Tearing Down the Old.. Getting Ready for the New!!

Well, the past couple of weeks have been very eventful! We FINALLY have gotten things situated with the bank and officially can start moving forward on OUR house. Yes, OUR HOUSE... it's hard to believe that I am even saying those words. I remember like it was just yesterday when Jordan picked me up to take me to my junior prom in high school... 8 years later here we are finally engaged.. (the perfect engagement by the way)... and remodeling the house, that including us, 4 generations of my family have lived within. It is amazing needless to say.

These floors had the UGLY shag carpet on top of them. Jordan and I became adventurous one day after we came home from work and ripped up the carpet only to find beautiful "quirky" pine floors underneath. 

The pine floor, I was told, was probably cut off of the family farm and taken to the local saw mill to be cut into these differently sized boards. Some are thin and others are pretty thick, but it adds character to the house that will be our home. 

The floors were just the beginning of all of the demolition. 

We are so ready to get everything started and see some building, but we have had a lot of "tearing out" to do! I mean this house was built in the 30s. Flowers and trees were planted EVERYWHERE! Jordan and I want to keep some of the old- especially the charm of the interior of the house- but we also want to add some new, this will most likely be done in certain areas in the yard. Of course, there will be some updated additions inside the house as well like around the fire places.

This is a picture before we took the face off of the fire place. This certain chimney has two fire places- one in what will be our living room, and the other in this room pictured, Jordan's "man room." 

The chimney's are pretty well kept, and have lots of that character that we love!

We are going to place rock on the chimney and make it appear slightly more rustic than it already does. 

We even found cast-iron "horses" that use to hold firewood that heated the rooms of the house. These will be fixed up, preserved, and used once again!

Also, several weeks ago, my cousin's Hanna and Sara came to visit and helped do some demolition inside the house! They ripped off paneling and knocked holes in walls that were to be torn down later that week. They had the best time!

This picture is from the 10k race in Pilot- I came in 1st in my age group 20-29 and was in the top 10! So fun, but I have been recuperating from a knee injury ever since!

Did I mention that I am one very lucky, and blessed lady to be marrying into a great family, and to come from a fantastic family? Well you see, I do have one of the BEST uncles in the world. He is so talented and has worked hard all of his life- living the life of a tobacco farmer- among his other creative traits. He has owned his own grading business for as long as I can remember, and for our early wedding present- my Uncle Sammy removed hundred year old tree stumps that we had cut down, and fixed our yard! It looks so much better, and it is certainly ready for the addition!

This is where a HUGE pine tree was taken down!

Behind the Pine was a Pecan tree!

This is where an apple tree use to be!

Also, last week, we had one of the chimney's ripped out of the house! It was a huge mess, but it has opened up a lot of space in what will be the center of the home, the kitchen.

 This is a picture of the original setting of the chimney.

The chimney was used at one point in time to heat the house as a wood-stove. This is why it protruded out quite a bit from the existing wall. The boards seen leaning up against the chimney were pulled off of the original built in cabinets. It is the same pine wood that we found on the floors. Jordan is going to make a table out it for us!!

No more chimney!

Jordan and his dad checking out the ceiling and the wall!

Yep, that hole goes into what will be our master bedroom- use your imagination folks! :)

We are well on our way to getting things accomplished. A good portion of the demolition is completed within the house- now all of the new additions and "re-fixing" of old items has to take place! Next week, we will be doing the footings for the addition, and moving forward with our future southern home! We are so very blessed and thankful that we have the opportunity to make an old family home, Ours.