Last winter was a horrific winter full of 16 foot snowbanks. During that winter I noticed something, the drive way was never plowed. Full snow banks covered the yard and although there was always a light in one window, there didn't seem to be anyone living there. Because my father knows practically everyone in town, I asked him about it. He told me that this house was the old Milligan homestead and that the gentleman that owned it was getting older and wasn't living there.
For some reason, the house drew my attention every time I drove past it. As the snow melted into spring I noticed how many shrubs and bushes had grown up around the house making it look slightly haunted. Still it drew me in and I wondered what it looked like inside. Then one day as I drove by I noticed a for sale sign on it's front lawn. This was my chance! As soon as I got home I called up my dad who is an accomplished carpenter and who had just recently sold a house that he had bought and fixed up.
Maybe I should explain some about my dad and our relationship. I love working with wood and love doing little projects. My dad is an amazing handyman who has built countless houses and cottages. This is how we love to spend time together. Building stuff, fixing stuff, pretty much anything that has to do with tools.
Anyway back to the house. I called up my dad and told him that I had seen a for sale sign. A few days later we were out for a drive when we pulled in to the house to take a look. We decided that evening to call the realtor to see if we could take a look. A couple days later we were in the house looking around. Oh my, I loved the layout of this house but as we walked through it was clear that the house had not been lived in in a very long time. The walls were cracked everywhere and it needed quite a bit of updating. I went away a little disappointed that my house was in such a bad state. It had so much potential but it looked like so much work.
My dad however was still mulling it over. A couple days later he went in to see it again with his friend who is a contractor. Some days later he called and told me that he had put an offer in and it was accepted.
I was so excited. I started dreaming of ways we could fix up this house... Dad and I spent countless nights chatting about things we could do and ways that we could change things. It took over 2 months to finally close on the house so we had lots of time to dream and scheme.
And so the adventures begin and I've decided to blog about our experiences so that we have a record of our progress. Seeing as I am also a wife and mother to 4 kids, I don't get to go in and help him as much as I would like, I go in as much as I possibly can and my 10 year old son loves going and helping his Pepe. He especially likes the demolition part.
I took some before pictures of the interior of the house that I will share for now and tomorrow I hope to write a little bit about the history of the house and some of our progress so far.
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The back of the house had so many bushes and trees. Dad probably spent a week just clearing away the brush back there. This picture was taken probably half way through.
And now for some pictures of the interior. There were still a lot of the previous owners furniture and belongings in it. I merged all the angles of each room into one picture so that they are easy to see.
So there are the before pictures. As we progress, I will post new pictures.
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