Floors - they may not be level, but they sure are pretty.

A busy week - but not for us. 
Floors, stairs and handrails all anew.
Amazing to watch and smell years of grime, marks, wax, paint, scratches and such dissolve a bit leaving a weathered wood with a raw smell ready to take a fresh stain and coat for protection.  They are done now.  Look forward to returning on Thanksgiving day to see them for ourselves!

Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you.

The keys are ours.  (Though who knows who else might have copies.) Doesn't appear the locks have been changed in about 30 years and keys for some doors are just missing. Time to reset.  Biggest challenge was finding 8 of the same brand/type/color. Combining full inventories of both the Lowe's and Home Depot, we found enough.

We survived our first night in the house with a wool blanket (no heat).  I like to claim we were roughing it - camping style in the house. But given the one bed left in the house by previous owner was a Tempurpedic bed, I don't think anyone would imagine our adventure like an episode of Survivor.

Our other big purchase this week was walkie talkies. Already a big save trying to figure out which leaky bathrooms are tied to which mysterious valves in the basement.  And with a range of 23 miles - we may get rid of our cellphones.

Most of the our first weekend was like getting to know a new friend.  Trying to figure out what makes her tick.  What pushes her buttons.  Her faults, her strengths, her potential. 

Everyone we encounter seems to know some piece of her story - the mailman, the plumber, the neighbor, the random guy in the store, the stoned hippie walking down the sidewalk.  Already makes me wonder what stories will be told in 100 years more.

I suspect they'll include Toby.  He's as much a fan of the new adventure (if not more) than we are.  He's already leaving his mark - literally everywhere. 
Probably hearing and sniffing out his own stories, too.

 

Closing day: The next chapter begins.

We might be gluttons for punishment.  Why would anyone leave a meticulously perfected house to live through the mess of rebuilding a home from the inside out all over again?

Our house in Marietta has been our home for almost 8 years.

The virtual tour won't tell you of the elaborate marker drawings that rest peacefully under the living room hardwood floors (our nieces' entertainment during first renovation). And the next family to call it home won't know that the attic addition came in a 5 AM waking dream or that we almost flooded the basement learning how to solder copper pipe. They won't know the frustration Dad, Robert and I relieved by ripping out the old kitchen floor with an wrecking bar while Mom recovered in hospital.

But they will know this house was loved and full of life.  They will benefit daily from the custom cabinets Patrice has carefully crafted on 3 of the 4 floors.  They might too get married while living here. Host an exchange student. Or become band parents at the high school  And they will have their own delicious s'mores by the fireplace as they burn they annual crop of limbs from the backyard.

But we've done what we came here to do. We're ready for the next challenge. 
And while we least expected, it has found us.


I think Jack Donaghy said it best... "Sometimes your only choice is to blow everything up and build something better out of the rubble."

Here we go.