Well, hello there Blog!

So nice to meet you. My name is Lindy and this blog has been a long time coming! Finally, I am starting a blog to document all of the many projects and various happenings in our lives. The looming closing for our next renovation project (hopefully in the next week or so!) gave me the kick in the pants I needed to start writing and documenting our progress. I don't want to jinx myself by writing too much about it before it is actually legally ours, so more details about renovation #2 later!

For now, let's take a little historical walk down memory lane...

I should have started blogging a long time ago during our first historical renovation (did blogs even exist back then?) The first rehab was a brick Italianate triplex, originally built in 1885. The house that was the result of lots of blood, sweat and tears...and years.

LOTS of blood. Let's all have a moment of silence for my poor step-dad's nearly decapitated fingertip that was the result of a wayward saw. While you're at it, why don't we have another moment of silence for my husband's thumb, smashed and split open by a three-hundred-pound cast iron stove landing on top of it. And while you're in a somber mood, please pray that the ugly scarred dent in my shin disappears. The one that was caused by me falling into a heating vent hole. The one that has been uglying up my shin for six years with no sign of fading.

LOTS of sweat. Think endless hot and humid southern summer work days with 110+ degree temperatures, with no air conditioning, no windows, electricity or running water combined with stinky paint, dust, chemical fumes, and grimy bodies sweating to the oldies, hands swinging tools.

LOTS of tears. Think lengthy process of buying a dilapidated old house from a felon in jail who had no legal rights as a felon to sell a dilapidated old house, contractors that were no shows, contractors that stole money, break-ins and missing tools, failed inspections, rotten beams, leaks in brand new ceilings and water damaged brand new walls.

LOTS of years. It took seven years from start to finish to complete the renovations. Seven years! About six years longer than what my just-out-of college-and-naive-silly-stubborn-I-can-do-it-all-myself self thought it was going to take.

It was a true labor of love. Actually, it was all labor until it renovations were completed, so now that the hard work is done, we can safely call it love.

Here are a few exterior before/after photos of renovation #1.

BEFORE: Yes, this house was jacked up! And I mean that literally.






AFTER: Aaaaaaah, much better!




Was it all worth it in the end? Yes! Comparing photos of what the house looked like before to what it looks like now, the transformation still amazes me!  We have wonderful tenants who appreciate the architectural details that we so painstakingly preserved, and they have made their spaces lovely and their own. We learned so much during the renovation process and would do so much differently next time to save time, money and resources. Did we say we never wanted to do it again, not in a million years? Yes! But will we do it all again? Yes...next week! And we will do so many things differently. The next home renovation will be a piece of cake. Really. Really? Well, let's hope.