Okay, the story goes like this....this 48 year old house started out as a 3 bedroom home.  The daughter bought the house from her parents and moved in it with her 3 children....obviously they needed more room and about 5 years ago, she acquired a home equity loan to add another bathroom and a dining room downstairs and 4 bedrooms and another bathroom upstairs.  The story goes that the contractor completed only half the job and took off with the rest of the money....sad, but unfortunately too true....and this is the way he left it....

...looks pretty good from the outside....but wait til you see the inside!!!

The following pics are the way we saw the house for the very first time.

......coming in the front door....

Sad but true....;-(

....the kitchen have to be completely gutted...

...and it will actually have a ceiling, too!  lol

.....this is the pantry and it will have a door on it....lol

....this is what was supposed to be the new dining room,  just off the kitchen....but soon will be our new office/dining room....

....and this was supposed to be the additional downstairs bathroom...and will also become part of the new office.....

....the utility room...the window will be removed....

...all three of the existing bedrooms will need to have the drywall patched or repaired....

.....as you can see in this pic....

.....and of course, the bathroom will need to be completely gutted....

.....tub and all.....lol

.....and a brand new sink is at the top of the list....;-)  The only place in the house you could run water was in the bathtub.  The kitchen drain leaked onto the kitchen floor and this bathroom drain.  Just. Didn't. Drain. At. All. 

....all new kitchen cabinets and countertops are an absolute requirement!!

.....the stairs going up are nice and wide.....

.....and from the stairs, you walk straight out the backdoor.....

very handy for carrying in all the drywall needed...lol

.....this will be my bedroom....I promise a little neater....;-)

It's hard for me to imagine that someone would allow their children to live in something like this.....?

This will be the master bathroom complete with garden Jacuzzi tub, a shower and double sinks.....

....this is Michael's bedroom....although the upstairs electrical wiring had been run, it had never been "turned on at the box" and it's just a miracle that the house survived all these extension cords!!

....and the view of the backyard from Michael's bedroom....ugh

....and of course, the garage needs MAJOR TLC.....

....this is the ductwork area of the upstairs and it's in the master bathroom....

.....most of it will have to be redone when the central a/c is installed next month....

....and this is looking from the office into my sewing room....the doorway will be aligned and made double wide.

....and this is looking from the office into the utility room.

I guess you have to have an eye for "what can be" and I've always had that...I could see this pitiful house had a lot of potential and something Michael and I could be proud of....(someday)....it's going to take tons of work, but we know we can do it....the best part about it is that we intend to have it completely paid for in 5 years!!

 With that in mind, it makes it all worthwhile....;-)

We'll be adding the "in progress" and "after" pics as soon as we muster up the energy....lol....check back often!

Email us with comments, suggestions and criticisms too,

but please be gentle...we're working with raw nerve and courage right now!  lol

ladybyte@yahoo.com

This site was last updated 04/02/06