The Great Homie adventure.... Finished product

When all was said and done on our house project, we added 14 feet to the back of the house, that included two new bedrooms downstairs, a third car garage and a covered front porch. We did a lot of the work ourselves. I learned how to plumb, demo, clean up, feed workers, drive nails, paint, drywall, install cabinets (well appreciate that more), move rocks, lay flooring, tile backsplashes, sprinklers, thrift for decor and so much more. Jeff learned and was already good at so many things when it came to building. He did learn patience and teaching. When you have to teach things multiple times or explain a process to someone like me who doesn't know the first thing, that is just as hard. Ry was amazing, she meal planned, purchased groceries from click-list, and then prepare those meals. Alex was always out helping. He moved so many rocks. His favorite was demo, anything that needed to be torn down, or broken apart, he was really great at that. He also helped out with electrical by pulling wires. No power was turned on yet, he was protected. Just helping dad to get everything ready. Asher tried doing everything that Alex tried and was usually the first one up helping. He has always been that way. Eden and May also helped. They carried rocks, moved them again and again, helped to move concrete crumbles, moved more rocks, carried boards and wood and molding, moved more rocks, jumped on the tramp, pulled stucco off the house and moved it to the garbage and moved more rocks. 

This was our kitchen during construction. We ate most of our meals on the floor. We made our meals in the insta pot or crockpot. Or sometimes we cooked on the griddle or grilled. Dishes were all done in the sink, no dishwasher. We tried really hard to make healthy low maintenance meals. I was grateful that we had this kitchenette in our basement to use. It was hard, but kind of fun because we knew it wouldn't be forever.

The former window is now Ry's door to her room and Alex's room is on the other side of the kitchenette. Eden took Ry's old room and May stayed in their shared room. Asher kept the boys room. Now all the kids have their own space. Which means they are responsible for that space and keeping it tidy and organized. We feel endlessly blessed to have such a beautiful home and put in a lot of effort to make it nice. We also feel extremely lucky to have done this before all of the prices of supplies sky rocketed. That was a tender mercy because it was right during the pandemic. It was hard to decided if we should try and find a new home, update our current home, or just save. After much prayer on the matter. We felt like staying but updating would be the best. Now we can stay for many many more years. Or forever.... hahaha

Most of our decor was thrifted, if it wasn't the exact color scheme we used a little paint and creativity.