Our New Project

Why have I not written in so long? Well, besides sheer laziness and procrastination, Kyle and I have a new project. As many of you know, land is quite expensive here, at least compared to Dallas, where we moved from. And we have champagne taste on a beer budget, as my mom has always said (it's true). So, if we are going to get property it has to be a steal. Well, a few weeks ago, some property came up that was crazy cheap. Crazy Cheap! And we got it. Yay!!! We really weren't intending to move any time soon, we have looked at no other properties, but this just came to our attention and it felt like a gift from God. Even though our house in Kaufman is STILL on the market after 3 years (please pray!), when we move in June we will save a ton on rent. We are the proud owners of 6 1/2 acres and a log cabin. But, You might as well know, it would really be putting a positive spin on things to call this cabin a fixer-upper. It is a dump. Let's go over the pros and cons. Cons should always come first so you can end on a good note.

The Cons:

- It has been abandoned for seven years, complete with furniture and clothes in the closet, and everything has gone to pot. Filthy!

-We had to kick out a ringtail cat and a raccoon living inside and clean all the potty mess they made. Truly bad enough to be on a tv show or something.

-It has no central heat or air.

- It has no central heat or air!!!

- We have to fix the roof, foundation, and put in new insulation.

- It has a ton of other weird things wrong with it.

- It is 1500 square feet

- The third bedroom is the biggest, but it is the loft and open to below.

- It is 1 1/2 bath

- It has no dishwasher

The pros:

- this way we don't have to rent while building or move a trailer onto the property for awhile

- It sits up on a hill in a beautiful spot in the hill country

- 15 miles from church and work

-fabulous school district

-even with all the repairs, we have found a fast, good but inexpensive crew, and are still getting this place for a steal.

- My front porch runs the length of the cabin and is 9 feet deep.

- It has beautiful hardwood floors

- 9 foot wide stone fireplace

- clawfoot tub

- It does have 2 wood burning stoves, but we're not sure whether they work or not.

- We will put in window units

- Because of my general awesomeness in moving into a small place with no a/c and not complaining about it, I know my husband is going to put in 2 dishwashers into the humongous kitchen in the dream house :)

-We will get to build our dream house!

-Kyle is almost done building me an enclosed vegetable garden with raised beds!

- I am going to cover this place in roses and flowers. I have deeply missed getting my hands in the dirt.

- I have MAJOR cute plans for the inside of this place.

- I enjoy working on projects and refinishing furniture and finding bargains.

- I already found a dishwasher from craigslist.

- This is the life I want for my boys: room to shoot guns and slingshots, play capture the flag, go on adventures, swim in the creek (sometimes, it's seasonal), and camp without leaving the property!

- When we move into the house we build we are going to have an awesome guest house.

Here is a before picture:

And here is the view from the loft:

I promise to be more regular about blogging as I will have many before/after pics to share along the way.