06.01.05 house-iversary!
Today marks three years
since we officially became homeowners.
The day we came to look at
the house for the first time, a couple of potential buyers were just
leaving. We passed each other on the porch. One of them motioned toward
the house behind him and shook his head, as if to say, "Don't bother, it's
not worth it."
No doubt he saw the grungy
carpet, the dirty walls, the peeling paint, the overgrown yard, the
sagging porch, the broken windows. There wasn't just cleaning and painting
to be done, but big, major work. The bathroom needed a new sink. Heck, it
didn't even have a shower. The kitchen needed to be scrubbed down
by a HazMat team. It also needed a new fridge and stove and that hideous
orange countertop and 70s era linoleum had to go. The yard was more
suitable for jungle exploration than barbecuing. The hardwood floors in
the bedrooms had long since lost their shiny finish and there were
dismaying pet stains in prominent places. There were previous
"improvements" to be undone, and plants to relocate, and an oddly-placed
basement bathroom that needed to be ripped out entirely.
We saw all of that, too.
But we also saw this:
and this:
and this:
and this:
What we saw was a
house that was desperate to be loved, to be seen for all its wonderful
qualities, treasured for all its quirky character, healed and mended and
fixed up into a beloved home.
In the three years since
we moved in, we've torn out the carpet, painted
the floors, replaced the refrigerator and stove, installed deadbolts on
all the doors, painted the living and dining room,
cut down a dying tree, planted three new ones, dug
out a patio area, built three retaining walls,
replaced the dining room windows,
torn out the bathtub surround,
partially tiled the bathroom floor,
building the porch posts,
renovated the attic, put up new porch railings,
and installed a porch swing. There's more to be
done, of course, but we've come a long way, baby.
We both knew, as soon as
we set foot on the porch and turned around to look at the view behind us,
as soon as we saw the big wooden beam in the living room and the built-in
bookcases, as soon as we discovered the hidden staircase that led up to an
attic full of possibilities and the green darkness outside that hinted of
future summer celebrations...we knew. We knew that this was it. This was
The One.
So Happy Anniversary, Hall
House! You are our beloved home.
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inside
from left to right:
#1 -- the front entry, taken from the living room; the front door is on the
left
#2
-- the living room before it was painted, taken from the entry; the front picture window is on the
right
#3 -- the dining room before it was
painted, taken from the living
room; the door just off center leads to the kitchen
#4
-- the living room, taken from the dining room; the front picture window is
top center
#5 -- the master bedroom (for now), taken from the door
#6
-- the built-in cabinet in the bathroom
#7 -- part of the kitchen, including our new
stove and fridge (the two black hulks on the right)
#8
-- the back door leading to the back porch, taken from the kitchen
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view
from left to right:
#1
-- Our living room window, looking out to the porch
#2
-- between the two houses, in a pocket between the trees, you can see the
Willamette River, though the picture makes it seem much farther away than it
actually is; we've often stopped to watch massive ships pass through from
this vantage point
#3
-- in the opening between the trees, you can see one of the arches of the
St. Johns Bridge
#4
-- again, through the trees you can see a span of the
St. Johns Bridge
from left to right:
#1 -- a January sunset from the front porch
#2 -- with the leaves off the trees, we can see more of the
river and the West Hills
#3 -- going...going...
#4 -- ...gone
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