July 14, 2012

Switching Things Up

The photos in this post have nothing to do with the contents of it.
Other than this ~ we have been living life apart from the renovating.
It's a good thing.

We are in the throes of a move.  An internal one.
We are switching things up.

Four rooms in our home are involved.
The school room, the office,
and two bedrooms ~ ours and Austin's.

Working with what we've got, purging some things,
rearranging others, and adding in a few new items ~
It will make our home more serviceable.
More use-able. More efficient.

Funny how things flex and grow and
things become obvious.  It was time.


We bought this home eighteen years ago.  We moved in 17 1/2 years ago.
I'm ashamed to admit that we viewed it as a stepping stone to something better.
How wrong we were! How spoiled!

Thankfully, the LORD was gracious and did not remove this blessing from us!
We surely deserved for it to be taken away.  We don't always get what 
we deserve, do we?  How wonderful that is!
Over the years, there have been many changes.


In the early days, we had tenants living below ~
the basement was not accessible to us.
I had to run outside and down the stairs to do laundry.
It was a shared laundry room under the deck.

Ah...memories!

After four years, we no longer had tenants,
but Howie moved his office home and occupied the space.
At the time of Emma's birth, the six of us were living in 
1100 square feet of our home.  We kept Emma's bassinette in the bathroom.
The time came for us to either sell and move, or take over the whole house.

We took over.

The wall between us and the basement
was removed, and the fun began!  We renovated.
Every floor, wall, window and fixture were changed.

There were single pane brown aluminium windows throughout
the house ~ they were replaced with double glazed vinyl.
We tore out carpet ~ ever had to deal with glued down underlay??
Even our foundation had to be dug up to lay new pipe!
The most direct route ~ through the house!

It was an adventure.


It took time.

We did much of the work ourselves.
Painting, cleaning, sorting and rearranging ~ at odd hours, in odd ways.
We hired in those who were skilled to do certain things ~
(ie: plumbing, drywall, electrical, and flooring).  I learned how to do things like grout
and caulk ~ the school of hard knocks is a good teacher. :)

Howie already knew how to do those things ~
however, he did have the rare opportunity to use a jack-hammer
INSIDE the house...ask me if that was fun!

We were the general contractors of the project,
and we lived with the mess and upheaval as best we could.
I did install one floor by myself ~ it was the first (and probably last) time! :)

Breaking things down, tearing things out, removing the old...
these were things we did well.  My Dad helped us greatly.
He installed stairs where they were needed,
hung doors for us, and was our carpenter...it was a wonderful blessing!

Thank you SO much Dad! XO


Perhaps, when the dust settles,
I will post about the transformation this time around.

I may even post about the past.  In the meantime...we work.
And work, and work, and work.  (You get the idea, I am sure!)
We are seeking to include the children in this process as much as possible,
and we are trying to carve out some play time too.  Seize the day! :)

Many Blessings,
Camille

**Photos in this post courtesy of Emma ~ Thank you my little love! XO
Images are of one of our adventures in recent weeks ~
Fireworks viewed from the pier. :)

12 comments:

Heather@Cultivated Lives said...

I never tire of reading your perspective on life. I look forward to hearing more of your renovating adventures. While I'm glad for the experiences we had with buying a fixer-upper (our first home), but I'm also thankful that those days are behind us. {hopefully not famous last words...}

Tami said...

Oh look! You've been back for a few posts! WOW! I love reading about how your house is changing and would love to see some photos if you're going to post them. And I thought I was busy! Yes, I'm still right there in my 2nd trimester cleaning/organizing...so I'll be thinking of y'all and all that you have going on as I continue my work.
LOVE Emma's haircut! So cute!
I miss you, Camille. So good to see you back on here. It feels like I haven't a minute to spare since being somewhat limited to this trimester's energy and the weeks before we begin school again. I pray to be done in the next two weeks. Promise we really don't have that much stuff! Just getting down to the nitty gritty with the cleaning knowing I might not have the time or energy to clean and organize this well for another 3 years! Ha!
So much to catch up on and share with you, and I can't wait to hear more about all y'all have been up to. Just wanted to pop in here quickly and say hello and I love you and I miss you and I'm dreaming of vacations in Canada!
Love,
Tami

Cinnamon said...

Well I know exactly what you mean about thinking God would move us and doesn't/didn't.

I'm always so happy to know that I do not know everything. That God does!

How fun to be renovating. No wait. How fun AFTER you've renovated to see the results :-)

Enjoy your sweet moments,

~Cinnamon

Farmgirl Cyn said...

Cleansing and purging...it can be a good thing. Making room for what's important. (Oops...I think I am talking to myself here!)

Love,
Cindy

Chelle said...

We did the same thing. God always knows where we are to be. He knows better than we do what we need. I used to think I needed a big house. Then when we moved to pastor we had a really big house and I didn't like how un homey it was. The Lord taught me so much while I was there. We have remodeled the house we have know to meet our need as well. I would like someday to move farther in the country. When the timing is right.

Rebecca said...

Nice! :) My parents anniversary was on the 1st (Canada Day).

Camille said...

Dear Heather in AZ ~ Ah, yes...*famous last words*...I've said some of them over the years!! We said we would *never* live in a house and renovate again! Well...here we are...in the same house doing more renovating...LOL! Thank you for your encouraging words. :)

Dear Tami ~ Yippee for the nesting of an expectant Mama...I have missed that! Every few years I *deep cleaned* and it was wonderful. You can imagine how it needs it again now that Emma is TEN! LOL! Thank you for your sweet friendship...I appreciate you. :)

Dear Cinnamon ~ Yes, my friend...AFTER! LOL! But, I am trying to be good and enjoy the journey...the passing of time and growing older have helped me a little in that department. I constantly need the LORD's perspective in all these things! :)

Dear Cindy ~ It's lovely to listen to you talk to yourself...keep it up! :)

Dear Chelle ~ Isn't it wonderful that the LORD leads us so gently along?? He gives exactly what we need...aren't we blessed?? :)

Dear Rebecca ~ How lovely it is to hear from you here at *my place*! Please give my anniversary greetings to your Mom and Dad ~ I think it's fun that we have our anniversary in the same month as they do. :)

Many Blessings,
Camille

Jill said...

These are beautiful pictures. Glad everything is coming together for you in your home. :-) Have a lovely week.

Blessings,
Jill

Wanting What I Have said...

How exciting! I LOVE to switch things up! :) And I k ow too, how stressful it can be! Yay for enjoying the prices and having some fun, too! Hang in there! I'd love to see pictures. (But no pressure.)

Camille said...

Dear Jill ~ Thank you for your kind words...it will take time, but, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. :)

Dear Jennifer ~ Oh, I know you know my friend!! I don't feel the pressure...no, I don't...LOL! Really, it will not be too dramatic this time around...perhaps the posts of the *before and after* of this house originally...we'll see. :)

Many Blessings,
Camille

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an exciting time around your home, Camille! Love it when the Lord gives us blessings that help us live our lives for Him more efficiently. While we aren't doing any major things that require skilled labor, we've had a lot of purging going on here. It is a lot of work, but the peacefulness its brought our way only helps us live our lives for Him in a more purposeful way.

Blessings to you, Camille!

Camille said...

Dear Dianna ~ How wonderful it is to purge and free ourselves of the unnecessary things! May the LORD help us to serve HIM better!! How Precious HE is! :)

Blessings to you!
Camille