How We Got Here

We bought our house in 2002 and at the time it was perfect for us. We were 25, engaged, no kids. We were looking for an older house but not too old, a little out in the country but not the boonies, enough of a fixer upper to make our own but livable. That's a tough list, but we found it the 1st week we started looking and bought it the first day it went on the market. She's a little pathetic looking at first glance but the potential was there.

All we really did the 1st 8 years was paint and put in new cabinets. It needed so much more but we just hadn't taken the time to do it. The main floor has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. It's a story and a half with the half part being more of a partially finished attic. It was kinda usable but in no way livable. The walls were wood paneling over falling down insulation. They guy that did this was a master with the paneling, even making closet doors and window sills with it. Really amazing in a really bad way. But it was fine for storage and a place for friends to crash in a pinch. When we decided to make a second person I knew we were going to have get on the horn with some shit around here since we were going to need a bedroom upstairs. Joe was not anything close to excited about tackling this. Stay tuned for more situations like this and learn all about my not so hidden talent of nagging and bitching.

It took over a year to complete, but we now have a playroom, half bath, and Fred's bedroom up there.

West end of attic before

Lofted area/play room after

East end, Fred's room before

East end, Fred's room after

So here's where things get tricky. All this work is done, Fred loves his new room, Barney is damn near 5 months old and finally moved out of our room and into Fred's old room, everything's great. Except for the fact that it's still too small. We grossly underestimated how much more room would be needed just to add 1 kid. Somehow we forgot how much shit kids come with. We should have known this dammit! And the littler they are, the bigger their shit. It's a lot of plastic shit people. Big plastic shit.

1/2 bath

           

We briefly considered moving. Quickly realized we would never find what we wanted in the location we wanted. What to do? WHAT TO DOOOOOO???? I barely made it through the last remodel with my sanity

so hey, let's turn that 1/2 story into a full story! That's right, we think it's a good idea to build a second story addition!!! Hop on the train to crazy town. I'm driving :s