{"id":6833,"date":"2011-08-16T13:30:47","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T20:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/?p=6833"},"modified":"2011-08-16T13:30:47","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T20:30:47","slug":"anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/16\/anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

If this post isn’t 100 percent coherent or perfectly spelled, it’s because my friend L and I just celebrated with bloody Marys (and I didn’t make either of them as “lite” as she requested). Work this afternoon is going to be … interesting.<\/p>\n

One year ago today, at precisely this hour, I dragged my U-Haul trailer into town after a trip that was more eventful than I might have wished<\/a>, but ended well with a little help from my friends.<\/p>\n

I paused at the title company long enough to sign papers. I popped into the real estate office to pick up keys. I called L to say I’d made it — then I followed her on over to my new-old house. I was seeing the house for the very first time.<\/p>\n

Before that, I’d viewed photos and gotten second-hand opinions (thanks to L, who found the place, and the real estate agent; and the home inspector, of course). But that was my first in-person experience. One year ago today. <\/p>\n

I think L was extremely brave to have found and done all the legwork on a house purchase for someone else — especially an old house like this one. Very risky behavior there, L!<\/p>\n

I loved it from the first moment.<\/p>\n

In the year since, I’ve gotten a few surprises. But considering the “interesting” things a 100-year-old house can do, I’ve lucked out. I’ve done a ton and have 10 tons more to do. But I can say (knock wood) that never once have I run into any surprises as “interesting” as this one<\/a> sent just this morning by a blog reader and fellow old-house adventurer.<\/p>\n

At times I feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the improvements still needed. L and not a few blogistas keep telling me to remember how far I’ve come in a year. So, in the name of celebrating not only the anniversary but a year’s worth of small, plodding accomplishments, here are a few befores and afters:<\/p>\n

Living room before:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Living<\/a><\/p>\n

Living room after:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Actually, since taking this photo I’ve torn up the carpet and removed the pellet stove and its surround. Temporarily it looks uglier than this — but it’s still progress!)<\/p>\n

\"Living<\/a><\/p>\n

Dormer room before:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dormer<\/a><\/p>\n

Dormer room after:<\/strong><\/p>\n

With new wall and closet behind the bed.<\/p>\n

\"Dormer<\/a><\/p>\n

Kitchen before:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Kitchen<\/a><\/p>\n

Kitchen after:<\/strong><\/p>\n

… with apologies to those who were expecting to see natural wood. I had good intentions, but the wood wasn’t in decent enough condition. And yes, the pink is ridiculous. But this house just affects me that way.<\/p>\n

\"Kitchen<\/a><\/p>\n

Garage before (ugh!):<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Garage<\/a><\/p>\n

Garage after:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doors still to come.<\/p>\n

\"Garage<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Garage<\/a><\/p>\n

And of course if you’ve been around a while, you’ve already seen before-and-afters on the sun porch<\/a>. <\/p>\n

So. Today the front door … tomorrow the trim. Ever onward!<\/p>\n

Damn slowly onward. That’s how old houses go. But still … onward.<\/p>\n

\"Front<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If this post isn’t 100 percent coherent or perfectly spelled, it’s because my friend L and I just celebrated with bloody Marys (and I didn’t make either of them as “lite” as she requested). Work this afternoon is going to be … interesting. One year ago today, at precisely this hour, I dragged my U-Haul trailer into town after a trip that was more eventful than I might have wished, but ended well with a little help from my friends. I paused at the title company long enough to sign papers. I popped into the real estate office to pick…<\/p>\n

Continue readingAnniversary<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-improvement","category-rural-and-small-town-living","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}