New (Old) Development!

So, remember how I wrote about not having “before” pictures in an earlier post? Well, that’s true. I didn’t…but the appraiser did. Stuffed into all of my loan information were a few pictures snapped by the woman who did a walk-through on the bank’s behalf. She also included a rough floor plan, which is helpful when you’re not familiar with the place but trying to piece my pictures together. I’ve included little signals so you can see exactly where the pictures were taken from so you can gain a little more insight.

From a design standpoint, the floor plan will stay almost exactly the same. We have moved a door here or there (not to mention added a garage), but the square footage of the living space remains.

1. Entry - new wiring, insulation, and drywall completed.

2. Living room - new electrical/audio wiring, insulation, and drywall completed.

3. Dining room - removed the partial chimney and corner hutch in addition to wiring, insulation, and drywall. 

4. Bedroom/Office - new wiring, insulation, and drywall in addition to the reconfigured closet layout and bookshelf addition.

5. Bathroom - removed paneling and massive amounts of unexplainable concrete, updated plumbing/electrical, and replaced the subfloor and wallboard. 

6. Bathroom - Pt. 2

7. Kitchen (facing Dining Room) - currently demo-ed. Planning for new cabinets and countertops.

8. Kitchen - Pt. 2

9. Laundry - a new door to the garage will take the place of the windows seen here.

10. Master Bedroom - moving the door and closet to improve the room's function. More to come!

Homework

I hate homework - most everything about it, actually. I hated homework so much while in college mostly because I hated what I was doing in college. (I graduated with degrees in Financial Management and Economics...needless to say, this guy was the life of the party.)

I did that to myself because I didn't want to be the guy who was 30 years old, who still wore sweatpants everyday, and referred to passers-by as "Bro" on his way to Personal Wellness. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with sweatpants (I am writing a blog, after all..). I'm just saying the seven year college track wasn't for me. College was fun. A blast. For me, though, moving on was always the purpose. I stuck with a major I disliked because deep down I knew I could pursue whatever it was I truly wanted once I had a degree, and I didn't want to spend any more time getting from 'Point A' to 'Point B' than I had to.
However, there was one thing I learned more than anything while in college: if there was something I didn't want to do, I wouldn't do it. Not in a 'kicking-and-screaming-on-the-floor-of-a-department-store" sort of way. I would do what needed done, but I definitely didn't put my heart into it. And I wanted desperately to put my heart into something.

It took some time before I put it together.

Why was I always more willing to finish my homework when I knew there was a copy of "Cottage Living" waiting for me? Why was 'This Old House' always more entertaining than 'Jersey Shore'? And why do I have this odd fascination with reading Martha Stewart's blog every day hoping for more musings from the vegetable gardens and butler's pantries of Bedford?

I now have a theory. Anytime I have a serious (read: wine-induced) conversation with a really good friend, I find that all any of us are really looking for is simplicity. We don't need to be media moguls, billionaires, or Super Bowl victors. We just need to be happy. We just want to live a life that is full and somehow rewarding - and if we leave the world a better place than it was? Bonus!
I want a house. Not a big house, but one with character and a story. Something I can restore and make even better. A place to call my own and to open up to everyone. I want to have dinner in my too-small dining room using vegetables I grew in my too-small yard. I want something simple. I want a home.

So now I begin the rest of my life - the life after school. The life of my own choosing. The kind of life that gets me involved in my small community. The kind of life where I take my own bags to the grocery store, and save food scraps in a bowl on the kitchen counter for the compost pile. My simple life.