our home
aka formerly known as the Harrison money pit until Justin told me he didn't like that title and know it's known as the
HARRISON FIXER UPPER
we have finally 90% finished our yard! [cue choirs of heavenly angels]
seriously can you believe it? because I, for one, cannot. Justin and I have been walking around, staring at everything like, 'is this for real bro?' because we've got some massive PTSD from this yard. some major emotional and psychological damage has occurred to us these past 4 1/2 years. just a
January 2015
Justin left me to work in Carson City during the legislative session. I was pregnant with our 3rd child and stuck at home with two wild ones, a 1 and 4 year old [known for their incredible lethargic and calm demeanors].
march 2015
Justin told me he found us the perfect house but I told him I was not interested in moving. plus we couldn't afford a bigger home. so no.
April 2015
he persisted.
may 2015
and persisted. so I finally went and checked it out. a sale had recently fallen through so it was miraculously still available. we pull up to the chained and weathered front gates. I saw those doors and I was hooked. this was going to be our forever home.
June 2015
we frantically got the documents in order and put our current house on the market on Monday. it sold on Wednesday. we bought our current home on Friday. Justin finally came home from Carson City.
July 2015
we packed and moved from our smaller home to our bigger one. all while being 9 month pregnant.
August 2015
A week after moving in, I gave birth to Griffin.
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| remember when that room had a sliding glass door? now it has a window. |
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| look how freaking tall these trees are! no joke! |
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| notice the large slope in the yard |
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| fixing our leech field |
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| we had to demo the wall in order to get the tractor back there |
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| behind the detached garage was a GROSS and rat infested chicken coop |
The house had been vacant for 3 years before we bought it and it was in need of a lot of TLC. we immediately had to repair our leech field [where the pee water spreads out from the septic tank]. it had been damaged from the GINORMOUS 3 STORY PINE TREES' ROOTS. oh did I mention the pine trees? my least favorite tree. there were 48 on property. and we have a lot of land but not THAT much land. they were literally every 3 feet, it was ridiculous. you would have thought my dad lived there [also a fan of ugly pine trees]. we had a lot of things we had to fix in order to make our house livable but we did it. our home was built in 1980 and it's incredibly dated but it has SO much potential that we knew it would be worth the hassle. and thankfully Justin is incredible handy and so is his dad. and I've got the patience of a saint and the body of a sinner.
step one: clean up 3 years worth of pine trees/cones on the ground. it was crazy high and a huge fire hazard.
step two: fell the trees. like I said, we had 48 to pick from. this took maybe 2 years to complete. some were easy, some were ridiculous, and others dropped on our house. well, only one. but one out of 48 ain't so bad right? Justin and his dad [and occasionally a few friends] helped him do the majority of the trees. turns out that cutting down trees that big is not easy nor fun. they'd first trim the tree down of it's branches then top the tree off then slowly cut the bottom and leave a stump. then we'd either set the branches on fire [if they were dry enough] or find a dumpster to dump them into. we rented a few industrial dumpsters or made a pile of large branches we could cut into firewood or larger logs we'd need to use a splitter to do. there was a local woodcutter who we gave several giant logs to as well and he gifted us this cute little cowboy bear. near the end with some of the bigger trees and ones that were too dangerously close to our house, we hired out. then we had to hire someone to grind all those stumps to ground level.
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| part of the beaver dam |
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| each of these trunks easily weighed 50lbs. we broke a lot of chain saws |
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| this is just the start of the wood pile. it is completed full on the back and side. we'll have wood for years |
step three: once the trees were all taken down, we had a giant beaver damn next to the tennis court. it was frequently inhabited by rats, bunnies, and scorpions alike! Justin cut many himself but eventually we had to hire someone to split and stack them behind our detached garage. Justin tried to convince me to keep some of the trees but NOPE! those suckers had it coming. in the end we kept 3 of them, and only in our front yard. like I said, our house was uninhabited for 3 years so most of the trees were dead/dying. these had surprisingly survived and kept our home shaded in the hot Vegas summers. and they weren't in danger of damaging our roof or septic tank so I granted them a stay from execution.
step four: once the wood was all out of the way, stacked and piled, we were ready to level out. it's hard to tell by pictures but the backyard was crazy slanted. the old driveway was cracking, chipped, and small. there were two brick walls we had to take down [the front one to give us about 3 more feet along our property line. it's where two big palm trees once resided and then one in the back that separated the garage from the back yard/my preschool room]. Justin and his dad cleared out a lot of the sand stone, pavers, and other materials that they could. we also used dave's small tractor to move some dirt around but in the end, we couldn't grade it by ourselves. we hired someone to come and level out the dirt and do some grading. we ended up taking out about 98% of the original concrete. the only two patches are located right next to our pool and right between the little pillars on our walkway.
step five: concrete. first we had to figure out where we wanted it poured and then planned ahead. we had to fix our cable and power lines with pipes that would run under the concrete. pipes from the garage to the house and then the house to the street [we live down a long dirt easement so we're set back a ways from the road]. then we had to run the wire and cover up the trenches. then we had to have pipes that would run under the concrete that would later allow the sprinkler and electrical system to run there. seriously, my brain hurts from thinking of it all. but my husband is a super hero and a super planner and a super pain in my butt when it comes to things. but I could not have done it without him. there was an incredible amount of concrete needed so we had to go with a business level concrete supplier. I think it took 5 of those concrete trucks. it was intense. they put the frames into place and then poured it. and poured it. then leveled it out. now imagine how dirt-y our house/yard was. I was constantly mopping because the dirt had not been watered for about 5 years now. it was like the Sahara desert. once the concrete was poured, it was like night and day. not only was our driveway wider but it was longer, thanks to taking down the wall. then we had a metal gate and side gate installed with an opener. oh, and a new front wall [and fixed all the holes in the existing brick walls].
step six: replace windows and paint the home. we found as we had cleared out the land that a lot of critters [and dirt] could easily slip through our 35 year old windows. oh, and Landon busted the front giant window pane. so we bit the bullet and bought some tined double paned, energy efficient ones and replaced the 3 outside doors [not my lovely front door]. this was finally completed one week before I had briggs. It was hard for me to justify getting new windows when we needed to do so many other things but I'm so glad Justin persisted. not only did they change our windows but they also changed a sliding door into a window [so our future teenage boys can't escape as easily]. our home is made out of concrete so it's pretty energy efficient [and bomb safe] as it is but getting new windows has saved us so much money already. plus they look amazing. the only downside is birds just see their reflections in the window and will fly into them often. after the windows were done, Justin and his dad painted our home themselves. not a fun thing might I add. we settled on an off-white color to cover up the pink and the trim is a dark gray. then he painted the brick walls. our chimney is still not painted but thankfully it's on the backside of the house and no one can see it. [don't worry, it's on the honey-do list].
step seven: paint the front door. this was a beast. poor Justin got so much grief from me on the daily. he started stripping the wood a few months earlier and realized it would not be that easy. it had undergone so many different paints and stains, it was so hard to strip it. he sanded, he scrubbed, he stripped [for me in private, but also the door]. it was not fun. it was back breaking work but he did it. it looks amazing now but it has a few imperfections [it is 35 years old after all. give the poor girl a break] but I think it looks fantastic. he wanted a more navy color but I wanted something warmer. guess who won? [me, but only because they were out of his paint at the store]. I'm so happy with how it turned out. we replaced all the hardware and getting it level was not fun. it still has a bit of a crack that needs some weather stripping.
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| look at those beautiful blue tinted windows |
step eight: grass! it's funny because when we first moved in, Justin promised me we'd have grass by Landon's birthday [the end of September]. I finally got it in time for my birthday- 4 years later! I think we both just didn't realize the magnitude of this project and how much time and money it would require. I had a friend who said she would have prioritized the inside of our home before the outside but not me. the inside is old but livable. the outside was just trash. I need my boys to be outside burning rubber. it took us a long time to find the right landscape architect for this job. Justin is a very particular guy and knew exactly what he wanted. it took us MONTHS. he talked to a lot of people but no one seemed competent. we finally found the right fit for the right price. and then waited. 6 long weeks. not only was this landscaper putting in sod, but we also needed someone who could built us a retaining wall next to our fire pit [because of how unlevel the ground is in the backyard] and then a garden bed on the side of the house. we had another friend offer to do it for more than half the price but again, so glad we went with a professional. I don't know if you know this or not but Vegas is in a desert. meaning it's tough for things to grow here. the dirt was crazy hard and compacted. they brought in top soil then churned it with the hard/dry dirt and then added more top soil on top. hopefully this will help the grass grow. we also had to lower our septic tank lid- which we in turn used into our new fire pit [saved us $300]. they added electric lights along the different paths as well. Justin and his dad could have done this- but it would have taken a lot longer then 7 days. and would have been back breaking work. it's extremely hard writing a check for that much money but I am 100% convinced that an investment into my yard is an investment into my family. we plan on living here forever. my boys could easily have their wedding receptions here. let's just hope the privacy ferns have reached maturity by then because I'm sick of my nosey neighbors seeing our every move [a girl needs to walk around naked in front of her full sized windows in peace, ya hear me?].
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| this is where the jungle gym will go |
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| we plan on having a big soccer goal back here |
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| Justin REALLY wanted a fire pit and I'm like 'ehh'. but I do love my big garden bed |
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| I'm so glad we extended our driveway |
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| the view from my porch- beautiful, isn't it? |
I have a neighbor friend [who also bought herself a fixer upper years ago and has turned it in her dream home. and is continually working on it] told me to never add up how much money we've sunk into our house over the years. it will just be too depressing. I feel the same way about our lawn. we're still not 100% done. like I said, the chimney needs to be painted, Justin plans on building a she-shed/tree house in the back [next to the fire-pit] and another riser one in the front. we have a large strip of dirt by the 3 remaining pine trees that we're not finished with. we're moving another shed to the spot next to our pool entrance [to house all the bikes/pool toys], and we need to dress our poop pit [aka fire pit]. we also have to put a door onto our side water heater shed. but I've got grass now and I guess I can wait for the other things.
I told Justin once this grass is installed I'd never complain about wanting anything done to the house ever again.
who wants to take the over/under?
