The longest reno in the history of mankind

Ok, maybe that post title is a bit negative and overly pessimistic.
Forgive me, that Reed gene sticks with a girl (lol)

I am going to throw some photos into this post of some of the things at the New House that make me want to say "What in the world?!" These are things that mostly have been corrected but I will let you hang for awhile to see how the after comes together (insert evil laugh). I affectionately will call this collection of pictures "time consumers" because that is what they have been. But, when I look back at some of these photos I am super pumped (yes I said super pumped) because it shows me how far we have come.

Lovely intercom system/speakers - there are 9 of these in the house. And each one is the same lovely shade of grimy 70's yellow. 

 Four years ago when we did the reno on our 885 house, we spent just over 2 months getting all the work done before we moved in.

 I suppose this time around I must have been carrying that timeline around in the back of my mind somewhere. And that was a mistake! LOL!

This whole process started in late August when we first went to look at the new house. Over the next few weeks we were in negotiations with the owner of the specifics of the price, closing dates, etc. . . 

Around mid-September we learned that the owner of the house had some issues with some "estate problems" (i.e. this is why you pay your taxes people). That ended up delaying our closing (and any work getting done on the new house) until the very end of October. 

I can just imagine that once upon a time someone walked up to this gem in a lighting department and fell in love with all its' many intricate globes, and brass, and complete dysfunctional-ness. And I am sure someone will think the same thing with the fixture we replaced this fancy lady with. 

Doesn't this corner shower with it's popcorn ceiling, locker room quality shower head, weird dirty accordian shower door and best of all that light (or is it a mosquito zapper) just make this place feel like home to you? No? Oh, must just be us then lol!

 All this was fine, we were thinking, because at the end of August a couple signed on our 885 house. The timing was so perfect (so we thought). They ended up coming back for a contract extension because they were having a hard time getting their loan finalized. We gave them the extension and then we waited. And we waited. . . And we WAAAAAIIITTTEEED. By the time we closed on our New House it was clear the couple was not going to follow through on buying our old house.

Oh garage - how lovely are thy walls! And thy handicap rails!

Seriously this door alone needed a good 1/2 day of work just on it!

 So, Nov. 1 we put old house up for sale by owner. After 8 weeks of having it on zillow, in the newspaper, on craigslist, instagram, and signs on the roads and in the yard, and 21 times of showing it later (yes I said 21!!! That is exhausting in ways I can not even explain) we had a couple again sign on our old house. By the way, if you are attempting to sale your own home I highly recommend using zillow.com - out of all those showings I think 18 of them were from Zillow.

Scariest doorbell ever known to man. Pretty sure gargoyles lived in that thing. Yes lived - past tense. I told Ricky I couldn't sleep there until that was gone - it even had a nice little creepy light in it that flickered occasionally. 

Keep Out! Friendly little fence hah!

 We are now expecting the closing in 2 weeks. I am not attempting to count my chicks before my eggs hatch, but so far, so good. If all goes well we will be finally moving!! So, Lord willing we are now at T- minus one month. And actually, now that we are this far into the process, it is a good thing we had more time. We have had so many projects and one thing led to another. The house really is coming together. It may be hard to imagine after seeing these pictures, but trust me - it is getting there. It has a much fresher appearance now and the overall house is lighter and much less dated. We've attempted to not go too modern, so as to stay with the style of the house, and instead have gone with a more classic design scheme. Really looking forward to seeing how it all ties in once it is completed and decorated (ugh...decorating - that may take another couple years to find the energy for).

 Hopefully we will reserve enough energy to be able to survive the actual move! :) I look forward to the move -  and spring and I really look forward to not being in between of multiple houses. It's time Hargis family landed at Home! (and camping season is coming up fast so we got to get this thing done!)