Feels Like Home to Me

As most know, at least by now that is, Beau and I embarked on quite a journey pertaining to our first home. When Beau and I began dating five and half years ago we candidly spoke of what our vision was for "our" home. Those "One Day" conversations almost always encompassed what we would refer to as our little beachy cottage. I did not grow up in a tiny little home but it always felt so comfy! I remember always telling Beau that one day I wanted a little cozy home that had a quilt thrown over the back of the couch(more on that in a moment) to snuggle with even during the summer. Just a place where our friends and family could take their shoes off, fix themselves a glass of tea or lemonade, snack, spill stuff, just BE. I also remember thinking I did not want a brand new house. Nothing against new homes...believe me I realize there is certainly something to be said for a New home!!.... But that just wasn't me...it wasn't Beau, just not at this point in our lives at least. For those wondering little minds...a side note about the quilt thing: Throughout my entire life in our home if you were cold you covered up with a quilt. Not just any quilt though. Quilts that were handmade by my Nanny and Big Nanny(Great Grandmother) as well as other family members. SO with that being said, quilts as silly as this sounds, are a big part of my life. OK now with having that out... when Beau and I first started dating and we were in that snuggle on the couch and watch a movie stage(come to think of it... we are still there) pre-wear warm clothes or at least comfy clothes stage... we were at his parents in their living room and I was freezing! Beau went to the trunk and pulled out none other than a QUILT!! for me to cover up with. I jokingly tell folks that is when I knew I would marry him! (But in a way I am not joking) Ok enough about that. Now back to the cozy.comfy. house. Last summer when Beau and I got engaged we were trying to figure out where in the world we would live. One week prior to our engagement night I was hosting a lingerie shower at my cousins home in Columbiana (Shelby County for those who were wandering were that might be). So one of my other cousins knew I was in the home market and told me about a cute little house that was across the street from Alana's. She said it had been empty for about four or five months and that it was probably going into foreclosure. For those who do not know anything about the process... once a home is in the beginning of the process it can take several months to actually get to the point where the home is up on the market. So we waited and waited and waited. Then one day we realized it had been listed. The kicker is our house was a HUD foreclosure meaning the person who was foreclosed on had an FHA loan. SO this meant major hurdles for us! Little did we know at that point. HUD goes a little something like this, the house goes on the market for a listing price, you bid a "closed bid" meaning you don't know who you are bidding against...if anyone. Then eventually after I think 10 days they list the highest bidder....and boom you are now in a whirlwind of excitement and emotions as you have 48 hrs to fill out all paperwork (contracts etc) and have it turned back in. YEP 48 HRs. Talk about stressful!!! I will never forget those 48 hrs in my life. We wanted this little house from the moment we stepped foot inside. We saw past the nasty, the neglect, and the wear and tear. We knew this house had potential. So as you might have guessed....we were the highest bidder!! We closed on the house the end of Sept. 2007 and our work began. With the help of my very talented dad (McGuyver as Beau affectionately refers to him) and older brother Josh, mom, Taylor, Tyler, Sydney, Tyler W., Lindsay and a few others we started renovating our little house. It took approx. 7 months. So before I show the pictures of our house now I thought it would be fun to show those who care pictures of the raw...BEFORE. Do not worry my friends I did not sleep in this house until much much later. I don't think you will recognize it once I show the after the after pictures. Please enjoy. Go ahead you can laugh...we do...Often! We joke if we don't laugh and had we not laughed we would have cried. Well actually, we did cry. It was a long journey. But well worth it. I will post updated photos tonight. Feedback palease!







These are posted a little crazy but this was the view from the hallway looking into the dining room. There were only 2 closets in the entire house. The right side of this picture is where the huge hole in the floor was where the washer set, and on the left was the dryer. Nice I know.


This is picture of the guest room which we refer to as the "blue" room. Mainly because it is blue. This is the room where I lived until Beau and I got married. Sometimes we still sleep in there because there is a tv. We haven't quite been brave enough to move the cable by ourselves.


This is our "master bedroom" Yep the walls were purple. And there were places were you could literally see to the crawl space through the holes in the floor. YIKES.
This is a view of the hallway from the guest room/blue room doorway. The floors were peel and stick fake parque. That was a fun night when B and I decided to demolish that crap. It took about 3 hours to pull up. Should have left it down. You could see the ground when we pulled it up.
Ok this is the infamous Green bathroom. TOO bad I don't have the picture of the wall that had the "my pond friends mural" on the wall. It was AWFUL!!
The front of the house.
Kitchen from the den. This is taken from the now island in between the kitchen and den. The only soure of light in the kitchen was that nasty ceiling fan.
This is a picture of the den from the kitchen. Please notice the "built-ins" Beau actually liked those! Yuck
This is taken from the doorway of the green bathroom. This is the backside of the den.Closest to the kitchen
This picture is taken from the doorway in the kitchen looking into the front of the house into the diningroom first and then the living room. These walls are tongue and groove wooden boards. The floor looks pretty but it was sooo thin because it was actually the subfloor. Therefore our insulation sucked. Also there was No trim, no crownmolding etc. You could barely tell where the floor ended and the walls began. Our house was built in the 1940's so you can imagine the character marks it has! Can't wait for you to see the updates. Can you??