Room to Grow

We have spent the last year or so casually looking for a different house, but didn't find anything in our price range that would fit our needs. There aren't a lot of houses for sale in our town, and the ones that are are either WAY out of our league (fancy schmancy ones on the golf course) or else in need of A LOT of fixing up. We really like our house, it's just that we are outgrowing it now that Jaymes has come along. We've put a lot of work into this house, and we absolutely love both our yard, and the neighborhood on the very edge of town, where the houses are spaced out more. We decided over the winter to look into adding on to our house, and spent many winter evenings meeting with a contractor. In the end, we came to the conclusion that it's actually cheaper for us to add on, then to buy a different house, because of what houses are going for right now. And now in the next week or two this will all become a reality for us! We are entering into a whole new territory for us. I'm excited yet nervous - excited for it all to be done and have the extra room, nervous for having to live through a remodel/ new construction with two small children, especially one who is increasingly getting in to everything and is threatening to crawl ANY moment now. I'm not quite sure what the noise level will be like in the house, but I'm pretty sure there will be lots of pounding and banging going on! :) Almost all of our back yard will also be torn up from all the big equipment needed to dig for the foundation. That is where we usually spend ALL of our time during the summer, and now it will be off limits to us. And then there's always the issue of spending money - that makes me nervous, too, because that's how I am.

I'm planning on taking the kids and staying with my parents for a week or so, and then staying with Monte's parents for a week, too. But it's inevitable that we'll be here the majority of the time when this is going on, because we won't want to leave Daddy for too long! And I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, I really am quite excited, it's just the fear of the unknown I guess, because we've never undertaken a project of this magnitude before!

As far as what's happening is, we will be adding on a master bedroom (we'll have our first ever walk-in closet!) and a family room, we will also be residing the house with permanent siding. Also, closets and windows will have to be moved in two of our current bedrooms. I'm really excited about the family room because it will be facing the backyard with patio doors going out, so as the kids get older I can watch them from inside the house. Our living room, dining room, and kitchen all face the front yard, so I don't feel comfortable letting Isabella go outside to play by herself in the back yard, because I can't see her from inside the house! This will give us four bedrooms, so Jaymes will finally be able to move out of our room. :) He'll move into Isabella's current room, and she'll move into our current room. And, for now, we'll keep one as the guest room/ office. We'll be doing everything we can to try and save some money along the way, so Monte and his brother-in-law will be doing some of the work (like putting up all the siding, and installing carpet). Anyway, you can join us on our little "journey" if you'd like as I plan to blog about the construction as we go, and post before and after pictures.

This is currently where our house "ends". This hallway will continue a little ways then open up into the new addition.