Having always lived in a house with at least a yard (other than the dorm years), I didn't really enjoy apartment living, especially when the girls were with us. So we thought it was time for the American dream... you know, we had the two incomes, why not add the white picket fence? (Ah, hindsight.) Things in town were not in our price range, so we ended up buying an older farmhouse in a small town (3 streets) about a 30 minute drive to work. It was just the right amount of time to unwind on the drive home, and though we had close neighbors (good ones!) there was an open pasture behind us, where the neighbor's horse liked to come visit at the fence.
The upstairs did not have a bathroom, so we dreamed up ideas to change the 4 small bedrooms into 3 small bedrooms and a bath, and added some closets. A friend was hired to install the bathroom (Kent helped and learned lots about plumbing) and we painted and wallpapered the bedrooms. The downstairs needed a bit more work - ceilings fixed, a wall repaired, and LOTS of old wallpaper removed (10-12 layers in places). Kent knew some basics about carpentry, and that first house led to learning a lot more through the coming years! But it was ours, to fix and decorate as we wanted.
My parents came up to see the new house and help out a bit, and Kent's folks helped out on weekends, too. It was almost always a fun to work with our families, but once... Late one Sunday afternoon, we (Kent and I, his folks, plus the girls were there) were hurrying to remove the last of the wallpaper at the top of the stairs (because we needed to get the rental steamer returned before the store closed). Missi started up the stairs and somehow the steamer slipped. Kent, envisioning scalding water pouring down on her, pushed the unit against the wall with his leg, earning him a nice burn. I ended up returning the steamer and taking Missi and Kathi to their mom's, and Kent got a ride to the ER with his folks. Fortunately, we didn't have too many accidents along the way! (Although I did have to leave the house the day he was painting the chimney - just could not watch that one!)
The biggest drawback was the old farmhouse style stairs - VERY steep, with narrow tread. There was a door flush with the walls, and the stairs started inside of that! Kent rebuilt them so they extended four steps into the living room, creating a more standard slope, and raised the doorway header, and it was a huge improvement - which was to be a big help in the years to come.
But best of all, we had a yard! My parents brought irises from my grandmother's farm (every house we owned got some of my grandma's irises), Kent's dad planted roses, and the girls had an above-ground swimming pool. We even had room for a small garden. So, of course, a big deep freezer became a needed addition, too.
The upstairs did not have a bathroom, so we dreamed up ideas to change the 4 small bedrooms into 3 small bedrooms and a bath, and added some closets. A friend was hired to install the bathroom (Kent helped and learned lots about plumbing) and we painted and wallpapered the bedrooms. The downstairs needed a bit more work - ceilings fixed, a wall repaired, and LOTS of old wallpaper removed (10-12 layers in places). Kent knew some basics about carpentry, and that first house led to learning a lot more through the coming years! But it was ours, to fix and decorate as we wanted.
My parents came up to see the new house and help out a bit, and Kent's folks helped out on weekends, too. It was almost always a fun to work with our families, but once... Late one Sunday afternoon, we (Kent and I, his folks, plus the girls were there) were hurrying to remove the last of the wallpaper at the top of the stairs (because we needed to get the rental steamer returned before the store closed). Missi started up the stairs and somehow the steamer slipped. Kent, envisioning scalding water pouring down on her, pushed the unit against the wall with his leg, earning him a nice burn. I ended up returning the steamer and taking Missi and Kathi to their mom's, and Kent got a ride to the ER with his folks. Fortunately, we didn't have too many accidents along the way! (Although I did have to leave the house the day he was painting the chimney - just could not watch that one!)
The biggest drawback was the old farmhouse style stairs - VERY steep, with narrow tread. There was a door flush with the walls, and the stairs started inside of that! Kent rebuilt them so they extended four steps into the living room, creating a more standard slope, and raised the doorway header, and it was a huge improvement - which was to be a big help in the years to come.
But best of all, we had a yard! My parents brought irises from my grandmother's farm (every house we owned got some of my grandma's irises), Kent's dad planted roses, and the girls had an above-ground swimming pool. We even had room for a small garden. So, of course, a big deep freezer became a needed addition, too.
