When I think of all the plans and dreams we have for the Eldora house, it makes me so excited. As we go through the winter, we’ll be doing some interior projects. I’ll also be sharing the plans we have for the house with you. Our current home is one full of memories. We plan to put it up for sale this spring. Once we close on our current home, we’ll move into a rental and the real construction will begin. Today I wanted to reminisce about the house we’ll be leaving when construction on the Eldora house begins. As you can see, home remodeling is not a new adventure for us.

When we moved to Iowa, we were a young couple from Kansas City looking for a house that needed “a little work”. We had replaced the bedroom doors in our previous home so we thought we could take on a house that needed a few more fixes.

Well, we found one. It was an old farmhouse that was built in 1932 and sat on about 4 acres. It was in a bit of disarray. The roof was leaking and plaster was cracking. It was in need of that little bit of TLC that we thought we were willing to give. We could go room by room and slowly remodel our way through the house.

As we began to open up a few walls, asbestos was found wrapped around all of the ductwork. About the same time, we found out we were expecting our first child!

It was decided that we should just gut the whole first floor. And of course, as with any house project, even the greatest of plans gets sidetracked. After much thought, we decided that it would be cost effective to gut the second floor while we were at it. All new heating, plumbing, and electrical were going in, so doing the whole house at once would save money in contractor costs. So that’s how it all began….

We embarked on a journey that would take us nearly 9 years to complete. We had two kids in the process, which slowed our progress considerably! But nevertheless, earlier this spring we finished.

Our goal was to keep the old farmhouse feel but also incorporate the modern conveniences. That included finishing all the woodwork.

I learned how awesome quarter-sawn oak is and was delighted to find it throughout the house!

My husband and I work well together. We may not always have the same vision to begin with but we are able to meld our ideas together to come up with a shared vision.

Thinking back on some memories :

I remember when my oldest was born. We had no kitchen counters or sink and I was doing dishes in the basement utility sink.

I remember when the nursery was in our future master bathroom that still had subfloor.

I remember when we had no interior doors and had to use curtains.

I remember when we tiled the upstairs bathroom while our oldest watched us in his high chair.

I remember when Chris took down our old garage brick by brick.

I remember sanding down yards and yards of trim only to stain it and put it back up.

I remember bringing my boys home from the hospital to this house.

This house has seen our highest highs and lowest lows.

We don’t know who will be lucky enough to live here next, but we’ve put our heart and soul into it and will truly, truly miss it!