It just needs a little love: November 2015

Sunday, November 22, 2015

The Game Plan

Sent to us from Ben's dad during one of our exploratory visits. He told us how much the boys needed this farmhouse. I guess we couldn't say no to them.

Taking a few steps back here to talk about the original plan. Like I said, we fell in love with the farmhouse and decided that, with the exceptions of the utility needs and the addition we wanted, the rest of the house really just needed some general updating. The bones were good. It was “move-in-ready” once we had a toilet we could properly flush, you know, from an environmental standpoint. Keep in mind, we have pretty low standards, really. We were fully prepared to move in and do most of the updating while we were living there. It's probably a good thing the insurance guys were doing their jobs and stopped us from doing so.

I digress. We bought the farmhouse “as is” but even so, we wanted an inspection, just to make sure we really knew what we were dealing with. The home inspector came on a stunningly beautiful Tuesday in July. And he stayed for six hours. SIX. When I first met him there at the agreed upon time, he'd already been there for an hour poking around. He had nowhere else to be that day, apparently. He was so very nice and also very hesitant to tell me how bad things were. As soon as I explained that we were not looking to flip this house and truly wanted to live here, raise our kids here, do the “right” things to get the house “livable”, he flipped a switch and started doing some real talk. When Ben came to relieve me and (let's be serious) provide some credible insights and answers to the inspector's questions, he was only halfway done. Imagine my surprise when Ben texted me three hours later that he was finally on his way home. He sure was thorough, and though I jest, we are so thankful.

There were absolutely no surprises in his final report, as we were expecting the worst. Once we had the report and an initial bid from our contractor, who probably still doesn't know what he got himself into (because of me, not the workload), we decided on the following plan:

Completely replace existing roof (to keep rain and snow out of the house)
Dig around foundation, install drainage and regrade exterior (to keep water out of the basement)
All new electrical service (to avoid fires)
Gut and re-frame the downstairs bathroom floor (so that we won't fall through the rotted joists)
Replace all windows (it was drafty)
Replace all siding (it was rotting)
Replace septic tank and install new drainfield (I still don't get why people care so much. JK)
Add a two-stall attached garage (because we live in Michigan. Sidenote: I was not happy when I woke up Saturday morning to 4 inches of snow on my car. This is the first winter I have had to park outside in 8 years...as we have too much stuff in the garage at the rental. End rant and que the sad violins. I realize how incredibly spoiled I sound, in case you were wondering.)
Finish the space above the garage to add a master suite, turing the farmhouse into a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath spectical (this part is a splurge. We would have been happy without it, I'm sure. But mama bear needs some alone space somewhere, and it wasn't coming from the basement.)
Converting the attic space above the existing kitchen into a family room, tying the master suite into the existing upstairs roofline (this was a happy bonus I didn't realize was happening until much, much later in the process. I do NOT have an architectural understanding of anything. My contributions to this are purely demo and decorating.)
Add a mudroom off the garage (because I live with boys, and now they have land and clay)

Let's keep in mind that this is Phase I, and really doesn't address ANYTHING in the existing house. BUT this is what the bank is paying for so this is what we are focusing on now. 2016 will hopefully bring some life to the tired, 130 year old structure.

As God would have it, the house appraised for an amount high enough to warrant all of these renovations. Remember when I said before that we needed people to believe in our dream in order for it to happen? The appraiser is one of our farmhouse angels. We almost cried when we found out he got to basically the exact number we needed. Don't worry sir, we won't make you look foolish. This place is going to be legit.

Here are a few happy pics before I get real for a sec:

Dudes hanging on one of our after Sunday morning church visits

If you look really closely, you can see Ben and his bro-in-law Mike hiding in the corn while Mike's friend Mike takes down a tree.

This is seriously moral support at its finest. "Mommy I'm sorry but I peed a little on Ellis' shoe..." Oh Lord give me strength.

Okay, real talk, because I want to remember these moments so we never do this again. Kidding?

The house is an absolute disaster right now. I know that things generally have to get worse before they get better, but it was BAD this week. Remember when I said I don't really understand architecture? It didn't occur to me that in order to finish off the attic space, we also needed to demo some of the space beneath, mainly the ceiling to expose the joists. I hope that's the right word. The attic is above the kitchen (which remember, we are NOT updating right now for a few reasons...first, we aren't supposed to be doing anything outside of the bank-funded renovations right now so that they can protect their investment. I get that. I really do. And two, a kitchen is such a big undertaking, we wanted to live there for a little bit to really understand how to rebuild it to fit our needs and wants, because we'll ultimately start from a blank slate there. And honestly, the kitchen was fine before! Not what I would choose but it was fully functional.) In order for the kitchen ceiling to come down, the upper cabinets had to come down. And then the bulkhead had to come down. And then for some reason, the drywall on the walls had to come down (I still think Ben just got sledge-happy here, but he tells me otherwise). So now the kitchen is basically gutted with the exception of some base cabinets and the appliances (which are covered in dust and insulation and maybe asbestos). And just to reiterate, I did not think this was going to happen now, so it was a little shocking. It also has to get built back up enough to pass final bank inspections so don't even get me started on how we do that without just wasting money until we REALLY re-do the kitchen. These are real problems, people!!

Kitchen before. It just needs a good cleaning, we said.

Kitchen three days ago. Crap.

We got into our first fight on Friday night about this. I'm almost positive this was one-sided. It really ruined my attitude on Saturday, and the snow on my car didn't help (see point 8 above). And Colter legitimately beat me three times playing Candy Land and I do not like to lose. But Ben and my dad put in some tough hours on Saturday to clean everything out of the kitchen. (My dad really is a trooper and Ben was so grateful for some extra hands. I'm hoping he provided some sage wisdom, as I am my mother's daughter and he has survived many a renovation with her). All of the attic insulation is in its proper place in the dumpster, along with all of the drywall remains and most of the plaster lath. My mood was still pretty sour, admittedly. But then we had a Thanksgiving potluck last night with Ben's mom's side. Food always helps, and so does perspective. Then Ben made some charming remark about something when we were trying to get ready for church at little bathroom vanity we share at the rental (this is also new...we haven't shared a bathroom in 6 years) and I decided I loved him again. All is good, for now.

I do feel like the worst might be over for a little while. At least with all of that nasty stuff out of there we don't have to be as careful about keeping the boys out, which means I can be over there more too to make sure Ben is properly supervised. He's really excited about that.

In case it's not clear, Ben is really doing a great job with this project and I'm so thankful he keeps my crazy in check. But sometimes mama bear just needs to be crazy, and I think he understands that too.

Praying the nice forecast brings some progress before Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Extreme Makeover - Reuschel edition

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

So I was mowing lawn.

That was really when a sense of peace came over me that it was okay to move forward with the farmhouse. I was listening to a Chip Ingram podcast; Your Divine Design. It was early July and I was all caught up on fantasy football podcasts. So I decided to listen to Chip. (My priorities are not always where they should be. I’m working on it)

Part one of his message is about “extreme makeovers” and taking something old and making it new. The idea of remodeling a farmhouse and yard is a romantic one. And I’m romantic. Carolyn says so all the time. Well sometimes. However, there is a time when the starry-eyed lover needs to put down his box of chocolates and pick up a 4-pound sledge. And a chainsaw. And a dust mask. It takes just hours to fall out of love and realize that the notion of renovation is easier on HGTV, in 60 minutes.

We were comfortable in our mid-century ranch in Zeeland. Over the last six years we had addressed most of the updating. It was spacious but small enough to manage. Big enough to still get cluttered but modest enough to handle in an evening’s time. Leaving the ranch for the farm would require a leap of faith. And a lot of sweat.

I grew up with a father and mother whose primary hobby was working on the property. They had purchased a farm and some acres, overgrown and dilapidated, from family. My father was always willing to include me in any remodel event or chore even though it undoubtingly slowed him down. Significantly. This is not lost on me as I watch our two sons grow and shadow me. I have always wanted my own chance at saving a farmhouse. And to do so with my trophy wife, obstinate children, and poorly behaved dog.

Every day that passed in town made it harder and harder to move. It got more and more comfortable. To be honest: too comfortable. I had heard once, probably from Chip, that God does not call us to be comfortable. He calls us to have faith. In Him. Not in things, circumstances, or property. As I sat on the mower this July afternoon I felt God saying, “it’s okay to pursue this, in fact, I will provide you with opportunities to trust Me”. That’s another romantic idea, sermon point, and Bible study fodder. But genuinely praying and having faith in Him on this was intimidating and daunting.

I cannot say for sure when I noticed the farm house but the first time I took intentional action to look into it was this past spring when I was hauling Dad’s rototliler home one Saturday evening. I was using the small utility trailer my grandpa Reuschel had built many years ago. It has low speed bearings in the hubs so I try to keep road speeds below 30 miles per hour. The most direct route from the ranch back to my parent’s house took me down 104^th (Ottawa County) to 50^th St (Allegan County). And, as fate would have it, I stopped just prior to the stop sign approaching 146^th avenue to check the tie downs and ensure the hubs hadn’t seized. As I walked back to the Acadia I took a second to notice a ramshackle old manor just off the roadway. The spring growth on the grounds was dynamic and the house was alluring. It was unmistakably unoccupied. Places like this in a location such as this are few and far between. I filed it away in the places that guys like me file things away; and carried on.

As Carolyn outlined earlier, we put some feelers out there but mostly carried on with life as is. Then my mom texted us a picture of a “for sale by owner” sign. I knew immediately what this was concerning. Car and I were downtown Holland at the street performers. What struck me that Car was interested as well was the fact that she offered to drive home so that I could call the numbers. To me that meant she was in on it too.

It was hard for me to get on board with moving. We had a great house with better neighbors. I had cable, DVR, and high-speed internet. Our road was plowed every morning by 6:45am. The city picked up my leaves and we never lost power. And there would be so much work. I went through the house with three contractors and numerous other subcontractors. Each contractor brought up the price to knock the house down and start over. On their own. A couple subs mentioned “lead paint” or some other licensing limitation that would preclude them from the work. I get it fella.

And then there was the septic quote. 25 grand. Twenty five thousand dollars. To explain: This part of Fillmore Township is ripe with clay. Local government regulations require drain fields (the secondary part of a septic system) be elevated and filled with sand and appropriate gravel. If left to its own wastewater would not filter out appropriately by the time it reentered the aquifers. The drain field has to be large and about 1,500 yards of sand would have to be hauled in. The price tag was enough for me to throw in the towel. It was not just this one thing but rather all the other work that needed to be done and what we wanted to do. To her credit, Carolyn never conceded. We continued praying. And the next afternoon I mowed the lawn.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Where it all began

What a whirlwind these last four months have been. I guess it all started this past Spring when we happened upon this old farmhouse. It was clearly unoccupied and appeared that it had been vacant for some time. We couldn't get it out of our heads. We started dreaming about what it could look like if it was fixed up. On top of that, the house was in an agreed upon, maybe-some-day location. A little bit country but still close to civilization. And so the wheels began to turn.

We started to put some feelers out there...asking neighbors we knew, emailing the mom of a classmate of a nephew...you know, the normal stalker activities one might perform to make a dream happen. What we found out was that the house WAS empty but not really for sale. Okay, that's fine...probably for the best. Right?

Wrong. Thursday, July 2, 2015, Ben's mom texted us a picture of a "For Sale by Owner" sign with two phone numbers. Ben called immediately and set up a showing for the next morning. At this point we started seeing God's hand orchestrating ridiculous "yes" moments and coincidences that we just couldn't deny. Both Ben and I had that Friday off but hadn't cancelled our Friday morning daycare plans for the boys. We had felt a little guilty originally about that, but then immediately decided it was for the best to not have them with us as we really explored the house for the first time.

Needless to say...we fell in love the next day. I honestly think I knew from that moment on that life as we knew it would not be the same again. We found out a lot of information about the house but quickly realized how much work it really did need. We knew we had some homework to do if we were going to pursue this.

We thought and prayed about it the rest of that day. We knew there would be a lot of interest in the house, based on location and price-point. The next morning we called again to set up another showing, and this time took our parents along. Both Ben's parents and my parents had bought old fixer upper houses back in the day, so we come by it honestly. With such a big life decision, and knowing we would need a lot of help from our families to pull it off, we wanted their support. So the six of us, two toddler boys, and the selling family met at the farmhouse on July 4, 2015. God bless America.

Long story short, all of our parents were on board but cautiously so...we received some words of warning and advice based on their own past experiences. The best part of that day was all of the Dutch Bingo that ensued...so many connections. My dad knew the owner's grandson (and our new neighbor) from work. One of the owner's daughter's is Ben's old boss' sister-in-law. We'll call him Chief. The same daughter is the mother of one of Ben's sister's best friends. I could go on and on...but the point is we couldn't ignore the ways everything seemed to be coming together.

We kept doing our research. Ben's uncle (builder) came to look at it and give an honest opinion. Since he was closing in on retirement, he wasn't looking to take on the job but he was more than willing to make sure we weren't biting off more than we could chew. Ben talked with several other contractors to start getting an idea of what it would really cost to fix this place. I started looking into financing options to take on such a big project. Chief, who is now a realtor in his "retirement", did a walk through of our house in Zeeland to see what we could sell it for.

In the ends, we decided to take a leap of faith and throw out an offer. We felt like it was the max we were willing to risk on this project, but also thought it might be a little lower than what the family wanted. Well...they accepted. That was the first "oh crap" moment. Kidding. But not kidding. We found out they accepted on July 16, 2015. We left for vacation for a week on July 18. So we made a huge life decision and then checked out. Typical...

Vacation was great. But we came back with a sense of dread, knowing there was a LOT to do. We decided on a Renovation Loan from Wells Fargo, which required us to have a general contractor. At first we were bummed about that, since we pride ourselves in our DIY skills. Now, we send up a "hallelujah" every time we talk to our contractor and feel such a sense of relief that he's on top of everything. We are still doing a chunk of the work ourselves, but he is managing and coordinating. Another coincidence...our contractor's dad helped my parents renovate their old house 25 years ago. They took the roof off and added a garage/master suite, similar to what we are doing now. Second generation of crazy.

I digress. We got a loan that rolls the purchase price of the home plus all of the renovations we wanted/needed to do into one mortgage. Slick. Our loan officer was awesome. And my big brother Doug was in the loop to make sure we were taken care of.

In the meantime, we listed our house in Zeeland with Chief on August 6 and had three full-asking-price offers by August 8. So that was awesome. Best part was we only had to get two kids, two cats and one dog out of the house two times to make that happen.

At this point our plan was to get enough work done on the house early enough so that we could move right from one house to the next. Then the insurance guys stepped in and said we couldn't. Apparently nobody in their right mind would insure a house needing that much work while people were living in it, and could only insure it as a vacant dwelling. Understandable...I guess. As Ben would say, "too much government." So another God moment...we are renting the house RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the farmhouse. The couple we bought the farmhouse from also owns this house, so it all worked out very well. Not only do we have a comfortable space to be that is not imposing on our parents, but we can watch everything happen. And we can walk over whenever we want. And we can keep the cats there. They are loving it, actually.

So we packed up and moved out of Zeeland on October 17. We have some stuff in a PODS unit, some stuff at the rental, and some stuff at the farmhouse. Oh and some in Ben's dad's barn. We're settling into life out here in the country. It was a struggle to find internet. And well water tastes funny. Ben is rolling his eyes. He would drink mud if it meant he could live in the country.

That brings us to today. A lot of stuff is happening at the farmhouse. We have completely gutted one bathroom, and it is now re-plumbed, has new floor joists and has fresh drywall. We have a brand new septic tank and a mighty tall drain field (by the way, I didn't know what a "drain field" was 4 months ago. And now I know a lot). The footings and walls are poured for the new garage addition. The foundation has been sealed and graded so the Michigan basement stays dry. The electrical has all been updated. The roof has been replaced. We have a long ways to go, but we will get there. So far there have been no major fights. I think we each know what we're willing to cave on and save our brass knuckles for the parts we each really want. That, or we just have the same taste. Which is not true. I have had to demote Ben to "Design Associate" already (that's something I stole from the show "Fixer-Upper", which we can't watch anymore because we don't have cable). He needs to redeem himself if he's going to get back up to equal status in decor decisions. Wink.

I feel like I have already forgotten a lot about the last four months. As I said before, it's been a whirlwind. And it's not really going to get better for a while...but we are trying to enjoy the process! The first time we saw the house, one of the owner's daughter's said "It's a great house...it just needs a woman's touch and a little bit of love." I know it's only a house, but we do feel like God called us to give it another chance. Several, several people said it would be better to tear it down and start over. We're so thankful for everyone we have on board now to make sure that doesn't have to happen.