The House...aka..."The Money Pit"

Good Rainy Monday. It is a gloomy, stay inside, play hooky (sshhh) and drink coffee kind of day around here. I've decided to begin sharing my story with you about the home remodel we've been undergoing for over 1 year.

My story begins with our growing family of 5 living in our "starter home". We had outgrown this cozy 3/2/2 house after the birth of our son (munchkin 3), and decided we would be on the look-out to upgrade in house. After looking for several months without any luck we put the house-hunt on hold.

I need to insert a small detail here: My husband and own a landscape design/build company and our business sits on 8 acres of land. On a portion of this land is an old ranch style home that was built (hodge-podge) circa 1965. The home was in terrible shape..literally we had already agreed to bulldoze the home. However, the land is absolutely beautiful with mature Oak trees and lots of room to "grow".

After coming to the decision that we weren't finding anything pre-built that we felt that warm fuzzy feeling over - we had an idea. How about remodeling the old ranch home that sits on our business property and making this our home. It seemed like a genius plan since we worked on location and the kids practically "lived" at the office anyhow, plus think of all the fun and games they would have on 8 acres of land. So the idea began to take shape. We placed our current home on the market for sale in September 2010 (thinking it would take 6 months or so to get a contract) and began working on the ranch home. We started by having a demo party :)...my husband loved this. Being the creative mind that he is - this was just the thing he needed to exert some of that creative juice he had stored up. The current floor plan began changing, walls were being taken out, ceiling heights being raised - all in his mind and on paper. I had always dreamt of an East coast meets Southern Living kinda pizazz in my home so this was also a very exciting move for me. I was busy ripping out magazine pages and creating my Houzz idea book. So began the exciting adventure. Below are a few 'before pics of the home' I'll leave you with these to ponder for now. I hope you get as much of a kick out of them as I do....WOW is all I can say.

Exterior Ranch house (Fall 2010)

Exterior rear view (Fall 2010)

Living/Den

Stairs in Entry

Hall Bath

Bedroom 1

Master Bedroom (check out the cathedral ceiling!)

Master Bath

Master Shower (WOW)

Laundry/Back Entry

Game Room

Kitchen (Some demo had started)

Kitchen

There is the first glimpse into the Monster we had taken on. Trust me. Do.Not.Try.This.At.Home.

When folks hear our story...they always mention the old movie 'The Money Pit' starring Tom Hanks. I've not seen the movie to this day, but can only imagine and sympathize with the title.

Stay tuned for more laughs, ooohs and aaahs on this adventure....