Opening Act

On March 27th my wife Elizabeth and I signed the paperwork and took possession of our 1910 craftsman home in Spokane, WA.  We had decided that Seattle was too much city for us and we wanted a place where we could have amenities but also be close to the outdoors.  Plus we had a hard time swallowing the cost of housing in Seattle and sought an alternative.

We managed to settle on a house after a two day marathon search and couldn't have been more excited to have a place to make roots.  Located on the south hill just blocks from Manito Park the house was nestled among shade trees in a quiet corner of residential streets where the ice cream man still made rounds on Sundays.  We knew it had potential but that it was going to take money, sweat equity, vision and patience as well as perseverance to make it the home we wanted.

I have no doubt we will make mistakes along the way but what is the point of living if you aren't willing to take chances and see what becomes of it.

At the right is a picture of the house the day I moved in.  Elizabeth would remain in Seattle for a few more weeks wrapping up work and packing our apartment while I would begin the task of starting our remodel.  It was to be many weeks of "camping out" in the dust and sleeping on a single mattress while settling in at my new job.

First order of business was to start removing the overgrown trees and bushes that crowded the house, made it much to dark and drab and risked damaging the foundation.  Plus, like a sick patient, the only way to really see problems is to expose things.  And boy did I start to see things.

And so begins this blog.  I will do my best to get caught up with where we are at presently.  I think we have made steady progress four weeks after hauling in our first few boxes.