I'm not gonna lie, these last 3-4 weeks have been ROUGH at our Ash St project.  I have purposely avoided writing an update because it would have come across as a great big ole' pity party, and I know you have enough troubles of your own without having to read about mine.  So I'll just give you a quick recap to catch you up.... it was basically groundhogs day around this rehome so just play the following scene over and over about 21 times and you will be caught up.

EVERY day I would walk into a scene much like the picture below:

I would spend the next couple of hours hauling buckets full of plaster to the dumpster.  Then after it was all cleaned up, inevitably someone would need to knock down more plaster to run more wires, pipes, duct, etc. and we would be back to square one.

Then, just when we thought we had made it to the end of demo, it was brought to our attention that this 90 year old home had no insulation in the walls.  What's the point in having a brand new HVAC system if it won't be able to run efficiently because of loss of air through the walls?  So we ended up knocking down all the remaining plaster on the exterior walls so that the insulation could be installed. Sigh.

The moral of the story is: if ever you run across a house with lath and plaster walls- RUN! Demo is usually fun but this went from fun to mind numbing really quick.

On the bright side this rehome has afforded me ample opportunities to exercise perseverance.... just not sure I always seized the joy in the trials (James 1: 2-4).

Also thanks to the NEVER ENDING demolition I had a record fit bit month.

You'll be happy to know I packed up my violin last Thursday when I handed the keys over to the drywallers to start officially putting this house back together.  

Since the drywall was going up on the inside my goal for this WWYWW was to get the outside ready for paint.  So Wednesday morning as I was lying in bed planning out our work day I took a mental walk around the property to see if there was anything else that needed to be worked on before I turned it over to Nicholas for paint, and that's when I remembered the wonky trim on the back porch. You can see from the picture below it looks like there use to be a door opening to the right of the current door and a previous owner slapped some plywood up to cover the opening and called it good.  It functions but just isn't cute.
  

We had our mission. I had thought this project would take all day, but can I just tell you Mr Thompson and his personal cheerleader had the old trim torn off, the siding clipped back, and the new board and batten and trim back up in less than 2 hours.  Boom!  

Here is a picture of my man in action:

And here is a picture of Rory with his new hammer and the after project in the background minus a few pieces of trim and of course paint.  

Because we had so much time left in our WWYWW we spent the rest of the afternoon fixing the back deck.  There were several rotted boards and the center of the deck was caving in (kicking myself for not getting a picture).  We replaced the rotted boards and Rory added several center supports underneath the deck to give it a level and firm foundation.  

So there you have it, not the most glamorous WWYWW but it was soooo nice to be in fixing mode after endless weeks of demolition.  Things should be rocking and rolling from here on out.  Should be ready for the big reveal in about 6 weeks!

Exciting News for Rehome

Y'all, I am so super excited to tell you what I'm fixin to tell you! Seriously, I have been trying to write this blog in my head for 3 weeks now because I want to try to communicate how HUGE this news is to the future of rehome, but I think my excitement has triggered a mild case of writers block.  So just in case my written words fail to convey how truly special this news is I will illustrate this post with lots of pics because as they say "A picture is worth a thousand words." (yes I have resorted to using cliches, the struggle is real)

Raise your hand if you recognize that picture. That's right! It's a picture of one of Donna Benton's award winning Waterhouse Market booths. Waterhouse Market booths can be seen across the state at various weekend antique shows throughout the year or at Jenifer's Antiques in Conway where Donna has taken up permanent residency for the last 2 years.  While Jenifer's Antiques is home to some of the most talented antique dealers in Arkansas there is just something special about the Waterhouse Market booth.  Donna has a way of taking something old and transforming it into something fresh, relevant, and current in today's decor.

I first met Donna about 5 years ago at an antique show at the Conway Expo Center. This show was my first attempt at anything in the design world and I was extremely intimidated to be setting up my little 10x10 booth amongst so many antique veterans.  I was extra nervous because I was bringing painted antiques to this show which to some would be equivalent to showing up to an animal rights event in a fur coat.  So I can not adequately describe the relief I felt when I saw another vendor setting up with painted furniture. That other paint lover ended up being the one and only Donna Benton.  

What I remember most about Donna's Waterhouse Market was how cohesive her furniture looked. While most vendors (including myself) had brought an eclectic mix of antiques that might be great stand-alone-pieces, Donna had managed to take unique furniture and paint and display them in such a way that they came off as a well thought out collection.  This made her furniture marketable to both the true antique lover and to those looking for the latest home trends found in all the decorating magazines (this was before Pinterest hit it big so people were still clipping magazine pictures for inspiration). She also had the coolest vignette set up on top of a hutch with a life-size skeleton hanging out in a chandelier. Creepy yet somehow classy.

Since that first show Donna's career has taken off.  She is constantly growing as both an artist and entrapanuer and has become a respected member of the design community- she was asked to design a room at the Conway Symphony Designer House at Hendrix Village and she currently writes a monthly design column for the 501.  She has also become a dear friend and my favorite dumpster diving companion.  

But beyond her crazy talent, I think what I admire most about Donna is her continual drive for excellence and her inability to do anything half way. This is seen in every aspect of her business from her willingness to drive her trailer to the ends of the earth to keep her booth stocked with unique treasures and trinkets, to how she regularly clears out an entire room of her home just to capture one magazine worthy photo of a finished furniture piece.

It is because of these qualities that I asked, no begged, Donna to join me at rehome.  And guess what?!?! Despite her crazy busy schedule she said YES!  (You saw that one coming didn't you?  I mean what a downer that would have been if all those pictures and paragraphs led up to a "she said no thank you.")

Yes Donna is going to be joining me in the final phase of rehoming- the staging stage.  For those of you who are not fluent in HGTV, here is the official google definition of home staging:

Staging (stey-jing) noun.  The act of making an unfurnished house appear lived in to entice buyers to purchase the property.  The goal is to make the buyer feel at home when he/she tours the property.  

I love this phase.  After spending months practically living at these homes during construction I grow quite attached and can't help daydreaming about moving in and setting up house. By the time I'm ready to stick a sign in the yard I have decorated the house from top to bottom in my head and even know what color scheme I would use in my Christmas Decor.  So while google tells me I should be staging to help entice potential buyers, I love to stage because it allows me to see my dream for the home to fruition- remember I have control issues.  

The problem is by the time I get to the end of a project I am usually running dangerously low on the time, energy, and cash necessary to do a full house staging. Therefore I have been restricted to just a few key areas.  Plus even if I had a surplus of the aforementioned necessities I am lacking the resources to bring in the unique pieces I would desire for the space.  I try hard to make each rehome distinct from the last and strive to add unexpected touches to each project so it just hurts my heart to think about a house being filled with ordinary furniture and decor. Sooooo that is why Donna is my dream person to help me stock these rehomes.  Her furniture and accessories will essentially serve as art to our rehomes.  

How I envision this working is I will bring Donna in at the beginning of a project to discuss future layout, style, and color of the rehome so she can get an idea of what furniture she might want for the space.  This will give her at least 3 months to treasure hunt across the globe or custom build pieces for the space.  Then, once construction is complete, we will spend a fun-filled evening moving all her fabulous creations into the space while eating the cupcakes our adorable children and husbands deliver to the job site for a little quality family time.  Then the next day, despite pulling an all-nighter, I will look refreshed and fabulous for the big reveal, or open house, at which, there will be lots of oohs and ahhs, and happy tears, and Conway's first bidding war.  And last, the new home-owner will fall so in love with the total package that he/she will decide to purchase all the furniture and live happily ever after in their rehome. Orrrrrr after the new homeowner picks and chooses a few (or none) of their favorite pieces Donna and I will open up the sale of the furniture to the public in a fun estate sale like setting with snacks. How FUN is THAT!!!!

Now before I leave you, a few of you who are familiar with our past Zillow listings might be wondering "what about The Painted Stache?"  The Painted Stache has always provided a custom table and a few other custom builds for each of our past rehomes and will continue to do so alongside Waterhouse Market.  What you might not know is that the Painted Stache is actually my Dad and I's little side furniture business- Dad builds, I finish.  None of us knew Dad was so crafty until he retired from banking and I asked him if he would try to build me a table for my front porch. After that first build a lightbulb went off and I have kept that man covered in sawdust ever since. Sometimes the jokes about me being a slave driver get to me and I feel bad that Dad has never had a chance to live the retired life of endless Andy Griffith reruns and naps in the recliner so I am hoping this partnership with Donna will help ease his load.  But at the same time, I'm selfishly not ready to give up this father-daughter business because I absolutely love the time I have with him collaborating over furniture design and my occasional woodworking lessons.  Plus it would be a shame not to share his talent with the world.  

Thanks for sharing in my excitement! Make sure to like Waterhouse Market on FB and hug your Daddy!

Meet Ms C.

A few weeks back I introduced our latest project to you with a few demolition pics and promised you I had some exciting news to share.  Well, this is the post that I reveal that news.  But before I do I had a request to show some before demolition pictures of this rehome.  I aim to please, so here are a few shots I took before we started swinging our sledgehammers:

Well, I spoke wrote to soon.  My "before" pictures are terrible.  They don't capture the feel of the before house at all.  I tell ya what, I'll try to navigate you around the house as best as I can with the limited shots I got. Here goes... 

The Living Room-

I can't believe I did not think to get a picture of the "weird double doors".  Those double doors are currently an entry into one of the bedrooms. Who would want to walk directly into their bedroom from the living room??  Not me, so that will be going away.

Next we have 2 pictures of pretty much the same side of the dining room, sigh.  

And then after you walk thru the dining room you enter the kitchen:

It pretty much just had that one unit of cabinets. The oven sat all alone on one side of the kitchen and then the fridge held up the opposite wall.  No dishwasher and very little work surface.  We plan to change that.

Here is a shot of the current laundry room:

And the 1 bathroom:

And last the lousy shots of the 2 bedrooms:

Oh and a shot of the exterior before Travis tore out the cracked sidewalk:

Yep, she's a beaut.  She is in a lot better shape than most of the homes we buy so we thought this was going to be an easy peasy project.  Problem is we purchased this house over a year ago after a 5 min walk thru of the property.  While our realtor was showing us the home the current tenants stuck around and asked us not to go in one of the two bedrooms because their baby was sleeping. Fast forward 1 year later the tenants lease is up and we finally get inside to see what we purchased. What we didn't catch in our previous 5 minutes in the house was that the foundation was caving in at the center, there was rotten wood under the carpet, and the electrical was all old knob and tube that would need to be ripped out and replaced.  No biggie, nothing we haven't dealt with in the past, just wasn't expecting those unfun expenses.  

But here comes the exciting news- we think we might have this rehome presold.  Yep, we have a potential buyer.  "Potential" because she knows at the end of the project if it is not the home of her dreams she is welcome to walk away.  Honestly, this news is more terrifying than exciting to me. You see I have control issues- my issue with control being that I like to have IT- all of it. That is why I would make a terrible designer, I don't know how, or probably more honestly, I don't want to implement someone else's vision for a space- I just want to do what I want to do.  Ouch, that was hard to admit about myself- bottom line I'm selfish.  (First step in recovery is admitting you have a problem, right?!?!)  

So this was my big hesitation when Rory suggested we go under contract with a buyer (I'll call her Ms C).  But then it hit me, this could be my opportunity to live out my HGTV Fixer Upper Fantasy.  I could let her walk the before property, give her a few options to choose from, and then do a big dramatic REVEAL at the end (anyone know where I can get a life-size photo of my house?). Needless to say the fantasy won out over the fear.  

I knew it was all going to be ok when the first thing Ms C said when I met her was "This is just like Fixer Upper."  At that moment I felt like we were kindred spirits and I lost all professionalism and got entirely too hyper and it was like the filter from my brain to my mouth was turned off as I walked her thru the house and discussed my ideas.  I heard myself say things like "when I walk into a home I let the house tell me what kind of style it wants to be." Seriously?!?! "It speaks to me" who do I think I am?- the house whisperer???  Geesh, I would have run at that point.  But Ms C stuck around to hear me further admit that I like to give each of our homes a theme song that describes the overall mood of the house.  This rehome's song is "My Girl".  I may, or may not, have sung a line or two... honestly, I can't remember, I've tried to block it from my memory.

I also stressed over and over that I was NOT a designer, therefore, I could not get too much input from her because I was afraid I would worry so much about pleasing her that I would be afraid to take risks in the design- and I was afraid without the risks the house would feel more cookie cutter than rehomed. That being said, I did give her 1 pretty big decision to make in regard to the floor plan.  I presented her with 2 options for the extra space currently being used as the laundry room.  Unfortunately I was not able to show her a JoJo style animated computerized sketch of the 2 options but I did use my finger to point at where things would go so I'm pretty sure it had the same effect.   (see picture to remind you what space I'm talking about)

Option #1: Convert that space into a Master Bathroom, thus taking the home from a 2 bed, 1 bath to a 2 bed, 2 bath home 

Option #2) Use the space as a large walk-in master closet. 

She chose (cue the drum roll)..... option number 2!!! She also told me a few other things she would love to see in her dream home including a claw foot tub and a farmhouse sink.  Which just so happens to be exactly what the home told me it wants, so it's all good.

Ms C has been the ideal client (can I call her a client??). She has been so patient and has allowed me to hold tightly to my control and seems to like all my ideas- or maybe she is just scared I'll sing to her again if she disagrees with me. But despite how perfect she has been I have been a mess!  I have second guessed every decision I have made and am constantly worrying over what she will think of my choices and if I'm making it special enough, and if she will cry at the reveal (my HGTV training has taught me that the success of a flip can be gauged by the amount of tears cried and how many times the homeowner says "I can't believe this is the same house.") Normally I just do what I want then stick a sign in the yard and if someone likes it they buy it and if they don't they move on.  But now, even though Ms C is under NO obligation to purchase the home, I just hate the idea of putting her in that awkward position of having to tell me she just doesn't like it- although that would make for an interesting plot twist on Fixer Upper.

So I'll keep you updated on how this adventure turns out.  And if you think you might like to star in your own episode of my fantasy Fixer Upper, we are about to start working on another old town Conway house.  You know the house on the corner of Donaghey and Caldwell that had the tree fall down on it- yep that ones ours.  Fun fact: the tree fell 12 hours after we purchased it, nice.  

   

I hate to leave you on yet another cliff hanger but I have one more exciting news to share, but I'm so pumped about it I want it to have its very own post- so stay tuned!