This is the house that Mike built....

Not really, though from the time we moved here in 1986 to the present, this house has been a work in progress and a royal pain in my side. The remodel from Hell that's like the energizer bunny and keeps going and going and..... you get the idea. It's truly a love/hate relationship. When we moved here 22 years ago, it was 'Grandma's House' and we were doing her a favor by taking care of it while she was in a nursing home. And Grandma was doing us a huge favor by helping a poor young family save some money to buy their first home. But, as life happens, sadly Grandma never got well and so we just stayed. It really was a blessing to live here. We paid the property taxes and slowly worked on the house to upgrade from it's 1910 existence to make room for our growing family.

Mike also was busy being a husband, father, college student, an employee, to becoming a business owner and serve at church. For 22 years, my husband has had to take on Goliath and as time and money would allow, Mike replaced practically everything!!!

In 1996, we became the official owners of the house. It had no foundation under much of it, the wiring was old knob and tube, insulation was newspaper, the windows were single pane glass, there were only two bedrooms and the heating system consisted of an oil stove that belched black smoke and covered us and the walls with black soot. Once, we had to all be tested for carbon monoxide poisoning! Most times I wished the house would just blow up, but as of late, my feelings have changed. You see, my house is growing. As of December 2006, what began as 800 square feet of livable space, is now over 1,200 and I don't feel so claustrophobic anymore.

Though the house isn't done, I can start to see the big picture, not just dream about it. I now have a large bedroom, a formal dining room and sitting area that I've decorated to my changing taste from country casual to simple sophistication. This month has been especially fun as Mike and I have made a few cosmetic changes around the house. We fixed up Kendal's old room so now when the kids come and visit, the three boys can sleep in there.

We also had the main room's ceiling painted. For almost 100 years the ceiling has been a dark brown, but now that the sunlight no longer enters this room, we decided that lightening the ceiling was the way to go and boy does it make the room seem bigger!
Our next project will be the walls where there once were windows. (Below) One wall is a pass through from the kitchen in to the dining room and then the other wall will have a tiny window at top to allow more sunlight in to the family room. One thing I've come to realize through the years is that you don't need a lot of "stuff" to decorate. Simple, good quality furniture, fabric, pictures and paint and WA LA! Your house is a home. I used to lament that my house was so small and it is, but it's made me keep only those things that are important, what we really need and are using. In retrospect it's been a nice "problem" to have! I love my new surroundings! Thank you Mike.