taking off the porch

Demolition is kind of theraputic and sad all wrapped in one. The porch has been the catch all of junk I wanted close at hand but not in the house. Here is where we ditched the muddy shoes, tools, work gloves, balls and outside toys. It was great in the winter as a second refrigertor. But what an eye sore. This is the door that we always used, but I died anytime anyone else used it. I realized as I was rejoicing of the departure of the porch that once upon a time someone (Most likely Great-Grandma Emily) was thrilled to see it being built. Someone spent money and time to make it well enough to last all these years and it fulfilled its purpose well.

Peyton, my youngest daughter, has said every day since it was torn down that she doesn't see why it had to go. She misses the comfort of routine and familiarity.

We spent a day taking out the parts that we wanted to keep, all the old windows --what treasures and some shelves. I don't think that I have seen it empty like that since the day we moved in. Jay had to screw the door between the house and the porch shut so we were could lock up at night. I should have had a video of all the times one of our youngest girls kept trying to get through that screwed shut door. Very funny!

Remodeling our old home

Living in a home that is close to a century old has alot of history and charm. It marvels me how it has changed from a home heated by wood stoves and an outhouse out back into a modernized home. Some of those modern amenities have been very creatively included. We have lived in our home for 13 years and most of that time their has been some kind of improvement in progress. Some are aesthetic; ie paint and carpet, but most have been in an effort to make the house more efficient. Insulation in the walls and attic, new windows and doors and Just two years ago we finally finished painting and carpeting the last bedroom. We made improvements as we could afford it and had time. The yard has been under transformation as well. The one thing that we had not tackled was the exterior of the house. We have talked about adding on for many years and figured there was no point in painting or siding until we added on. Well that day has come.

Some of the big needs for this old house were more bathrooms. Everyone seems to want the bathroom the same 30 minutes in the morning. A connected garage and more basement space would be nice and a wood fireplace; a good idea if there is a power outage. All the original chimneys are not up to code and unusable. The stairs to the second floor have always been a problem having to turn a very tight corner at the bottom. This makes it very difficult to move furniture upstairs.

After months of looking at all the pros and cons of the possibilities we finally got an acceptable plan that should take care of these little problems. And so we begin.