When we bought our house we got a GREAT deal on it. Honestly I don't think now we could ever buy a house as big as we have for what we paid without needing a lot more work than our current house. We also bought our house knowing it was a project house. Maybe it was more a project than we had planned though. Truly our house is beautiful. It has so many wonderful windows. The ceilings are high on both floors. It just is very light and airy which Anthony and I love. It just is well over 100 years old... built around 1890. We had a grand plans when we moved in and so far we have a few of those plans. It has also needed so many other things like fence, furnace, new windows, lots of insulation, and just normal upkeep. The upstairs to us was a huge blank slate. We had plans to add another bathroom and master bedroom. We moved in when Eli was 8 or 9 months old and lived in the downstairs. The upstairs we didn't heat and it was just there.
Fast forward to spring and we both were ready for another baby. Now, I remember looking at this house and saying oh we can just paint the walls. Well my dear husband said now the upstairs plaster and lathe had to go. It is the old horse hair kind. At the time I just said ok whatever. He at that point had done a lot of demos on houses I knew he could handle it.
Fast forward to spring and we both were ready for another baby. Now, I remember looking at this house and saying oh we can just paint the walls. Well my dear husband said now the upstairs plaster and lathe had to go. It is the old horse hair kind. At the time I just said ok whatever. He at that point had done a lot of demos on houses I knew he could handle it.
I was just barely pregnant with Lilliana and we decided to gut these two rooms and go from there.
Hallway looking into half of the upstairs. To the left are stairs. To the right is an entrance to a bedroom. Behind is a wide short hallway.
First room that is as big as our dining room and looks exactly like the downstairs with a bedroom off of it.
Taken from other side.
Bedroom off of big room.
We began gutting and had lots of help from Anthony's brother.
Life happened with being pregnant and us realizing we may have bitten off more than we could handle in that short time before Lilliana was supposed to arrive. So honestly there it sat. It became a huge storage area and a gutted mess. We shut the door and it just wasn't talked about because it was overwhelming. We wanted to finish it. Oh we did, it just was so overwhelming. We couldn't agree on a floor plan and exactly what we wanted. We didn't "need" the space. Then Ari happened and well that was a huge surprise. Anthony and I had a lot of disagreements about getting it done. We just were honestly at a point in our marriage though that this entire project was such a sore subject. So basically it still got ignored. I didn't even pressure to have it done before Ari came although I wanted it to be done. I thought for sure it would happen within a year after Ari. It didn't. It was overwhelming having the 3 kids so close together and Anthony was working a lot. We could barely hold our heads above water it seemed mentally with 3 kids so young.
Finally 2014 we made goals to finish this upstairs. We wanted another baby as Ari was finally growing up and we were doing better. It just needed done. We didn't know exactly how it would work. Then the lead and window issue came about so this got put on hold again, but we got new windows which was another goal. My grandparents began talking about coming out. I actually didn't know if they would for sure. Life can come up and change things like it had in the past, but they were sticking to plans. My grandpa could help with the electrical which was the big thing holding us up. He also could help Anthony hang dry wall. In the mean time SURPRISE! I am pregnant again 6 months sooner than we had talked about trying. I told my grandma on the phone. I don't care what happens you have to come!! She just laughed and said they were.
Fast forward to October of last year and Anthony and my Grandpa came up with a plan for a big master bedroom and then homeschool/tv room. I was not expecting that at all because I just was planning a kids room. I was thrilled. They also ran electrical and put up drywall in a week. They worked so hard.
New Design, our bedroom looking into homeschool room
Finally 2014 we made goals to finish this upstairs. We wanted another baby as Ari was finally growing up and we were doing better. It just needed done. We didn't know exactly how it would work. Then the lead and window issue came about so this got put on hold again, but we got new windows which was another goal. My grandparents began talking about coming out. I actually didn't know if they would for sure. Life can come up and change things like it had in the past, but they were sticking to plans. My grandpa could help with the electrical which was the big thing holding us up. He also could help Anthony hang dry wall. In the mean time SURPRISE! I am pregnant again 6 months sooner than we had talked about trying. I told my grandma on the phone. I don't care what happens you have to come!! She just laughed and said they were.
Fast forward to October of last year and Anthony and my Grandpa came up with a plan for a big master bedroom and then homeschool/tv room. I was not expecting that at all because I just was planning a kids room. I was thrilled. They also ran electrical and put up drywall in a week. They worked so hard.
New Design, our bedroom looking into homeschool room
Hallway looking into homeschool room and our room.
What it looked like when my grandparents headed back on their long drive to Idaho.
Anthony has been working non stop since they left. He has gone to work early and come home to work many late nights. We have had some help from his brother and cousin which we are so grateful for. It has left me and the kids which can be challenging pregnant, but we have made it. Finally this past weekend we finished everything enough to begin moving everybody's room around and getting everything in place for the babies. We still need to pick out light fixtures and have some trim to install, but at this point we will do that later. We also have a bit of paint to touch up on trim. We just need to get moved. I am thrilled with how well it came out and my wonderful husband worked so hard. It is amazing how everything came together in just the right time.
Master Bedroom
Homeschool/TV room looking in from hallway.
View from other side of homeschool room
Now for decorating....I am waiting for my dear sister to come visit and decorate for me. The girl can turn any Pinterest project into reality and truly I am decoration challenged. She was influential in paint colors and flooring. Seriously, I am decoration challenged. Now that we have this huge project done I think we can breath again and move onto the next thing of replacing the carpet downstairs and the rainbow carpet upstairs. I can't wait to finally have a wonderful space to relax after the babies are born and not feel any pressure of the house not being done over my head!! We started with one baby and finally 4 babies later it is complete.
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