The #FixerRucker House
At the beginning of this summer we bought our first house.
For an idea of what we were getting ourselves into, the house was built in 1965, had one owner, and there were only 3 pictures of the outside of the house listed online, so until we showed up for the viewing, we had no clue what the inside looked like.
The house was listed at noon on a Monday, we saw it at 5PM that same day, loved it, put in an offer at 10PM, and in the half-day it had been listed, we were already the 5th offer on the house. With an astounding amount of luck, our bid was the one they accepted. The house came with an added sun room that provided and extra 220sq. ft of space, but because it was not connected to the central air system, wasn't included in the total square footage count (but is a fully functional and very cozy room!). So if you take that room into the calculation, we ended up purchasing the house for under $65/sq. foot. Killer deal, and understandable why we were the 5th offer on the house in under 12 hours.
HOWEVER, a house with no online photos and with a killer pricing never comes without a catch, so here it was: The cosmetics of the house hadn't been updated in a few decades... or ever. Now, all the bones/features of the house were in fantastic condition, it passed inspection with flying colors, but essentially we would be gutting the entire inside of the house and starting from scratch.
We are Dave Ramsey fanatics, and Dave always talks about the best way to buy a house is to find one that has ugly carpet, but has a great foundation and strong bones, so we really feel like we hit the jackpot with this house and couldn't wait to get start renovating our first home!
Here are the very first photos showing the beginning of our #FixerRucker journey.
You might laugh, but when I arrived for the open house, I hadn't been inside the house for 5 minutes before I got "that feeling." You know, the same feeling you get when you're trying on wedding dresses and find "the one." or when you're dating somebody and you have "that moment" where you realize they're the one. It doesn't mean the process is going to be flawless, but you know in the end, it's going to be worth it.
Now, it's already been about 4 months since we've officially owned it, and we didn't waste any time getting to work! We've already completed a TON of renovating, so much that several rooms are unrecognizable from these beginning photos.
In that last photo with the super cute vintage high chair in it, we've already come a long way to converting it into my new art studio. There's still a few things missing (baseboards), but it's exciting to see how far along we've already come!
Also, there's something else I'm REALLY excited about that I want to share with you guys!
While I've always loved interior design, I don't have a natural instinct for it. I love too many decorating styles and I try to combine them all everywhere, so in the past my living spaces have always looked a little chaotic. I definitely needed some help with our new house, but hiring a interior design professional can get CRAZY expensive ($500-$1,000 a room, and that doesn't even include the furniture!) so I was looking for something else to help me through the process, and I found it!
Corey at Hey There Home offers a "Style Your Way Home" course, which is a 6-week long program where she walks you through the process of understanding and creating your own design plan so that you end up with a home that reflects your tastes and personality. I've been following her blog and DIY posts for awhile and knew I liked her approach and style, so as part of our home renovation budget I signed up for the course, hoping that intentionally making and understanding our own home design plan, we'll save ourselves money by avoiding expensive mistakes (like buying the wrong style of furniture!). Enrollment is closed for 2018, but if you're interested you can sign up to be notified for 2019, and until then, she posts TONS of helpful information and advice on her blog.
Here are some of my favorite posts from her!
Also, if you want to make sure you stay up-to-date on all our home progress, be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter where you'll be the first to hear about our house updates, and I even throw in the occasional freebie!
See you around!
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