amazing support to help him do the drywall, bathroom, lights, painting, staining (i could go on and on).  I want to mention the first names of ALL the people who helped but I'm afraid that i would miss someone and that wouldn't be nice. (i gotta get my ass in gear soon, cause in July ish I'm hosting a thank you party for those who helped along the way. Doesn't matter if you only carried one box, your invited haha...well we'll see haha).

I admit i very much dislike painting and anything that goes with renovating. BUT, I'm a superb organizer and unpacker. (no I'm not even good at packing even though i did most of it with my mom. Even my mom could tell you i suck at packing). Packing and cleaning and organizing is another story. I rock haha.

While Jay and his part-time helpers renovated our beautiful new home, i was a single (ish) mommy for 6 months. And even thought it was hard sometimes knowing that poor Jay worked all day at his real work, then spent until 11 or later at the new house, it was worth it. He is proud of his work and he deserves the praise. We've had SO many of our new neighbors come in to see it. They saw it before we bought it when it was for sale and they were so discouraged about this house. Well when they met us, and told us about seeing Jay day in and day out working away they were curious (albeit nosy lol) to see what we (he) had done. So half my street has been on our home lol. It's ok thought, i love meeting new people and I have wonderful new neighbors. (although i do miss our closest "old" neighbors who will forever be in our life)

So here we are. In our new HOME. My crankiness in the beginning has been long gone and I'm rejoicing in our dream home.  I've met a few people recently who have said that the street I've moved to is one of the most beautiful streets. And they are SO right. It's gorgeous here and not a very busy street which is SO good to raise my girls on. I am looking forward to posting pictures when it's 1000000% done. When things are on the walls, and the girls mickey mouse playroom is done. Heck, even my 2 baby girls are happier here. For real. Toffee (my poodle) on the other hand is another story. He's SO depressed. Pitoune (my schnoodle) is doing ok since she's happy no matter what as long as WE are all together.

Here are some pictures of the same room. BEFORE, DURING and AFTER...

BEFORE BATHROOM

DURING BATHROOM

AFTER BATHROOM

AFTER BATHROOM

BEFORE KITCHEN

BEFORE KITCHEN

DURING KITCHEN 

 DURING KITCHEN

AFTER KITCHEN

 AFTER KITCHEN

So as you can see in the kitchen there are still doors to add but to be honest we are enjoying seeing what's in the cupboards haha.

I'd like to end this blog by thanking my Papa for making me see this house...I love you so much xoxo