"Fixer-Upper" Homes

[Juniper]

Yes, we bought one, 3 years ago. Now, who was it that commented that it might've made more sense just to buy a house we liked in the first place? Probably Jim. Damn near knocked me flat, that comment did. I've had such a love/hate relationship with this place. Sometimes I feel like we were flat-out stupid buying it. But then I look around...and it's nice. Well, getting nicer anyway.

We live in a suburban area that's still got a rural, small-town flavor to it. It's an affluent area, generally, and in a convenient location, near highways, shopping, etc. In other words, no way could we afford a house this size on a 1.5 acre lot (actually two 0.75 acre lots) if it was a new house. It's on a country road, sort of; we're on a hill and have a nice view of the houses below us across the street and the woods beyond. It's quiet, lots of trees. Nothing behind us but woods and an open field that someone halfheartedly plants in soybeans or corn each spring to maintain its agricultural tax status; often it gets more use from neighborhood kids on 4-wheelers.

So it's cool; we're literally 5 min. from schools, shops, etc. but we can have chickens and shoot BB guns in the backyard, have an enormous fire pit, and feel like we're living in the country.

But the HOUSE! OMG, what a pain. First there were foundation issues. We knew that going in; fixing it was part of our contract. But it's still moving a little bit and there are cracks in the brick, in the plaster inside. Well, that gives the place character. We needed a new furnace to replace the ancient, smelly oil burner. We needed a new roof. Needed landscaping to fix drainage problems. Put a concrete floor in the pole barn 'cause it was a real mess in there. Now this spring our AC decided to quit - we knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

We gutted the master bathroom because it had a leaky shower stall and really cheesy wood paneling that grew mushrooms in the corner. Unfortunately, it has stayed that way since Feb. I miss it! We still need to replace the ugly, worn-out vinyl floor in the kitchen, I want to replace the carpet on the main floor with Pergo. We're enclosing the garage and making it my office, and moving the laundry room to what is now my office in the basement, then building a carport up front with a peaked roof that will hide the crack in the bricks. SO much to do.

It's depressing, really, and combined with the fact I haven't been able to do much to fix up the place (paint, organize, decorate, etc.) while I've been in school and dealing with my mom's condo, it's overwhelming and disheartening. My kids visit their friends' houses, and of course they've all got pretty, new subdivision tract homes on cul-de-sacs. We could have had that too, but we opted for the big, shabby place instead.

With the AC not working, the weather hot and humid, boxes and bags full of junk from my mom's all over the place, my daughter commented last week that she was tired of our house being like this. Me too. Garden needs weeding. Chicken coop needs cleaning. Yard needs mowing. Carpet just got cleaned but you'd never know it.

But today -- today is the first time in a while that I started to feel like we did the right thing and we've got something nice.

We got our new AC installed! It's a heat pump too, so we might save a little next winter; propane is expensive (and since it'll only heat the upstairs, we can supplement with wood downstairs...). We just installed a water softener, and I love it!

My roses are blooming, garden is thriving. Since I can now clean without sweating buckets, my house is clean again. I even cleaned my office, which was getting kind of gross.

It's gonna be OK.

Now I have to get busy and work some more, so I can pay for it all!