SO, Tyler and I bought a house! We had NO intentions of doing this so soon. We thought we'd look around for a while, throw out some low-ball offers, and keep our options opened while we built up a better down payment. Then we came across this little diamond in the rough. The price was a little high for our budget, but definitely low for the area and yard size. We crunched the numbers. Then we crunched them again. And again. Then we decided that it would be a hard first 5 years, but it would be worth it to be so close to family, and to have such a great yard for Jaxon and any future kids. (NOT pregnant....)
Here's the view from the back door, over the
front porch, at the laundry/storage room.
Here's a view back at the house from the "door" to the backyard.
This is the area just outside the doorway to the back yard.
From the back yard back toward the storage area.
This is our neighbors fence that has fallen into our yard
because of their tree roots, and all the CRAP they threw
back there. They basically said they couldn't afford to fix it. GREAT.
View of the back of the house. Master on the left,
Jaxon's room in the middle, spare room on the right.
Spare room on the left, windows in the front porch area
in the middle, and the laundry/storage on the right.
You can't even see the wall because there are so many weeds!
Side of the house.
I'm about the smash my computer to bits. I had three times this many pictures uploaded and now they're all gone...... This would be why I HATE updating my blog. I have to upload each picture individually, then they all upload backwards..... then they randomly erase themselves....
AAARRRGGGG!!!!
OK, I'm over it....
SO, all the water from our property and the neighbors property runs through our yard and under our house which makes the footings for the stilts settle. Bad news. To fix the problem, we had to regrade the entire yard, channeling the water AROUND the house instead of under it. To do this, EVERYTHING had to go. Not that we minded much! The only things we kept were the two living mango trees.
Here's the hole for the footing of the new wall.
The footing.
The new wall partially done. It's complete now, but I don't have a picture on hand.
The front yard partially demolished. That dumpster sat out front for weeks
because they kept shoveling more stuff into it from the yard.
The front yard completely demolished. The concrete walkway is gone.
The back yard. All those plants and the clothes line are gone.
We saved the clothesline to put up again later.
Here's a view into where I was standing when I took the last picture.
The storage/laundry in on the far right, front porch windows in the middle.
That bobcat BARELY fit down the side yard. The fence is
actually leaning into the neighbors yard more than it was before.
That citrus bush on the left ALMOST got to stay,
but it didn't work with the slope so it's gone now.
Corbin, being a boy and throwing dirt.
To keep the water traveling in the right direction they poured a sidewalk along the back of the house and all the way down the side, after tearing up the old ones.
The concrete pump had to go all the way over the mango trees!
Here's the back pad, all ready to be poured.
Yeah for a ew back porch/ laundry area! There will be a roof
covering the porch so we can sit out and watch Jaxon play in the yard.
There will also be a 3' wall on the right to hold the footings together.
There were also stairs poured so we can go out the back fence and around the block to the park, but I don't have a picture of those yet. Next we put in sprinklers and a lawn.
Here's the inside of the house, when we bought it.
The hallway, facing the bathroom from the Master bedroom.
The living room, this wall is the back side of the closet in our bedroom.
Living room. The big window on the right has a GORGEOUS view of the mountains.
Master Bedroom
Kitchen. See that counter? That is THE only counter.
Bathroom
My cousin Billy rescued these trees from the back yard before demolition.
Those plumerias on the right may not look like much right now, but they will!
All the doors in the house getting a new coat of paint on the front porch.
Thank goodness for helpers!
NEW PAINT!
Looking from the kitchen into the hallway closet.
The door to the Master bedroom is on the left.
The bathroom.
New light fixture!
The kitchen. I started loading the cupboards before I realized I needed a picture.
The fridge is most likely going to stay there and
we'll put a new counter top in it's place around the corner.
The spare bedroom/office.
The trundle is always opened!
Around the kitchen corner.
See the dirty spot on the floor? That's where the fridge used to be.
The new stove (flat top!) goes on the right, the new portable dishwasher on
the left, then a new cupboard/counter top in the middle, hopefully.
The peel and stick tile will be coming up and new cherry laminate will go down. YEAH!
Daddy feeding Jaxon in the living room. See the wall and trim color?
Jaxon's room!
All the rooms got new ceiling fans. THANK GOODNESS!
Yeah for a new house!
