The previous year we had sold our little acreage in Oregon with the plan to move to Brazil. We did go to Brazil but our plan was not God's plan and we ended up over the next 4 years going back and forth between Tennessee and numerous places in Brazil.
We found this place while on a walk one morning. It was a mile or so from where Jason and Kellie were living at the time. We were specifically praying at that moment about what we should do with some of the money we had from selling our place in Oregon. We didn't know what our plans were for Brazil at that time other than it didn't look as though we would be buying anything there.
We saw this abandoned looking, unkept house in a really great neighborhood with a tiny little for sale by owner sign in the yard. In less than a month we were moving what little we had left in storage from Oregon to Tennessee! Many times we said, "are we really doing this?"
It has been great, though, and we have enjoyed our time in Tennessee.
In this house.
Our home.
Doing one project after another.
This is the house as we saw it on our walk 3 1/2 years ago.
The house was actually bigger than it looked from the outside but it didn't disappoint us in the fact that it needed ever bit as much "help" as we had thought it would on the inside!
Poor little house!!!
AND NOW -
The house as it looks today:
We stained the brick dk gray,
pulled out overgrown plantings and landscaped the front flower beds,
Changed the living room windows, added shutters, painted trim,
put a new metal roof on, had a tree removed (because it fell on the house during tornado season!)
AND painted the door a color that would get some attention!
The side entrance to the house and the door we (and our "friend" guests) use the most.
It had an oversized 1-car carport, green house, overgrown flower beds
and fogged up windows.
Rather sad looking and non-inviting.
We enclosed the carport and made it into a garage (Warren's workshop),
Painted the frame of the greenhouse and replaced glass panels,
stained the brick dark gray, put up board and batten siding, painted
replaced the windows, and landscaped the yard and flowerbeds (became our raised garden beds),
added some welcoming elements and called it good!
The back of the house.
We had ALOT of ivy to remove. Believe me that was a huge job!
The big windows are into the dining room and they were fogged up
meaning we were barely able to see through them.
The back door was off the kitchen.
There were flower beds and holly trees everywhere. Seriously.
I believe we have cut down more than 15 of them.
And there are still more....
The after!
We, again, stained the brick. added a back covered porch,
changed the windows to french doors,
added a pantry where the back door had once been,
made a raised pea gravel patio with a barn beam pergola,
pulled out plants and added new landscaping.
LOVE our new back yard!
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