Call him Mr. Gorbachev

...because he's tearing down these walls!

Bad jokes aside, Ryan has been gutting the inside of our house. Here are some photos:

This is a corner of what was the laundry room. Unfortunately, appliances today are so big that you can't open the door from the outside. So the laundry room is becoming a mudroom.

This is the laundry room next to the "pellet stove room." We're selling the pellet stove (if you're interested). That wall between them is coming down and the two rooms combined will be the mudroom.

Ta da!

This wall is between the living room and kitchen. While the arched doorway is cute, we prefer a more open floor plan.

View from the other side.

Boom!

If you wondered, Sam is super proud that he's helping his dad remodel our house.

This funky almost-wall separates the kitchen from the hallway. You can see the doorways to our bedroom and Amelia's room. Why they didn't just make a whole wall, I couldn't say.

Ryan knocked it down so we could put up a proper wall in its place. I say we but I mean "Ryan and whoever is willing to help him." Now accepting applications!

One hardworking huss.

Old House

We will eventually come up with a detailed list of all the things we want to change in the house. Some of them are major changes, like putting on new siding.

You might need to look up at our header photo to get the full effect: It's sky blue stucco with weird "swooshes" all over. 

Others are minor changes, like painting the kids' rooms and sanding the wood floors so they look nice again.

Here are some photos of the inside so you can get an idea of the "before."

Wood paneling in the living room. I want to go back in time and throttle whoever invented this crap.

The living room has a "bonus room" that is a little lower than the rest of the house. It also has a ramp down to it instead of stairs. Don't tell our kids, but that ramp is going to be one of the first things we change.

This unfinished room off the bonus room is going to become a laundry/storage room.

The kitchen is actually quite big, with newer appliances. The space between the stove and refrigerator is going to become a pantry.

This half wall in the kitchen separates the bedroom hallway from the kitchen. We're going to knock it down and make a proper wall that reaches the ceiling. No more cute shelf. Sorry, Amelia.

Hopefully that gives you a general idea of what the house is like on the inside. Ryan has already started working on it!

New Home!

Our family moved to Laramie, WY in 2012. Our move was rather hurried, so we didn't even have time to consider purchasing a home. We rented a two-bedroom duplex in a great neighborhood, with a yard and a garage and plenty of space for the four of us.
In 2014 we had another baby. Suddenly, our perfect little apartment started to feel cramped. As we looked around for three-bedroom apartments we realized that we were tired of sharing walls with neighbors, and for the price of renting anything with three bedrooms, we might as well have a mortgage and get something out of it.

Owning a home has long been a dream of Ryan's, so he took the lead in our search for a house of our own. We looked at SO MANY houses over the course of a few months. We finally found one that met all of our needs and wants:
1) In our price range
2) 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms
3) A decent yard
4) A garage (yes, there are plenty of houses in Laramie with no garage)
5) In our neighborhood (so we could remain in our ward [LDS congregations are organized geographically])
6) Plenty of renovation opportunities for Ryan.

We closed on the house on June 22nd, 2015. We are under contract in our apartment until August 14th, so we're in no hurry to move. This gives Ryan plenty of time to work on his projects! This blog documents our home's transformation.

Our home was built in 1964, and some of the decor inside is a testament to the sixties. The previous owners have been in the home since 1984. After closing, the wife started to cry--they really loved that house. I hope they never stumble upon this blog and see how much we're going to change it!