It's an investment, right?

Who doesn't want a new or newer house? We moved into our 66-year-old house in July 2000. It was the home my husband, John's parents lived in during the late 1970's. We looked at it a few times with his mother, Posie, when it would go on the market, for "old-time's sake". The house needed updated, walls moved, 70's leftover decor out, etc. We loved the established neighborhood on a half-mile circle in a desired location between two creeks, but the house wasn't impressive - then. A few years later, we went to another Posie-insisted open house on it and found the house had been purchased to flip. The buyers had done the remodeling we would have wanted, complete with moving appropriate walls. As Posie told others at the open house to disinterest them, "We are REALLY interested in this house. You might look somewhere else." And she wasn't wrong. We were interested. Realtors and buyers were not hot on showing or looking at the house because it previously needed so much work. No one was aware it was a flip. The price was surprisingly good, and we jumped.

Twenty-four years later, the remodel was ready for its own remodel. Any thoughts we had about moving to a newer home quickly diminished. We love(d) our house, neighbors and neighborhood; it's like no other. So, we discussed and envisioned, of course like all homeowners, what we would do if we got the chance to remodel and the stars aligned in more ways than one. Late December 2023 we met with our contractor who happened to be a neighbor through his parents a few doors down and showed him our wish list. Let's just say it was more than the Christmas wish list I had as a child with the allotted five things you could wish for, less if you wanted something really good. ha We had a good conversation with him and were given homework to go with our wishes. Decide on this. Find that. What about this? His schedule was booking into May, which was fine with us because I was teaching full-time. We calendared it to start June 3. We had our budget in mind. Could we do it? Let the games being!

Initial Plan: 1) Flooring: Take up tile flooring in hall, entry, den, kitchen, laundry/pantry and replace with laminate or vinyl wood. Not wood or tile? Diagonal checkerboard matte porcelain tile in laundry/pantry. (It has to be!) What do we do in entryway?

2) Kitchen: Paint original kitchen cabinets white. Just outside or inside, too? Decide on new pulls/knobs. Replace ceramic tile countertop with black and white-veined quartz or granite. Which can I afford? Subway on backsplash. Remove lighted ceiling boxes and replace with canned lighting, pendant bar lights and under cabinet lighting.

3) New kitchen appliances.

4) Additional lighting: Remove ceiling fan over dining table and replace with chandelier. Remove ceiling fan in living room and replace with chandelier. Replace ceiling fan in den. Change hall/laundry lighting fixtures.

Our Homework: 1) Decide on wood flooring. 2) Decide on tile flooring. 3) Meet with countertop guy to decide what. 4) Backsplash tile. 5) Lighting fixtures. 6) Kitchen appliances for measurements.

But does it stop here??? Stay tuned for next steps in this journey and links to where we found ALL THE THINGS. xoxo