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:

1. Completely replace existing roof (to keep rain and snow out of the house)
2. Dig around foundation, install drainage and regrade exterior (to keep water out of the basement)
3. All new electrical service (to avoid fires)
4. Gut and re-frame the downstairs bathroom floor (so that we won't fall through the rotted joists)
5. Replace all windows (it was drafty)
6. Replace all siding (it was rotting)
7. Replace septic tank and install new drainfield (I still don't get why people care so much. JK)
8. 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.)
9. 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.)
10. 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.)
11. 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!