The South Porch

The day after Christmas, we packed up tools and gloves and went over to begin demolition. Well, nothing was really demolished yet, but we did get the carpet removed. Over the next several days we pulled the staples from the floor that had secured the carpet padding, scraped the old wallpaper, removed the vinyl kitchen floor (that was a BEAR!), and prepared the walls and trim for new paint.

We involved our four children in the process as much as possible. They were great sports for the most part. We wanted them to learn to skills, to recognize value, to continue to learn to work and contribute to a greater cause, and to participate in turning this house into a home. Our goal was to create a home that would be a blessing for someone.

Removing the family room carpet.

The living room carpet comes out.

Scraping the wallpaper.

The kitchen floor during demo. It actually took us several days to get it clean. We would get exasperated and leave it to work on something else and come back later and scrap some more. (I promise he had clean socks to wear.)

Removing the trim.

The house seemed much bigger without carpet.

A little over a year ago, Oliver and I were browsing Craigslist, looking for a project to take on–a car that we could repair and resell. On a whim, we decided to see what was on the housing market. We found this house and were immediately intrigued.

Two months later we closed on the house. The day after Christmas, 2011, we took our kids over and began the project that would take us almost a full year. Much of the interior had not been updated since it was built in 1974. Here are some BEFORE pictures for you. Sorry about the lack of clarity in some of the pictures. We’re amateurs around here, and this whole project has been a grand learning experience on so many fronts. 🙂