We Did It

We bought a little dump on the water. Here we are standing on our new dock. 

This photo is deceptive in two ways. I know it looks like we're standing on a portion of a spacious wooden pier but that's the whole dock there in the picture. Maybe there's another 9 inches or so. Also, the place is on James Island, not in Florida like those tropical blues are suggesting. I don't know what that blue filter is about.

After Brett's brief and ill-fated romance with that one house Downtown, I was apprehensive about showing him my latest find - because it was quite unattractive, not any bigger than our current home, and has about a fifth of the garage space. Also, it needed a major overhaul, or perhaps simply just needed to be set on fire. But that up there, that water, that made it worth it. 

It didn't take much to convince him so we called Dad, set up a showing, and then came home and redrew the floor plan on our white board.

Here's what we bought.

A'int she a beauty?

The place was built in '59 and seems to have not been touched since. The previous owner asked us to come meet her at the house so she could show us how it works. The short of it is that the previous owner never threw anything away, never weeded a garden, wasn't keen on updates, and doesn't believe in central heating and air. She showed us how she turned the gas on at the breaker when she wanted to cook something. "And then just flip it back off when you're done." She gave us a whole tour of this ilk and she believed we were going to continue living there just as she had. "Here's how you clean the pump when the water pressure goes low... that's why I kept this toothbrush." 

"Now the oven is from the 1960's but it still works- just remember that it's 50 degrees too hot."

But all that is worth this:

Now back to business. We're knocking out the center wall, vaulting the ceilings, and moving the kitchen into the dining room. I knew those three things the moment I set foot into the house but it took a minute to convince Brett and contractor Dad. But I knew I was right - I just had to wait for the men folk to think it was their idea.

Contractor Dad who works at the speed of light, was ready to rip out sheetrock on the day we closed. I was too. But not Brett. Brett wanted to have a full plan in place before we did anything. That's not how contractor Dad works. The first two weeks was a rough takeoff. We finally convinced Brett to just peek, just have a wee little peek at what's behind the sheetrock, and before we knew it, Brett was kicking through walls and swinging a hammer with gusto. 

This was the status as of last week. 

Since these photos, we have ripped out the ceiling in the main room and the floor in the kitchen. I really did myself a favor by marrying a structural engineer. He's been designing our vaulted ceiling which, given the roofline, has been especially tricky to retrofit. Dad hasn't vaulted a ceiling before so he and Brett have been working together on the plan and Dad has suddenly realized how willy-nilly he's been taking out and putting in beams this whole time. "I didn't know it worked like that!"

Meanwhile the previous owner keeps coming up with excuses to come over to see what we're doing. We'd been keeping her at bay until she finally got mad and informed me via email that she was coming over to pick flowers from the yard. (But those are my flowers now!) Then she saw the bit of construction and became "distraught." Later that night I received and angry email from her about how spoiled I am. So that was nice. (Not sure why I'm the only one being targeted... what is it with crazy old women hating me?)

Now she is only emailing Brett who she says is much nicer and more reliable than I am. 

Bit of weeding needed in the front.

View from the front porch.

But she can't keep me down. We love the new neighborhood (it's the last one on James Island before it turns in to Folly Beach territory), the yard full of fruit trees (grapes, figs, persimmons, pomegranates, and pecans), and the big plans I have for inside. 

Now I'll admit there was a period of bickering between Brett and I when he realized I'd already redesigned the whole house without him. And I didn't mean to do it without him - it's just that it all seemed so obvious. So then I had to wait around awhile until, again, he realized I was right. We're on the same page about most things, so don't go worrying about us. I just have way more time to think about it than he does so sometimes he gets left in the dust. But in my defense, his nickname in high school was "The Sloth" so...

We have ordered windows, kitchen cabinets, and designed a master bath and closet to take over one of the bedrooms. When we started this project, Brett and I knew we could do a "Reasonable Renovation" and make the place perfectly nice and livable or we could do what he's been calling "The Buxom Blowout" renovation which is making the house what we really want it to be. It cost money to make a place nice, you know. And sometimes you have to do what's best for the house. For example, we don't prefer open-concept houses, but this house needs light and space, so were sure we got that right, even though there won't be any room for funky artwork or hiding from unwanted guests. At the moment, we're going with structurally buxom, decoratively reasonable.

But once the invoices pile up, I bet everything will change.