Andrew+Bethany= :) the Life of the A&B Brown Family: Devereaux Way..Home Sweet Home;)

I have been putting off writing this post, and I'm regretting it because so much has happened since Ken Bell, our wonderful Realtor and friend showed us this home in September. The day we went looking with Ken and walked into this home, I will be honest......it wasn't jivin' with me. This house was built in 1949....and pretty much hadn't been updated since! You name it, it needed it! I will post pics of what we saw for a visual......

Here is the Front!

Front Room and Front Door

Dining Room

Front Room (Yes, the shelf is covering the window;) )

Kitchen

Master Bedroom View 1

Master Bedroom View 2

Basement (love the murals and shag carpet)

Upstairs Bathroom (I wish you could see the seashell embroidered on the toilet seat!)

Downstairs Bathroom

Backyard

Unfortunately, they didn't leave the swan :( But cute fireplace for s'mores!

There you have it. While I was lacking imagination (i blame it on my migraine that day), Andrew was way excited at all the possibilities. It was challenging to get past the fact that ALL the drapes were tacked to the baseboards, all of her stuff just swallowed you up upon entrance, carpet covered every surface, and there was definitely a late 1950's-faux wood paneling-avocado-orange shag carpet quality about it. But Andrew saw past it all. I am seeing a lot of both of our dads in him; handymen excited to have a project! He talked about it all weekend while we were tending Rob and Andrea's kids and convinced me to go back to the house and bring my folks along. So, we went over and immediately my mind started doing cartwheels! Yes, it is an old house that is very dated, but talk about a major before and after disparity! And for some reason, the more we talked about it, the more it made sense. We decided to make an offer! Right after we made an offer, we met some of the neighbors, who couldn't have been more enthusiastic about the neighborhood and all who live there. We both knew that this was going to be a friendly and safe neighborhood where we were going to make some good friends. 

Making an Offer 

Now....the waiting game. They counter-offered, then we counter-offered, and so on and so on. It's hard to put into words the experience of deciding whether or not to accept. We had a few days where we really wrestled with the decision. Were we ready for this big undertaking? We decided to walk away, feeling daunted by the whole idea. But an interesting thing happened.....we felt sick about it. As daunting as it was, the discouragement and the uneasiness we felt after walking away was worse. We both moped around our apartment all evening, and it was clear there was something not quite right. So we talked about it, got online and looked at other homes. Though many of them were nicer, newer, and less of an undertaking, none of them felt right and we kept going back to the Devereaux house. We knew we wanted it and we were going to make it awesome! After we called Ken back, it was like a huge burden was lifted off our shoulders! We have such a strong trust in Heavenly Father and the guidance of the Spirit, and the answer couldn't have been more clear. So, trusting in our answer, we pressed forward......and signed (what felt like our lives--talk about a lotta paperwork) away! 

The Plans

Once the house was ours (we closed November 2nd)we didn't hesitate to start our demolition plans. After a thorough inspection and several opinions from contractor friends, we knew the bones of the house were structurally good, but it was going to need some grounded electrical wiring. With only 50 amps going in the house, blow drying my hair and Andrew watching TV was going to be a constant blowout! The house had all of the original galvanized plumbing and we were going to be rearranging the bathroom and the kitchen, so we would need to change around some plumbing.The house also had the original windows, a few of which were broken and letting in a lot of cold air. The house is lath and plaster and no insulation, so that was another thing to think about. We found out there were hardwood floors under all the carpet, so we would need to refinish those. AHHHHHHHH! It seemed like the domino effect was getting out of control! But, we added up all the costs, realized we got a great deal on the house itself, and had enough cash to do what we needed to do. Keeping under budget is a constant process, but this is when I am personally grateful for a wonderful husband who not only works hard, but is organized to a T. Rather than hiring a general contractor, this was going to become our baby and we were going to master the DIY way of gutting the house and putting it back together! We decided to hire out only a few things--electrical, plumbing, new window installation, and insulation. The rest,we were going to learn how to do!

Demo Time!

When we initially looked at what we were hiring out and what we were doing ourselves, it seemed like the pros were going to be doing most of the work. But, after these past months, we have both realized that demolition is hard, long work! It's one thing to give cosmetic fixes, but it's another thing to get rid of all the old and prep for the new. I will forever be grateful for all those who came to our aid when we were in need. 4th quarter is the busiest time of year at my job, which meant working Saturdays. So, much to my disappointment of not being able to participate, Andrew headed up the project. Here are the wonderful people who helped!

Byron and Jennifer--Andy's Dad and Mom. Talk about heroes. Jennifer took down drapes and fought of the spider nests while Byron.....where do we begin? Tore up carpet, helped fur out the walls for rewiring and insulation, helped install sheetrock, went to town with the skill saw on the kitchen ceiling (I wish we had caught this on videotape!),helped my hubby bust out a wall in the kitchen, helped rip out the master closet, etc., etc., etc.! Byron has done soooooooo much, and we couldn't be more grateful for his time, expertise and wisdom! He built two homes of theirs, and is the ultimate DIY man!
Larry and Tammy--my wonderful parents. More heroes! Dad went to town with the power tools. For all who know my dad, this is no big surprise! If there is a tool to get the job done, my dad does not hesitate to bust it out of the garage or rent it from home depot! He rented a big hammer drill to help bust out the walls in the kitchen, which was a big timesaver. He also busted out the bathroom, much to Andy's surprise. This is definitely a side of my dad Andy is learning about! Dad also helped hang sheetrock and patch up holes in the walls. Mommy helped me in the not-so-glorious task of scraping old carpet adhesive off the wood floor. Troopers!
Adam & Jed Brown and Jake Hoyt--Andy's brothers and bro-in-law. These three came over with Byron on day one and went to town on old ceiling tiles, carpet removal, and ripping out whatever shouldn't be there. It was fun to see Adam and Jake race from one side of the room to the other with crowbars at the ceiling tiles! Adam and Jed also helped hang sheetrock with Byron, Andy, and my dad. Not easy work, but these guys were the bomb!
Jess and Jake Garrett--my sister and her hubby! Jess also came over on day one and helped remove carpet and carpet padding. Talk about smelly. The carpet padding had pretty much disintegrated into powder beneath the carpet or bound itself to the wood floor. She and Jake also helped out in the second bedroom by chiseling the old ceiling tile adhesive off the ceiling. I did part of this and it is tough! Jess and I also spent time trying to remove the carpet tack, staples and nails from the stairs. I don't know if it was just a quirky thing about the ones who built the house, but they went staple crazy. Lots of staples.
Stevo and Hughbie--my bros. They helped rip stuff out along with Dad. Stevo took one for the team and stepped onto a nail. Sorry buddy! Just throw another tetanus shot in there;).
Jeff Shaw, Drew Menlove and Bill Daly--our contractor friends. Someday, we will be able to hire these awesome professionals. They both came in and gave us wonderful advice. Jeff gave us some contacts for the electrical and the plumbing, Drew found us a sheetrock finisher, and Bill helped us find some good moldings, as well as answer my hundreds of questions.