Before:

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any pictures of our house when we moved in other than this one that is still existing if you looked it up on google maps.

Since then we added a cedar fence, a wrought iron gate, did a ton of yard work including taking out and adding trees. We also put up a gable, and recently had a new roof put on, along with a fresh coat of paint.

After:

There are SO many things I have loved about this back yard. I will miss the rose bushes that I had clipped from for my friend when she was in the hospital. I will miss the Gladiolas I had photographed for a college project, and the Daffodils that come up right around my daughter’s birthday.

I will miss the pecan trees that I was so eager to harvest from that my in laws gave me a nut cracker, and I put it to good use. I will also miss all the beautiful crepe Myrtle trees, which our city is known for, and I loved them even after my son fell out of one and had to get 5 stitches.

I can’t forget the fig tree that my mom and I made jam with.

or the smell of Wisteria especially when I was pregnant.

and my favorite, the Redbud tree!

All this talk about plants make it sound like we lived in the master gardeners utopia which is not the case at all. Our back yard was pretty simple. We didn’t do any gardening we just let the plants do their thing. These perennials, which were part of the package when we moved in, were faithful to bring us delight year after year. I guess if you were to sum up what I loved the most about this yard, I would have to say- Life!

I’ve blogged quite a bit about our big kitchen remodel!

Before:

What We Did: The first thing we did of course was tear out the carpet. We didn’t tear down all of the walls in these two areas because we only insulated exterior walls. We did however patch up some holes, refinish the floors, paint, add new crown molding, light fixtures, and window treatments. The cool thing about the light fixtures is that when we knew we were going to sell the house I came across a yard sale a couple blocks from my house. They had a whole stash of new oiled bronze light fixtures. The lady told me her something about her son being an electrician and some yadda yadda that I didn’t completely get, but what I did understand was that this meant jackpot for me. I texted J a picture to make sure he approved and he said to load them up.

I spent $30 and replaced all the old lighting in our house just like that. The only problem was that the chandelier in the dining room had no globes. However, I was pretty excited when I came home one day to find that J had installed the chandelier with 5 matching globes that were an exact match with the amber glass from the other lights that we had purchased and he got them for 75 cents each at a local thrift store.

He’s handy and thrifty (that’s my dream guy).
After:

What I’ll Miss:I will definitely miss all the built in stuff like the bookshelf in the dining room and phone nook at the end of the hallway. I wish I could just take them with me, but then obviously they would not be built in anymore would they? Oh well.

The BedroomsBefore:
What We Did:We did pretty much the same thing in all the rooms. Took out the carpet, stripped the windows, tore down the walls. Then we insulated, put up new sheet rock, mudded, refinished the floors, painted, added the trim, crown molding, and updated light fixtures. After:

What I’ll Miss:One of the things I think I will miss the most about these rooms are all of the windows. I had to fight tooth and nail to keep those windows. They are one of the things that made me fall in love with the house in the first place. And while they may not be the most energy efficient, in a town that is known for its historic homes and climate changes that aren’t severely drastic, we can get away with keeping them. I also love our Ikea blinds which sadly are staying with the windows. My brother asked how we were able to find custom sized blinds for these antique windows at Ikea. I naively assumed we lucked out, but I was wrong. J cut the blinds to make them fit the specific sizes. So anyway, I thought I would set the record straight on that. This photo is of baby SJ looking out of her bedroom window at the snowfall last year. I don’t know a lot about the buyers of this house, but they are a young family and I am so excited for all of the moments that they will share looking out these windows; at the birds, at the sunset, at daddy’s car pulling in the driveway. Blessings on their family.

I posted an album on Facebook of the before and after photos of our house. I was so overwhelmingly encouraged by the response. My favorite comment was:

I don’t know about a Television show, but a blog series maybe? Over the next 2 weeks that I have left here in this house I want to highlight some of the work we’ve done in the past 7 years. Let’s start with… The Living Room What It Was Before:What We Did: We gutted this entire room. Took out the carpet, stripped the windows, ripped out the tile, tore down the walls. Then we insulated, put up new sheet rock, mudded, refinished the floors, painted, added the trim and crown molding. We also retiled the fireplace using black slate which matches the flooring in the kitchen . It all sounds very Extreme Home Makeover, when in real life this process took 7 years! We did a little at a time and didn’t finish until it was for sale. Reality shows are nice, but reality checks are even better.
What it is now:

What I’ll Miss: There are a lot of things I love about this room, but I guess one thing that stands out is the fireplace. It’s gas and we’ve never used it, and for the longest time it had no tile and it needed to be painted. It was the ugliest focal point to ever grace an even uglier room, but it held our artwork, stockings, and family photos with pride. I don’t know if we will have a fireplace in our next home, but I hope we do.

We have 20 days left until our closing date and we will probably be out of here a tad sooner if things go as planned. It’s impossible to fit in one last time dining at each of our favorite restaurants, or photograph every little thing we want to remember, or go on one final outing with each and everyone of our friends, but I want to do as much as possible. Other than our obligations for moving and my job, we are trying to soak up every bit of life in Texas as we know it.

The past 10 days have been quite the waiting game. The buyers had an inspection done, then they had a contractor come out to review some specific things, and in the mean time we had other people looking at the house and more hopeful people interested in the house, but no one that could put in an offer because we are under contract. Then tonight we got the repairs list and began to battle. The whole exchange is a lot like gambling you don’t want to loose everything from being too greedy, but you also don’t want to be too hasty and miss out on something greater.

Preparing our house to go on the market and giving it a complete makeover was one of the most labor intensive, mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting things I’ve ever gone through. The holidays came and went and it wasn’t until the very end that I even recognized that it was December and people are still celebrating Christmas despite the fact that we are moving. The finances are so tight we didn’t even buy presents for each other or anybody else. Bah-Humbug! I had feelings of doubt and despair and I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. I was just praying for a breakthrough, and it came about a week ago.

It started on Wednesday when the realtor came to give us papers to sign and put a sign in the yard. We may not have been completely ready, but we went for it, and it was such a relief knowing we just transitioned from preparing to selling. That same day I got a call from my boss telling me she wanted me to come up to the office that day. My heart was pounding, She heard that we are moving and is letting me go. I can’t leave yet, we need this job until we move, I thought. When I arrived to meet her she immediately led me outside and acted very discreet about our rendezvous. She handed me an envelope and said it was off the record. She told me they are not supposed to give bonuses to free lance employees (and never have in the 5 years that I’ve been there), but she wanted to anyway. My heart leapt. Not only was I excited about the bonus, but I was just relieved to still have a job. Later that day SJ had left me a little surprise of her own in the toilet. I was in disbelief at the idea that she climbed up on the pot all by herself and took care of business when I wasn’t even thinking about working on that with her at all! I quickly went to wipe her and long story short, she potty trained herself in one day and has been wearing panties, which for all you mom’s out there or anyone that maybe read about what I went through with Z, you know what a breakthrough this is.

Although I had been a bit of a Scrooge this year and wasn’t looking forward to any festivities in the end we had an amazing Christmas

and while we were away visiting with family, various people would come to look at the house. In all of this I am just thanking God and grateful for the peace that I felt so distant from in this past season. I know there are more hurtles ahead in this journey to Kentucky, but for now I am just resting in this place that I’m at.

I was feeling normal. All was well again. I could listen to Christmas music without resentment. I could stop working and worrying, and just enjoy time with my kids.

I was staying up late because of playing competitive card games with friends and not because we were trying to finish grouting the bathroom.

Then Tuesday came along. The realtor called and I put him on speaker phone for J to listen in. He asked if we were ready to sell the house. Then he announced that we had an offer. J and I looked at each other. Then he shared that it was for our asking price and we gripped hands and I bit my lip to keep from squealing. After hanging up the phone we jumped around and J scooped me up in his arms and just kept on jumping. It was like winning the super bowl.

So yesterday the realtor came by again for us to sign more papers, less than a week from when we signed the first ones to put it up for sale. We still have to go through inspection, appraisal, and funding (although the buyers are already approved and putting a good amount down, so that shouldn’t be a problem). Anything could happen, but I am confident in the sale and if it all goes through we will be moving in about a month.

Now I can look back at this time in my life and know that the word the Lord gave me was absolutely true,

sometimes it’s the pressure that leads you to breakthrough.