The Anniversary Home's Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to The Anniversary Home!

Exactly one year ago today, we signed our lives away on the dotted lines and walked away with the keys to our new home.

At closing, the seller (a friend of Walter, it was an estate) gave us four photos from Christmas 1948. It's snowy and the house looks much, much prettier than it does today. We used this photo on the cover of our Christmas card for 2010. The photos are now framed and waiting to be hung in the foyer for all to see when they visit.

We knew from the moment we walked into The Anniversary Home that it was for us, despite all the terrible carpet, non-functioning kitchen, leaky roof, 70's paint colors and on and on. It would be a labor of love and it would be our home.

I wish I'd saved the list we'd made one evening over dinner when debating whether we were ready for the risk and the reward. It was on the back of an envelope and went on for miles. It ranged from complex and expensive like "renovate kitchen" to the easy and inexpensive like "superglue bathroom floor tile". The kitchen has been completed. The linoleum tile in the bathroom is still not fixed. Go figure.

A year ago today, I wondered: "Will we like living here?" "Will we ever get all this work done?" "Will this bring us closer together? Will this be a strain on our bank accounts?"

The answers, without a doubt, are: yes, yes, yes and yes. And that's a good thing. We've spent many a weekend holed up in the house doing goodness knows what repairs and cosmetic alterations. The greeter at Lowe's knows us. Our neighbors are impressed with our tenacity and ambition. I have to say I am too.

During a long car trip over the weekend, Mr. B. and I recounted the long list of major achievements in just one short year.

A new septic system.

(Partial credit only - it was mostly handled by the estate but there was lots of supervising involved!)

A new roof.

A new kitchen.

Every. Single. Room. Has. Been. Painted.

That darn rhodedendrum was removed.

(Still lots to be done in the landscaping department though.)

Those rocking chairs are on the front porch.

If I started listing all the "minor" projects that we did in the past year, you'd all get ridiculously bored and stop reading this entry. (Washing machines, pot holes in the driveway, wasp nest in the porch eaves, etc. etc. etc.)

I'm going to do a more comprehensive before and after photo tour of the house, but for now I'll leave you with this kitchen gem:

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:

Thank you little house for being a roof over our heads and a place we can call home!

A Roof Over Our Heads

While it's certainly not a home renovation project that sparks my imagination and creative side, I know in my heart of hearts it's one that's absolutely necessary. Last week, The Anniversary Home got a brand new roof.  Yes, a roof!

If you had told me a few years ago that I would be blogging about a new roof - and actually excited about it - I probably would have laughed in your face and immediately disregarded your vision into the future as delirious, and frankly, sooooo not me. 

But times change and people change, so now Mrs. B is all grown up and buying a new roof. (It's still lame but I'm trying to get excited here peeps.)

We knew when we went under contract on the home that it needed a new roof. Because of the complex and complicated situation with the buyers (it was an estate), the roof did not get replaced before we moved in. In the end, it worked out okay because we had another great recommendation from our inspector, Steve, who put us in touch with Jeff DeFrehn. 

They did an excellent job and I am beyond pleased with their services. Last Monday, they said they'd be there at 8am. They lied. They got there at 7.15am. And they arrived around 6.30am the rest of the week. These guys were hardworkers. The weather slowed them down for a day or two (high winds) but they were finished by the end of the week nonetheless. Im...press...ive...

We had a really difficult time choosing a color. (Minor rant: who the heck knew there were so many different roof colors? Geeze...) We spent a Sunday afternoon driving around looking at all the DeFrehn clients and colors to get an idea. Mr. B won out in the end with "Mission Brown" - which actually should be called "Mission Light Charcoal Gray with a Hint of Brown" because there's basically no brown. But whatevs.

Because, of course, we both get home when it's dark outside, I had to hold my breath until the next morning to see if the color was *right*..... and it was. That's a lot of pressure deciding on a roof color. You're going to have the darn thing for 20-30 years and you definitely don't get a do-over like you do with paint. Crisis averted.

Photos to come soon....

So with Thanksgiving around the corner, it's safe to say Mr. and Mrs. B are beyond thankful to have a roof over our heads! Hope y'all are too!

Halloween & The Frogs

Happy Veteran's Day!

If you're wondering why there haven't been any posts lately, well, I'm afraid it's because there's not much to report. Unless, you care about the new well tank, the endless quest to fix the toilet pipes and deciding a new color for the roof? As much as I'd like to say we've done some great decorating or found new furniture, it's just not the case.

Life lately has been hectic as we've been working late / traveling on the weekends / catching up on sleep. We've managed to stay on top of the urgent items: Well tank, check. Overflowing toilets, hopefully fixed for now. New roof, errrr, working on it. Who knew there were so many different colors for a roof?

Halloween was quite the treat for us. (Get it? Treat! As in trick-or-treat!!) From day one when we moved in, our neighbors had been telling us to stock up on candy and get ready for a Halloween like no other. At first, we didn't really take them seriously. Candy for 150+ kids? But it became apparent when every neighbor was telling us the same story that we should probably take this seriously.

Go Frogs!

Since we're in a rural area, the local families all bring their kids to our town to run up and down Main Street. And when I say come into town, I mean they haul them in on the back of tractors. It's really cute. The houses along the road put luminaries in the middle of the road and everyone decorates their porches. We sat out on the porch in our rocking chairs with our pumpkin, scary lighting (okay, just an orange bulb!), scary music, and gave out...wait for it...full size candy bars! I was convinced these poor kids were probably scared of the house so we needed to bribe them. And bribe them we did.

And I know I promised this blog would be primarily about the house, I can't resist the urge to talk about our trip to Utah last weekend. Yes, Salt Lake City, for the weekend.

The #3 Frogs played the #5 Utes, and Mr. and Mrs. B made the traveling team, along with Junior, who gets all the credit for the pictures to follow. The game was a beat down on the Utes. Final score? TCU 47, Utah 7. It may have been one of the best sporting events of my life. It was great to catch up with friends old and new and spend some time in the mountains. Here's to our next big road trip...hopefully a BCS bowl again!

Pre-game tailgating with Junior.

One of Junior's friends: "Wow, you're like the same person."

We were hugely outnumbered...

It's highly likely we scored a touchdown on this exact play.

It was just that kind of game.

White Out - free tshirts from the Alumni Tailgate to counter Utah's Black Out.

Can you tell they only had size larges?  I'm practically drowning in cotton.

The visitors section: cheering for a win.

Yes, that says Utah 7 - TCU 47.

Domination.

Check back ASAP for real house updates: The architects visited this morning. I can hardly contain my excitement!