Looking back

If you know me, you know I'm an avid scrapbooker. I take tons of pictures of every second of our life and then carefully place each one in it's own special scrapbook.  I did not, however, do very much journaling in the house scrapbook, so this blog is going to make up for it.  I hope I won't bore you with the details of our journey.  As I am looking back at each picture of our home becoming a home, the feelings we felt at the time the pictures were taken are flooding back.  I mentioned before that the very first time we stepped foot in the house, Ben began dreaming and drawing up pictures in his head of what things would look like one day.  I, on the other hand, was not nearly as confident.  I am a realist. I see things the way they are, not the way they could be.  I think that's why Ben and I are good for each other.  He dreams these big dreams and makes me think beyond what I'm capable of on my own, and then I bring him back to reality when he's off his rocker. Opposites do attract.

The first night we went in the house, it was late and dark, so we could barely see.  It was dirty and things were literally falling apart.  I stepped around the bugs and nails and held onto my then 6 month old baby girl like her life depended on it.  (Trust me, it did.)  The next morning I was a little more hopeful and took some pictures.  I'm only going to share a few in this post, because I will be going through, room by room, and showing the before and after pictures of each.  But, I want you to see the pictures so you can understand why I thought my husband was nuts.

This is how the kitchen looked when we first bought the house. Can you say 1970??

Just in case you couldn't see that gorgeous linoleum floor.  At least part of it was covered with the other linoleum floor!

I saw this room and said, "what in the world is this room and where is the floor?"  Ben saw it and said, "this will be our bathroom, and you can pick out whatever kind of floor you want."

I was NOT, I repeat, NOT going up those stairs.  Ben came down and said, "we'll have 2 more bedrooms and another bathroom up there!!!"

THIS was going to be my laundry room??? Perfect-I've always wanted to sharpen pencils in my laundry room.

And finally-the sunroom.  This was the 1 room I was excited about.  (Minus the wallpaper and 1970's wood paneling!)  I have ALWAYS wanted a sunroom, and this one was right off the kitchen!  You can even see the lake from it!!