Green Street Progress

Our first renovation was Scholl Ave., our home together. The renovation took 13 months, and even at that, we never really finished. Our second renovation was Second St. I believe this project took about 7 months or so; though it was a shorter reno than Scholl, it was still longer than we had hoped. With each project, we learn more. Dustin and his dad are very clearly becoming more skilled, more patient (most days!), and more knowledgeable in all regards of house renos.

This weekend was our 3rd weekend owning Green St. In these three short weeks, demo was completed, rough electric is well on it's way and almost done, framing is complete, plumbing is complete, the heating system is up and running, a new shed is in place, new doors and locks have been installed and we are just about ready to drywall. I'm amazed at the pace John & Dustin are working! Here is some of the progress.

Below is a before and after of downstairs. From this angle, it is not so easy to see all the progress. Essentially, the necessary walls were removed, a new opening was created and framed for the kitchen, the ceiling fan was removed, rough electric is in and a new support post was put in place at the stairs.

Below is another angle of the kitchen.

The smallest bedroom in the back of the house is receiving a slight uplift compared to the rest of the house. The addition of a closet is the biggest change you'll see in this room.

Remember the front bedroom? Maybe if I mention the color pink it will jog your memory. I thought you'd remember.

I think my favorite change so far is what Papa John and Dustin were able to do with the wasted space upstairs. Check it out.

Remember the old bathroom? Well, it was a very tiny piece meal bathroom that actually blocked the stairs to the 3rd floor. The bathroom is long gone and is now an entrance to the third floor.

The third floor isn't large, but would make a neat little bedroom or a great office space.

Another great improvement happened outdoors.

I can't wait to see how much more progress is made in another three weeks! Keep up the great work guys!

Where's Grayson?

Meet Grayson.

Grayson is our sweet blue point Siamese cat. I researched the breed before we chose to buy one. Though the internet descriptions were accurate in describing that they're very social, vocal, enjoy high places and are active, there was no warning of how hysterical and entertaining they are. Both of our animals keep us incredibly busy and keep us laughing all day.

(Our other pet is Riley. I'll blog about him another day.)

In getting to know Grayson over the past (almost) 4 years, we've realized that he chooses to hang out in peculiar places. He especially liked hanging out in these places throughout our several months of moving with a lot of packing and unpacking. I started taking pictures of these moments and posting them on Facebook. So, as a reprieve from my usual posts, I am going to leave you with all of the "Where's Grayson?" pictures I've taken over the past year. Which one is your favorite?

Have fun!

It's Official. We're Flipping... Again.

Many of you may already know that Dustin, his parents, and I had flipped a house back in 2010. For those of you who didn't know that, now you do! In early spring 2010, we found a great deal on a foreclosed house in Emmaus. We bought it, we flipped it and we sold it in 2 days. It was a great experience; one that provided extensive and repetitive opportunities for learning. What I learned - We should flip again, but we should not flip in 2011. Dustin and I had a busy 2011 and we had anticipated that from the beginning. We sold our house, I graduated and was on a job hunt. Flipping a house just simply did not fit in to the time schedule. So, Dustin, being the amazing husband he is, very graciously agreed to not flip in 2011. 2012 rung in and on January 3rd, Dustin, his parents and I were looking at a new house and planning to make an offer. My man keeps his promises but without an extra second more! (His motivation and determination are 2 of a million reasons why I married him).

Sarah Stauffer (our phenomenal Realtor/Broker), orchestrated another sale for us. After some typical foreclosure obstacles, we settled yesterday.

Here's the new house.

It's a twin on a little street in Emmaus.

After crunching some numbers, we decided that instead of flipping it, we will likely renovate it and plan to keep it as a rental property.

As I had mentioned, we settled last night. Fortunately, Wes, Sarah's husband and owner of Wesley Works, was able to get before pictures. Though I was able to get to the house less than 24 hours after settlement, demo had already started... not to my surprise.

Demolition with Dustin and his dad looks like this.

And this.

The theme: Dustin destroys, Papa John cringes then Papa John cleans.

Now, let's take a tour.

Here is the downstairs. The whole downstairs. The view is from the front door through to the back of the house where the kitchen was and will be again.

And from the "kitchen" looking to the front of the house.

See those stairs? Let's walk down them.

Here is a tiny basement. We plan to put a toilet, washer and dryer straight ahead. The basement was not set up for a toilet. You know how you fix that? You dig a hole.

Yes, Dustin dug a hole... in the concrete.... a few hours after settlement.

Look up.

Yes, those are cob webs above you. Pretty gross, huh? Do you want to leave the basement? Okay, let's go back to the main floor and walk up to the 2nd floor.

At the top of the stairs, you look into a small room in the back of the house.

Pretty, isn't it? Now, turn around.

Do you know what room you're looking at? We're not sure either. It's an open space in the middle of the 2nd floor. It will be functional by the time we're done with it. Now, walk into that space and turn to your right.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, this bathroom absolutely takes the cake for the most creative, elegant, spacious bathroom we've come across thus far (insert sarcasm). As you can imagine, we plan to completely gut this bathroom and change the layout to create just a little more room.

Turn to your left and walk into the beautiful pink room in front of you.

I told you it was beautiful.

Finally, if you go outside, the driveway is jammed with 2 dump trailers full of demo and the remains of the shed.

And that completes the tour.

This is our 3rd house renovation. Crazy, right? My favorite part of the beginning of the renovation is learning about the house. How was it made? Who lived in it? It is impossible to knock down walls in an old house and not find something. So far, this is what we've found:

Walls filled with concrete.

Framing made out of logs with the sides shaved to make a straight edge.

And, a family's imprints.

We're very excited for this new project. We hope it goes smoothly, on time and on budget (does it ever?).

No matter how it goes, I will document the journey. Be sure to follow along.