We've owned it for a year!

We got the keys on May 28, 2012 and spent a month moving possessions, painting, getting electricity reworked, new plumbing, cleaning etc.. We spent our first night in the house on June 30, 2012. In honor of our first anniversary in the house I have put together a little before and after show and tell. It is still a work in progress and we have pages of project lists, but I think we have done all right so far.

I am going to begin outside.  (Before on the left and the after on the right hand side)

 

There was just no room to park or pull in cars.

This is the front of the house

So we pushed the lawn back and put down new gravel.

The pretty lawn was doomed by the trencher that had to redo the main water lines.

 

That will soon be a cobblestone pathway to the back yard, I hope.

That is exactly what it looks like – a building blocking the drive!

The building came down and the drive is cleaned up.

It used to be a family lot, parents and kids and they never had a fence between the two houses before, sort of makes it a little less strange!

To the back yard-

The view across the back - from weeds to garden

The weeding was such a chore – by the time we moved in I had 4 ft thistles!

The aspen corner.  Hubby calls it the 'dear blind'

Moving inside!

The first day we looked at it I said that red wall would have to go!

Looking from dining/TV room toward kitchen

From the kitchen to dining/TV room.

I can cook and watch the news!

 Looking north toward the kitchen area

Looks smaller with the furniture!

Looking south into living room.

This past winter that wood stove was our favorite piece of furniture!  We are very pleased and frankly surprised at the amount of heat that thing put out and no smoke!

I think we got a lot done – but we still have more to do – hoping to get the exterior painted this summer, put in a couple of paved pathways and at least one more raised bed. Keeps us out of trouble! (In theory!)

It takes time when it's a cash only - no credit lifestyle but it's very satisfying that we've managed to get this all done without debt!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!