The Dining Room and Plumbing!!!

I'm sorry my blogging hasn't been as regular as before. I've had some of my family in town as well as some other complications. Also, we will be having visitors with us for the rest of October so blogging will be a bit more sporadic. So excited to start showing off our place to our friends and family though!

Our first week in the new house was a rough one. We had the laundry situation which I described in a previous post, the strange smells/sounds coming from the very wet basement, and hot water that only lasted for thirty second random increments. Thankfully, we had three other buildings to choose from for our showering needs. It has been four long months of showering in the motel, but we are finally able to shower in our own house!!!! I took my first hot shower in the house last Monday and there is no way to describe how happy/relieved/tired I felt. It was seriously the best feeling:) Once we remodel the bathroom in a few months, you will get to see my beautiful shower head.

One thing this journey has taught me is that all things work out with time. It may not always be my timetable (as much as I would like), but things will get done. We had been trying to get a plumber to show up during those four months and had many no shows. Suddenly, we had two teams that showed up on the same day! Thankfully, there is plenty of work to go around so we were able to send one group to work on the water heaters for the cottages and apartment. The other team replaced our water heater and installed new shower fixtures in our house. I will never take hot water and laundry facilities for granted again!

While all of that was going on, Matthew and I continued to work on the house. We have been splitting our time between the mother-in-law apartment that attaches to our house and the dining room. I'll post some pictures of the mother-in-law apartment in a few weeks once we finish everything. We have also been doing some outdoor improvements to help with drainage, new garage floor, and exterior paint. So much to keep track of! Matthew has been the most amazing project manager throughout this experience. I honestly don't know what I would do without him.

I haven't been the best at taking before pictures. I have just been so focused on wanting to clean/improve rooms that I have forgotten to take pictures so bear with me. At first glance, the dining room looked better than most rooms in the house. It seemed to have less wear and tear and was painted a color that didn't make me want to pull my hair out. However, once we started painting, it was amazing to see just how much love this room needed. An example of this is the white shelving and trim in the room. Once we started painting, it was incredible to see just how dingy the old white had been.

"White" versus new white on dining room shelf.

The old paint color was a nice green color, but it did darken the room and made it feel much smaller. By applying a lighter cleaner color, it really opened it up and made the room seem much taller. I really didn't think that such a minor change could make such a difference. We also decided to add one of Matthew's favorite pieces of art. I love that we both are able to display our favorite artwork in our new home and really display some of the things that speak so deeply to us.

Old paint color and old water heater next to the new painted wall.

This new house is really giving both of us a chance to express ourselves and put some of our most important things on display. Our last house was beautiful, but was very limited on space. For the first time, I am starting to like the person I am becoming. The motel project has forced me to delve into new areas and activities that I never imagined I would like or be good at. It's fun to see these new skills and to have the confidence to take them on. Vermont has really started to heal me on many levels. I truly love this new life.

Finished dining room with art.

I definitely know that our lives aren't perfect, but for the first time in many years I feel like there is hope. There is still so much to do, but I'm actually excited to do most of it. Also, I finally feel like I'm on the right path. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel the presence of my parents here so much. I can't wait to share the feeling of home and safety with our guests once we are ready to open:)

Another angle of the dining room. Matthew will be building a cabinet around the water heater in the future.

Also, during the last few weeks, we took a trip to The Clark. This amazing art institute houses an impressive collection of paintings, antique furniture, silver, etc. It was a wonderful outing that ended with a foraging class. While we didn't find much to forage, we still had a great time. Matthew and I had so much fun and were in awe of the beautiful New England scenery around us. I was able to take a gorgeous photo of a tree that made me think about Woodford Rest's logo. I just might frame it one of these days:) Take care of yourselves and don't forget to rest!

Lone tree at The Clark.