On September 14, 2005 we signed a deed for a small piece of property in Heber. A run down, abandoned house with holes in the roof & a porch that was rotting away.
In our eyes, it was perfect.
We bought the house for $60,000 and at that time, it was a steal. We planned to renovate and remodel it completely over the next few years and have a place of our own in our favorite small town.
And so the work began. Here we are, our little family of four just before starting the first project.
Over the years we worked on one project at a time. As we saved the money or were able to take advantage of Home Depot’s 0% interest specials, we spent our summers and any long weekends working on our house.
There are only a few things L.J. did not do himself to rebuild this house. The HVAC, insulation, sheet rock, part of the plumbing and the outside stone were the only things we paid someone else to do. Luke has always called this “Daddy’s house” because this is where Daddy always is when we’re in Heber.
On September 21, 2010 we passed our final inspection and received our certificate of occupancy!!!!
To celebrate this momentous occasion and to document our work, L.J. has made another video. We compiled all of our pictures and video clips and honestly even we were overwhelmed looking back at it all. I can’t say we’ve loved every minute of it but we’ve never regretted it and now that it’s done, we’re even more in love with this house.
Condensing 5 years worth of memories down to a few minutes of video is not that easy. Less than 12 is about the best we could do. I couldn’t upload it to YouTube because of the music and Blogger was being difficult so I’m trying something new. Here is a link to our video that is actually posted on another website.
And here we are, a much bigger family of seven when everything is all said and done.
The best part is that all of the renovations are paid for and we’ve never had to go into more debt for this house. As much as we’d love to start using it ourselves, things are tight right now. We’ve been blessed with finding a couple that will rent it for at least a year. That will not only take care of the payment but also help rebuild our savings account. Someday it will be our “Home Away From Home” and when L.J. & I can finally retire, this is where we will be.
To quote the chorus of my favorite Brooks & Dunn song:
I’m proud of the house we built.
It’s stronger than sticks, stones & steel.
It’s not a big place sittin’ up high on some hill.
A lot of things will come & go but love never will.
I’m proud, yea I’m proud of the house we built.
I like the picutes of the girls when they were little, and the hole in the floor!
ReplyDeleteWOW!! What a fun project. How nice to have it done!
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