A simple $5,000 kitchen remodel evolves into a jaw-dropping $70K makeover

This final post will bring you up to date on the latest house drama. Our kitchen and boys room have been last on the list for remodeling. We've tried to put off the kitchen because we know it's going to cost an arm and a leg, and another arm and a leg and maybe even a torso. Even though the kitchen was decorated with wood paneling and plywood cabinets and was pretty close to being non-functional, I've lived in worse (we're talking bathroom with a basketball sized hole in the floor and a kitchen floor so badly cracked that little slugs would join me for breakfast when it rained). I was content to let it go until we had saved up enough money to pay for it. Drama first occurred when the lights went out in the kitchen; when hubby went up to inspect the wiring he was the unfortunate recipient of a snap, crackle and pop. We knew kitchen renovation was no longer an option. Because our foster child was no longer living with us in our basement apartment we decided to move our upgraded family (6!) into the 600 sq ft abode. We were only 2 weeks into our renovation bliss (I say "bliss" because gutting took a mere 2 days and projected finish time was "only" 2 months) when it was realized that the adjoining room(children's room) was attached to the kitchen and must also be gutted and done over as well. As we were slowly coming to terms with the new price tag; we would soon become even more familiar with this term- "opening up a can of worms". While gutting the attached room it was found that the brick walls had started to crumble and the far wall of the room had completely separated about 8 inches from the main part of the house (hence all the unwanted visitors over the years). The foundation under that room was sunken as well, which meant our simple kitchen renovation had evolved into almost complete demolition of the backside of the house. Sad little house. But, fortunately happy little family. Life is good, believe me, I am grateful every day for the portion of house we do have left. We have pretty much everything too , well except for the est. $70, 000 it's going to take to put Humpty back together again. So, our goal with this blog is to plead, beg, offer our next born, whatever it takes to get the funds together to glue our little house back together.

Honey I'm doing a "Weekend Makeover" just for you!

I have to give props to the Hubby for pulling this one off, even though the weekend makeover turned into three blessed months. This turned out to be the least hideous and least expensive of all the "Home Makeovers" but it was the messiest. Construction in an old home = lead paint everywhere. It reminds me of the scene in Tommy Boy when Tommy's brother asks him if he ate paint chips as a child because he is so dang clueless. I think some of the cluelessness has rubbed off on all off us; it seems that nothing about this house shocks me any more. Or maybe that's just apathy?

Rock And Roll

You've probably never heard the term applied to the bathroom, but here goes. One day Mom is taking care of business in the ladies room and notices a tremor. What was that? An earthquake? Oh, you only wish it was. Nope, that's the toilet rocking back and forth because the floor below is so rotted that the toilet can no longer be bolted down. Now, it is widely known that when your toilet starts rocking back and forth you have two options: renovate the bathroom or never ever go to the bathroom again. You can guess which one we choose. So, we pack our things and wait out the renovation in the newly finished basement apartment. Luckily, the only detour on this trip were the two years taken to pay it off.

You don't want to go down there

One of the reasons we purchased our home was because it had a basement apartment; we planned to rent it out to help with the mortgage. But like all plans, there are detours.

Detour #1: Major renovation. This means, gutting, jackhammering and mucho dinero for replacing the plumbing and electrical systems in the entire house.

Detour #2: Hubby loses job. Hubby loses great job and benefits; receives excellent compensation package which is promptly fed to the basement monster.

Detour #3: Congratulations, it's a boy! No job or insurance means remaining savings is fed to the baby monster (Okay, he's only a monster now and then).

Home "Tweet" Home

After a few coats of paint, a new door (because you can only kick it in so many times before you have to completely replace it-thanks previous tennants!) and carpet we moved in. It was pretty cozy and comfortable and we found that we were not the only ones that felt that way. We discovered that we were sharing our new home with mice, birds, wasps, bees and the occasional bumblebee. Where were they all coming from? Well, that lovely story will be shared in a later post.

The Little House That Could (n't)

We (meaning I) fell in love with this house when we first saw it. We knew this was the one, even if no one else knew it. Maybe it was the price (cheep, cheep) or maybe it was the fact that we were being shooed out of our current rental, but in February of 2002 we signed our lives away, and this begins the story of the Little House That Could (n't).