Marriage Monday...The Couple that survives remodeling a home...

The couple that survives remodeling a home...

will be together forever...(true story!)

So, it is October.  We had been "looking" for a bigger house for a few months now. Our luck pretty much seems to go like this, find an awesome house, looks abandoned,  research, find realtor, find out it is to late, someone else already swooped up the property...

One of our friends was talking about this "Old House on Brown Road" and I was instantly like, hmm..I wonder if it is "Gray Gables." Yes, I actually said just that! Hubby doesn't think so, not that he even know what I am talking about- Gray Gables... Then, a few days, maybe...later my Mom calls and says that Gray Gables is on the demo block and they are looking for someone to buy it through the Land Bank- which is a newer program from our county where they accept a set amount of monies for a property, some of them are on the demolition block or what not. 

So, I tell Hubby.. I bring up the county information and he is not very impressed. It is a BIG house, much bigger than ours..I start my sales pitch, sight unseen.  We take a drive, in which I am instantly in love- it is a weird feeling to see yourself living, breathing, waking in a house that in all honesty, at that point, I hadn't even been in yet.  Again, Hubby is rolling his eyes at me. 

Next step is to take the parents to view it. Well, my Parents have a long history with this house, as about seventeen/eighteen years ago, they wanted to buy the house but passed on the house they currently inhabit. This should have been a RED flag for this girl...but I am dumb, apparently!

My Father in Law saw the potential that I was seeing and we basically sold it to Hubby.  I could not help buy talk about the house, like twenty four frickin' seven!  It came down to the wire and Hubby sitting me down and asking me if I want this house. I did.. 

Well, after a bidding war, and some time...it seemed like an eternity, not going to lie!  We got the property! What we were to do next was to be determined, but it was ours.... That was two long, hard years ago! 

How did we survive? Or did we? You might wonder how our relationship is today or how it changed, right? Well, one thing is for sure, it wasn't easy! Between Husband and Wife, everything was manageable. It was tough transforming into a working single Mom, with Hubby taking a layoff from his job to focus on the house full time and not getting home until late. But, we worked through all those obstacles! We even managed to survive our pole barn falling to the ground due to high winds. (That was an iffy time! A Man's pole barn is not something to mess with, especially when he put his own sweat, blood and tears into it..eek!)

Honestly, I think that we hardly fought. We took this project on as a team, decisions were made as a team, a lot of communication happened and we saw eye to eye on a lot of things. So, where was the conflict you ask? It remained elsewhere and stayed elsewhere. We learned well, communication is key, teamwork is a must.  Our relationship became stronger through all of this. We have a marriage. There is not a mine vs. yours, instead this is all ours.  Our thoughts, our dreams came together to build what is today's Gray Gables.  I could not be more proud. I know that everywhere you look there are little things that still need to be done, but any house has something that is left to do. I actually think my Dad says it best when he says that a house will never be truly done...because it just wont!

We are onto our next project- well Hubby is...I get to coral our children while he works ;)

Kitchen floor time! I am super excited! It has been a long time on cement board and my feet are ready to stop stepping on rocks! OUCH!

DuraRock Floor= UGH!

Beginning of Install!!

Again, we had a lot of talks about our pattern, about our spacing and all that good stuff. And yes, it has been two whole days now and a small section is completed, but it is OK. Hubby is working his ass off at his forrealz job too. I am trying to maintain my O.C.D. to the best of my ability. 

Work together folks! Talk, communicate and stay on the same page. Compromise when  you can to meet in the middle, it does work! I promise that.

I have another project that I get to start here in a few days..my office! It will be crunch time, I am sure!!!

~KEL~