Our New Home, the Incredible New Journey, and the Big Plans for you!

Where do I even begin on this post?  Believe me when I say that we have an incredible story of how we ended up in our new home and it was not on our list.  We were looking to buy a small ranch fixer upper and instead this is what happened. 

It is a ranch, just not a small fixer-upper.  ***All these photos are from the listing****

We drove by what felt like hundreds of houses from repos to auctions and general for sale.  We went in and toured 20+ homes and the picture above are the 4 houses that we placed offers on.  All did not work out because God had bigger plans for us.   You can see by these photos that we were looking at small ranch homes that were about 1200 square feet. 

Life quickly took an unexpected change for us at the end of December and Mr. DD and his business partner of 9 years were splitting the business and we now needed an office for my husband and I needed a workshop because I worked out of the basement of his former office.

This house was on the market from August 2017 until December 2017.  I know this because I drove by it on a weekly basis and the for sale sign read “8 car garage”, naturally this captured my attention.  The house sold in December 2017 and closed in January 2018 and went right back on the market the day after closing.  We were told that the guy who purchased the house bought it for him and his girlfriend and their relationship fell apart during the closing process, so he relisted the house.  The house came up in my Zillow search as a new listing and that is when I told Mr. DD about the house, the garage space would be perfect for my workshop.   We decided to invest in a new home that had what we needed instead of renting space for an office and a workshop.   *Plans for the back patio*  We are planning to extend the patio out to the gravel french drain and around the back of the garage.

This is the 6 car garage on the lower level that is now my workshop.  It is totally full now and does not look this empty. *Plans for the Workshop* We are taking everything from the poles over to the right as part of our future Airbnb aka #HOFHideaway

Mr. DD’s office with its own entrance for his clients.  They don’t have to enter my home, just his office door.  Of course, he brings them up to the living space to show them around our new home.  *Plans for Mr. DD’s office*  Adding a door to the right opening at the bottom of the stairs.  I want to remove the stained glass windows, but Mr. DD states they are fine the way they are.  

Our future AirBnB rental space.  This is located in the back of the 6 car garage and Mr. DD’s office.  The bottom level of this house is what sold us.  The entire bottom level of our house is for business and our money makers.   Our first major project is to fix up the #HOFHideaway – We are located 1 mile from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  They are majorly investing in the Hall of Fame and it will become a major destination spot.  *Plans for the #HOFHideaway*  Everything in this space will be changed.  We are planning to take space from part of my workshop for an additional room for the rental space.  I can’t wait to get working on this project.  

Ugh, the kitchen!  This house was built in 1996 and nothing has been updated in the kitchen.  The home is very open and they planned such a small weird area for the kitchen.  Do you see all the grape wallpaper?  My favorite is the hanging stained glass light with the grape leaves and grapes.  Do you detect sarcasm in that sentence?  *Plans for the kitchen*  We plan to remove the wall with the oven and microwave to create a larger kitchen area.  The area behind that wall is a small entryway to the back of the house.  Everything will be gutted and the entire space will have a major upgrade.    

 

My favorite space in the house is this little seating area next to the living room and looking out to the patio.  I have removed the vertical blinds and the lattice from the doors, it gives it a wide-open feeling and the room also has skylights.  *Plans for the sitting area*  Remove a strange wall on the left of this photo to open it up to the eating and kitchen area.  

See that window?  That actually is a window to the sitting area above.  It is the strangest thing to have a window in your house looking in your house and not outside.  We majorly wonder what the heck was the design and purpose of this?????  This is why we are removing that wall to open up the space to the sitting area and have an open flow to the back of the house from the kitchen area.  

We have a lot of wood in the living room which makes the living space feel very dark and “library-ish”  You know, “Library-ish”, where you feel like you should be sitting in an old-style study surrounded by dark wood panels and books.  *Plans for the Living Room*  We plan to remove the wall behind the sofa to open up the living room space to the dining room.  Yes, we have a major amount of hardwood in this house.  The couple who built the house owned a local lumber store in town as well as a car company, hence the 6 car garage on the lower level.  This is the toughest space to decide what to do.  I don’t know what to do to the wood panels to update the space.  I don’t have the heart to paint them and so I need to find a way to minimize the wood and brighten the area.  I am open for all suggestions of what to do with this space.  

*Plans for the dining room*  Remove the wall on the left to open up into the living room. 

  

My office in the front of the house.  *Plans for the Designed Decor Office* I plan to remove the wood paneling on the lower part of the walls to make the space brighter and continue the same hardwood flooring that is in the entryway next to this room.  

Guest bedroom #1 – Youngest son’s space.  *Plans for Guest bedroom #1*  Remove the wallpaper and chair railing, update the carpet. 

 

Guest Bedroom #2 – My oldest son’s space.  *Plans for Guest Bedroom #2*  The plans are the same as guest bedroom #1.  These bedrooms are the very last items on our list.  My boys are young adults and out ready to get out into the world on their own so these rooms will be done after they leave the nest.  

Jack and Jill bathroom between the boy’s bedrooms.  Look in the mirror, see that reflection of the walk-in bathtub.  UGH, the person who lived in the house before had this installed for their handicap sister.  At this time we are planning to keep it, we have aging parents so no need to quickly remove this tub.  

Master bedroom- I love this space and can’t wait to do a makeover.  *Plans for the Master Bedroom* Remember this is the photo from the listing.  I am presently looking for a larger bedroom set to fill the space.  I will remove the wallpaper and update the flooring and add my personal touches to make this out private sanctuary.  

Master Bathroom – *Plans for the Master Bathroom* Remove the stained glass window and replace with something that has cleaner lines and allows more light.    I would love a free standing tub, replace the vanity and remove all the wall mirrors.  We need a larger shower area which is to the left of this photo.  We plan to knock out the wall into the shower/toilet area to open it up to make a larger shower stall.  

Walk-in closet that I have to share with Mr. DD.  *Plans for Walk-in Closet*  Find large bedroom furniture to hold Mr. DD’s clothes so I can have this space for myself.  I will make this a changing room like I had in my last house.  I plan on reworking all the hanging and shelving to have more capacity.    

What we have completed.  The list is very short!  

*Built storage shelves in the garage.

*Move laundry room to 1/2 bathroom next to the master bedroom – almost done and will be sharing soon.

*Create a temporary mudroom at the back door where the laundry room is currently.  In progress.

*Removed wallpaper from 2 of the 11 rooms that have wallpaper.  

*Added 2 new Genie garage door openers.  *See my Facebook Live talking about the cool features.  

 

 

We have a lot of changes we would like to make to have this house as our home.  I need to remember to take it one space at a time.   I tend to want everything done yesterday, so this is a daily challenge for me.  My advice to others is not to rush to make changes in a new house.  Live with the space to make sure you make the right changes that will last and not a quick fix.  I need to take my own advice. 

What do you think of the current status of my home and what improvements would you make?