Our humble abode

The Outside

Who would buy this place? I mean, there's giant broccoli in the front yard?

We should have counted how many truck loads we took to the yard waste. I'm sure it topped 200.

Walking up to the front door on moving day. This is the look of pure blissful ignorance.

Stephen surprised me for my birthday and removed the broccoli. The house looked hideous after removing all the trees. It was time to do something about the off-center porch and ugly siding. 

We uncovered a hidden window

Stephen's porch design became the talk of the neighborhood.
We had many random people pull over and chat with us about our project.

This project was not accomplished without a lot of prayer. 

Home sweet home

Slip off your shoes and stay awhile...

The foyer and entry into the dining room the day we bought it 

Removing the nasty green carpet
revealed beautiful inlaid wood floors

 This is how the foyer looks today!

Hallway looking into master bedroom

This hallway was a huge project. Eight layers of
wallpaper covered much of the walls, including
the ceiling.

Hallway today looking into master bedroom

We decided to tear a wall out to make one large closet

 

The closet today

Master bedroom

            

A glimpse of the master bedroom today

The Pepto-Bismol pink bathroom

Upstairs bathroom ...what were we thinking?

After ripping the wallpaper off

Claw foot tub in need of much renovation

I don't know why I'm smiling

Newly renovated tub

Don't worry, he's not dead, he just feels like it.

No more pink!! 

Stephen designed and built the cabinets

Guest Bedroom

The Living Room

Notice they used the same construction sign orange for both
the guest bedroom and living room

We added these french doors

My favorite piece of furniture that Stephen has made

The last huge project we tackled was the remaining 2/3 of the lower level. This included the kitchen, the dining room, office, and bathroom. We gutted the entire area to the studs and redesigned the space. The first three pictures are what the space looked like the day we moved in. 

Standing in the dining room looking into the office area

Standing in the kitchen looking into the small bathroom

The kitchen, I'm standing in the doorway to the dining room

Ugh


D-Day

The dining room. To the right is the kitchen-we tore the wall out

Progress

We tried to keep our humor

We narrowed the entry into the office to make the space more usable 

Installing blue slate in the bathroom 

Laying down the mortar for granite slabs

Lots of cabinet doors!

We had our share of mishaps. This was the biggest one.
As we were installing the shower door, a screw driver fell out of
Stephen's pocket, bounced on the shower floor and shot
right through the door. I bawled.

The finished product

The little opening at the base of the nook is where kitty eats. There is
a secret passageway under this bench into the basement where she goes potty.
Spoiled much?

I hope you enjoyed my tour. It was a labor of love for sure. Lydie and Samson's room is the last room I'd like to show you. It's a work in progress, but hopefully soon we will have it completed and ready for little ones to sleep and play in.

Before 

After

Getting stuff organized

A little Haitian color

I'll be adding more photos as we progress. Your comments and questions are welcomed! Thanks again for stopping by!