We’re closing a chapter on our lives – and I’m not ignorant of the fact that it may have been the most beautiful chapter of our entire lives.
Tomorrow we’ll start moving to our new house. Tomorrow night Wyatt is going to take Olivia to the cabin for a daddy-daughter and the boys and I will stay home for one last night in our house at Meadow Downs – on Saturday we plan to sleep and be in at Somerdowns.
I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me want to cry. This house . . . this beautiful, wonderful, cozy, frustrating house. This is the house I brought each of my boys home to. The home I rocked them in, and held them as wee little babies. This is where we’ve laughed (so, so much) and cried (way too much) and fought and made up and lived all the boring beautiful moments of my children’s early childhoods.
One time I fed the missionaries. I don’t remember how the comment came about, but one of them said: “Your home has the Spirit so strong. You can feel it when you come through the door.”
(And even if it makes my non-mormon friends/readers think my house is haunted) That was the SWEETEST compliment I’ve ever been given. Ever. I’ve held onto that for all these years. I’ve thought about it so often. I’ve hoped it was true, and not just something the missionary says to all his dinner appointments. I think it’s true.
I’m not the sentimental type that can’t bear change. If I was I would never move. (Obvs.) I believe in change. I believe in growth. But this change is the strangest mix of aching longing for the beautiful past and sheer excitement for the unwritten future! The last time I felt this way was when I graduated High School. And I still feel gentle loving feelings towards the experience High School was for me, but I recognize the glorious joy that awaited me in college. I had to leave one to find the other. And now I am leaving Meadow Downs for Somerdowns. I hope who ever comes into this home next will feel the Spirit and the goodness that is embedded into these walls. I hope they find as much joy here as I did.
Here is a quick, and probably not comprehensive list of things we’ve done to this house:
- Painted the front door
- Opened the entry way, tore out the floor to ceiling railing wall thing between the entry and stairs, tore out the coat closet that made the entry impractically small and claustrophobic
- Put in new drywall/lighting/flooring and railing in the entryway.
- Rewired (electric) the whole house, redid the lighting in each room.
- Rewired house for entertainment – added coaxel cabel and hardwired ethernet ports to each room, all descending to one “smart” area of home where routers, servers and drives are all located.
- Re-sheetrocked the whole house (went right over the lath and plaster that was severly damaged).
- Put in AC and redid/reworked/reducted the heating system.
- Put in new flooring throughout the house (tile in kitchen, baths, entry and laundry; carpet in all bedrooms, hallways, stairs and family room in basement) except the front room where we refinished the existing hardwood floor.
- Cut off the old metal railing to the front porch, opening the porch to the yard.
- Repainted the whole house (multiple times over the years as tastes and needs have changed).
- Put on new/updated trim work through out house including casing for doors and windows, window sills, base and crown, plinth blocks, etc.
- Painted existing kitchen cabinets to update and brighten
- Reconfigure upstairs bathrooms, remodel those baths completely
- Installed new appliances
- Dug hole and cut in entrance into basement for a walkout basement lined with boulders
- Cut all basement windows to enlarge for safety. Added lots of natural light
- Installed new cabinetry in the laundry room and basement kitchenette
- Designed, framed, wired, ducted, rocked, painted, trimmed (basically finished) the entire basement including built in book shelves, display shelves, photo niches, and entertainment center.
- Redid the fireplace in the upstairs living room. Pulled off the old fireplace (weird 60’s rock) and put on new tile surround and built a custom mantel.
- Put in whole yard sprinkler system.
- Planted trees along back fence
- Built shed, finished inside with insulation and rock, also wired it for electric with interior light and outlets
- Fenced entire yard, including man gates on two sides of home, and car gate on one side
- Put in curbing around beds
- Planted and sodded grass
- Planted beds with various trees and perrenials
- Built garden boxes
- Added/installed playground
- Built deck with scissor trussed roof
- Installed outdoor lighting including two ceiling fans in deck and two additional zones of dimmer-lights.
- Installed decking with trex-material, added catwalk across walkout area, and installed railing around the whole thing.
- Installed industrial shelving in garage floor to ceiling (those shelves are coming with us though!)
- Remodeled upstairs bathroom entirely just before we move. 😀
Here’s a little peak at some of the projects we’ve done over the years. I realized as I went through photos that there are lots of projects I just didn’t take pictures of. But you can see the final effects at the end.