Hi friends! I am swallowing my pride and showing you what my real life is like because I am DESPERATE. I feel like I am living a lie in having this blog because I am not crafty person and my house is....in need of some major help. If you didn't know this, I started this blog to save ideas of things I wanted to do and make when I got some time SOMEDAY!
This is the short of a VERY LONG story!!!!
When my husband and I were getting married, we thought about our future. My husband doesn't make a ton of money and if I ever wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, we knew we needed to buy an inexpensive house, preferably one that had a basement apartment in it. We live in a college town with many older homes that have basement apartments. We started looking and found a house that we THOUGHT would help us with our situation. It had a large upstairs (that needed work, but had so much potential) and a basement apartment (that needed A LOT of work) and a barn that had 2 bathrooms, a small kitchen a bedroom and a loft. Totally fun!!!! We bought it!
We feel like MANY things should have been disclosed to us that weren't. For example, it used to be a drug house. We are talking drug bust, SWAT team, prison time, newspapers and all! It had been flooded from the top of the 3 stories because it got foreclosed on and the people were mad. The roof in the barn leaked. And this is just the beginning. There were many things wrong. Yes, we did get an inspection, but some things don't show up when they are behind walls and ceilings or until you move in and start living there:( ALL of these things added some major unexpected costs and time that we were not planning for!
We rented out the upstairs, gutted the basement and remodeled it and lived in the barn for 2 years. When we finished the basement and our first child was born, we moved into the basement and lived for 2 years. Right before our second child was born, we moved into the upstairs. It has 5 very small bedrooms (the house is almost 100 yrs. old) and 2 full baths. I thought this would fit our needs for years to come.
The problem is that every room upstairs needs work too and by work, I mean tear down the lathe and plaster, insulate the walls, update the electrical etc.. SLOWLY, we have been going through working on the house. BUT it is overwhelming with 2 small children who want to be involved, a lack of money and time, and some problems that we don't know what to do about. My dream to be a stay-at-home mom, unfortunately, has not worked even with basement renters.
In order for us to work on our house and to do any sort of recreation activities or vacations or do anything beyond mere survival, I work 5 hours a day at a Montessori pre-school (and the kids get to come with me.) It is the best job I could think of having at this time. I could go back to work as a Special Education Teacher, but I would be gone 8-9 hours a day without my kids and be stressed and exhausted for 10 months of the year. I would make more money, but the money is NOT worth the trade off of letting someone else raise my kids.
My daughter keeps asking when we are going to move to a new house. I am embarrassed of our rough house. It's not decorated because it is not in budget. Some days I cry thinking "What in the world did we do to ourselves in buying this house?" It is overwhelming. The work is slow and sporadic. I feel like I'm drowning in despair some days. With baby #3 coming in 2 months, I just wonder how we are going to get anything done.
I could use help in any of the rooms. I have photos of four of the rooms that would love some Vintage Revival assistance.
This winter my husband put a wood burning stove into the fireplace. I wanted gas burning, but he won. This is what our fireplace looks like now. When you walk into our house, this is what you see! YUCK!!! It needs help. I will take any advice on what to do with it! Obvisiously, I need help decorating the mantle too!
Our front room is blah. Hand-me-down couches, one picture on the wall and my husband's huge bachelor lifestyle TV. That's it! This entry room needs some major help.
We've already done a few things to the upstairs bathroom, but you wouldn't be able to tell. The wall paper and paint is just so lovely (please sense the sarcasm). Most people think the bathroom has such potential. That's what I keep telling myself.
Don't be jealous of the paint job on the door! You could probably pull something like this off in your own home!!!
Oh Baby! This bathroom is HOT! The tub is on blocks because the clawfeet are missing! Sweet!
This is the room we are working on right now. It is going to be the baby's room. This is the before.
We knocked out the lathe and plaster. The kids love destroying the walls.
We put in insulation, updated the electrical and started hanging sheet rock! Unfortunately, we had to tear out the built in window seat because there was so much cold air coming in through it. It was open to the outside porch below!
I would love any help decorating this room. We plan to rebuild the window seat and put shelves up both sides of the window since it doesn't have a closet. Wouldn't a little board and batten look great up on the vertical walls?
We have "finished" my daughter's room and I even did a fancy striped paint job, but nothing is on the wall because I am afraid. I dont' know why I have a phobia of putting nails in walls. With just a few of Mandi's ideas, Cadence's room could be so cute!
