The New Porch

Just to give you a little perspective, hubby and I have been in this house together for over 12 years. Hubby lived here with his five children for about four years prior. When we got together the house was only one level with two bedrooms. We're talking nine people in about 800 square feet! No, there is not a basement.

The dormer was started, but it took another couple years to finish. So, it's been about 10 years since stage one was complete. Then, we remodeled the main floor. What a project that was. We doubled the size of our kitchen and our bathroom and created a wonderful master bedroom. There are quite literally only two walls in our home that have not been touched outside of fresh paint. We're talking A LOT of work here people!

The outside of the home is the "final" stage. As if anything is ever totally complete when it comes to your home! I have been waiting FOUR years for the front porch to go up. I couldn't be more happy. Hubby and his buddy completed it in a weekend; over 30 hours of labor!

The remaining project for this summer is to add shutters to the windows and put a BIG star in that void to the right of the upstairs window. Talk about a face lift. Adrian's guitar instructor didn't even recognize the house when he came to give him his lesson after it was first finished. The complements abound, and we are ever pleased with the results.

What may seem obvious is that we have accepted the fact that there is no way we can move in this economy. We've gone from owing less on our house than what it's worth to owing so much more than what it's worth that we cannot even refinance. What a joke! So, our dreams of country life are on hold. Therefor, we decided to create an oasis with country charm right here in the city. Next summer will see the same thing done to our back deck. There is still gardening left to do for the summer that will hopefully produce enough food to put up and share with the local food bank. We'll see how it all pans out.