Moving, Remodel...SO MUCH WORK! June/July 2016

I'm not sure I can actually put into words how much work it took this last summer to move and remodel.  But for sure, whatever words I use...you have to multiply them by 100 to really get the picture.  The level of energy surpasses human levels.  SOOOOOO many decisions to make, paperwork to fill out, things to coordinate, physical labor to do, heat to endure, patience, hard work, communication, and endurance.  Oh, and lack of sleep!

I thought I had done half the work since I had prepped my house to sell.  And my mom kept telling me to take what I thought I had left to do, and multiply it by at least 10.  Oh man, was that true!

Somehow, the timeline followed VERY closely to what my original plan was.  We got an offer three weeks after listing our home for sale by owner.  We were asking 289,000.  They offered 275K, and we countered with 279K.  Then, we did end up paying their realtor 4%...which was like 11,000.  That wasn't fun, BUT he pushed the sell through so efficiently and quickly.  from the time we listed until we closed was like 6 weeks!  My parents were out of their house (of 18 years) miraculously by June 18th...and then we started the remodel the next day!  We had to be out of our home by June 30th!  Oh my goodness, somehow we got the floor ripped up and done between that timeframe of my parents leaving and then us needing to be out of our home.

These pictures are such a mix of the old and the new...and the people who helped us.  It was the most exhausting project.  And at first I felt like I was totally vandalizing my parents' home!  But it ended up coming together somehow, and feeling like home.  What a huge change in a short amount of time!  I need to post pics of my mom and dad's new home (which is a rental they have had since 2005, and they fixed it up a few years ago after Lindy & Mike moved...so it was basically move-in ready).  My mom bought a huge trampoline...and set it up in such a cozy way, that even though it is like 1,000 sq feet smaller, it STILL feels like grandma and grandpa's house.  Their essence is there.