Siding and a Side of Various Projects

Yay, the new roof was finally finished and now the work on the siding could begin!

But before we relive the siding story, I must take a moment to update you on where we are present day. Spoiler Alert: as I sit here writing this post, I sit in an 800 square foot apartment in the Denver metro area. What? Yep, we are two days into a brand new season of life and two days beyond the sale of our beloved Young Victorian. It is September 2020 (yeah, best year ever, will say no one ever) and several months ago, we made the bittersweet decision to sell our home. I’ll share all of the details in the next post, but for now let’s get back to September, 2016, shall we?

Back to 2016 and Siding and Other Stuff

While work on the new siding was scheduled to ramp-up, Warren and I continued to chip away at other projects. The never-ending task of stripping wallpaper continued in the sitting, dining and living rooms. And it was time to begin the last of the hardwood installation in those same rooms!

One Guy, Really?

Yes! Day one of the siding project and one guy showed up. I’m not even kidding, one guy! But thankfully, the next day actually produced an entire crew and they were firing on all cylinders! Old siding began to fly (with again, a promise to clean everything up at the end of the project)!

Inside, we were laying the flooring in the dining room and preparing the living room for its flooring. That involved more wallpaper removal and moving out some built-in bookshelves (installed on top of the nasty old carpet). And then…

When are Surprises no Longer Surprising?

Outside the siding contractors began to uncover several areas of water damage previously hidden under the old siding. Warren would periodically break-away from the interior projects to repair said damage so that the siding project could continue.

Surprises like the water damage throughout the entire renovation would become commonplace for us sadly. It seemed as though every room held something unforeseen and frustrating. But with each discovery, came an opportunity to make something right and that did feel good. Like we were putting the house together as she should have been put together from the very beginning.

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Looking back, all of those frustrations, the never-ending projects, long days, and feeling as though the light would never appear at the end of the tunnel made leaving our home for the last time, incredibly emotional for both of us! God had graciously allowed us to be part of something really special in renovating this place. And we are so thankful for the experience.

What a Transformation!

And at last, nearly a month later, the siding was complete. And with the exception of the new gutters (which would be installed, would then leak during the first rain, and completely reinstalled months later), the exterior transformation was complete and it was amazing!

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The new roof and siding gave us so much encouragement! We could finally begin to see our vision for this home coming to life and it was exciting! It was sweet to have so many neighbors stop by to tell us how good the house looked; I think many of them actually wanted to thank us for sprucing up the neighborhood with our improvements! I mean the house was a pretty big eyesore before we got ahold of it.

Thanks for travelling with us through the renovation of our Young Victorian! There’s a lot more ahead but we will take a break next time to talk about the sale of this amazing and one-of-a-kind home that we named Anabelle’s Place!

Blessings!
{Shelley}