Well, I know it’s been a confusing six months with regards to where the heck I have been living, where the heck Robert has been living and where the heck we have been living together whenever we are lucky enough to be together.
To keep it simple for you, we’re currently living in the strawbale house, because the farm house is mostly looking like this:
True to Jillian and Robert style, we’re doing a reality TV home improvement style house renovation. TAKE IT DOWN TO THE STUDS!!! That’s seems like our life motto. Yay for us.
The farm house is a really cool ranch style 70’s home and while there’s a lot of great stuff about it, it did need some work (buying turn-key homes is apparently not our talent). Rob and I agreed that we did not want to have to live in a demolition site so we have kept the strawbale house rental while working on the farm house. There’s a commute. We don’t care (but sometimes I care).
What was going to be a complex kitchen renovation turned into a terribly big complex kitchen renovation when we discovered that the attic space above the kitchen was a rat, mouse and pigeon labyrinth at one point in time. Former owners must have had an exterminator deal with the issue because under all that insulation above the kitchen was a literal catacomb of dead creatures, crap and various critter nests. The vision of mummified rats the size of Penelope will forever be seared in my memory. It was heinous.
Ok, so we had to hire a company to come and vacuum out that revolting mess. It took them a week. I felt so badly for them! The attic contents were horrifying. Robert was so traumatized that he tore out panels of dry wall in the other side of the house to make sure there wasn’t a rat catacomb above the bedrooms, too — there wasn’t (by the way, the bedrooms are also quasi-demolitioned at the moment). Suffice to say, the kitchen demolition part of this renovation has been exhausting and extensive but the project is now moving forward. This is an example of how sometimes it has to get real bad before it starts to get better.
Rob’s dad was here for a full week to help out with installing the new main support beam in the kitchen which you can clearly see in the next image. It looks gorgeous! Beyond the beam, you can see into our enormous living room with it’s cozy fireplace, kooky windows, vaulted ceiling and exposed cross-ties.
I can’t wait for the day we finally get to move into this place but until then, I am continuing to cherish living right on the river, above the rapids, in the strawbale house which has been such a beautiful place to live and I am sure I will look back so fondly at this time in our life.
Viva la home renovation revolution! Hopefully you’ll be amazed (me too) next time I show you images of progress!
Lastly, did you find Tater Tot and I in your mailbox last week?
