HAMMONDS’ Home Addition 2018 COMPLETE!

* This is why I haven’t posted much this year. You will understand as you read.  We have been busy.

In 2001, the year Bai had the left side of her brain removed, we built our home. Sticks and Stones. We broke ground in late spring and move in at Halloween. We picked a plan and stuck with it. Everything was in budget. Everything was meticulously done knowing Bai’s medical expenses would be insane. We selected everything with care. We did as much sweat equity as we could, at the time. Bai was small, and we really didn’t know much of anything about construction. September 11th happened.  We painted our new home while our president addressed the nation, surrounded by our families. The memories these walls contain. We put love into every room. We started as 3. We are now 7. We have grown. It was time for our home to grow with us. So for the last year Bob and I have worked on one of the largest projects we (our family!) have ever took on. In the fall of 2017 we decided our family required more space, we even tried to talk ourselves out of this fact. We had plans drawn up, budget drawn and then the spring rain came and refused to quit! Our start date kept getting pushed back. We discovered our bathroom had been leaking and growing all the mold – really all of it. There went the carefully crafted budget that we had drawn up. So it is safe to say that things did not start off smoothly, but this is our home and we were ready to do what needed done.

Isobel, Arwyn and the Twins mooshed into one room. Bob and I had a horrible it was the worst fun camping experience moving our mattress about on the floor. We lived without a closet from Easter weekend till the last week of September. I literally didn’t know where over half my clothes were. If you saw me this summer I was in a steady repeat of what I did have access to. Bai was unaffected. She has no idea why we were all so complainy. Though her summer was full of screams and she has had so much pain lately.

Bob cut and hung more trim than he probably ever dreamt of. I caulked and painted all that trim – no I will not help you do the same, nor will he. I tricked my mom into helping me paint the new rooms (and the girls helped for most of it), but really she wanted to help and was great.

We had a dumpster the size of a ship in our driveway. It smelled like I image a ship smells. (YUCK!) We had chuck-wood-scraps into our giant dumpster days. Find-as-many-nails-as-you-can days. We had vacuum-dust-until-you-want-to-cry days. Find-brick-bits days. Pick-up-shingles, this is not as fun as pick-up-sticks, days. We had construction teams in and out. I bought bark collars. Our dogs cry when they see bark collars now.  We still had Indy trips, school and I had a heap of designs to do. Bob had work and we had life. It was a mess. NO – It was a disaster. IT IS DONE! The last touch was done this weekend. The last nail, screw, paint stroke – done. Dear Lord, I would like to not do home reno for a long while now! heehee. It was SO worth the stress, pain and feeling of never ending chaos.

The girls have an amazing new bedroom with built in bunks that Bob and I built from scratch. Bob has fun photos on his instagram and facebook pages of the during process.
Bob and I have an expanded bedroom, to create the upstairs space, and a giant closet!!!! (this may be my favorite part). I have an office for my business! Our dinning room table is no longer my office!!! I had 2 printers, paper, samples, projects, computers and much more everywhere. No more! We ate at our table and played board games at our table this past week. My office contains my business junk and can be shut and left. It is so amazing!!

Bai did not get a new fancy room, but she got amazing built ins that Bob and I did and a wrap around deck off the back of our house for her wheelchair! And her leaky bathroom is all fixed up! Did I say we have had a long year?!!?

My kids have had big birthdays ( Twins turned 10, Bai 18, Isobel turned 16 and Arwyn 13), we went to Disney to celebrate that. Bai’s brain surgery anniversary came and went like a blip. This year has been eaten. Saws and dust have chewed it.

Sitting a day from done, hours after a person from the bank came to review the work for a new home appraisal, now I can say it was worth it. Only now.  It was worth the long days and nights. It was worth Bob and I being so tired we wanted to quit. We wanted to run. We doubted our choices. We bickered. We knew we didn’t want to move. This is our home. We knew this was the right thing, but man during it all it is THE WORST! To be so tired and so overwhelmed with what to do, and to keep up with everything else, it can make a strong family flail. We made it.

So here are pictures. Enjoy! It has been a long year to get here. I can’t thank our contractor enough. He and his dad built our home and he does well with our chaos. I also can’t not say how much help my brother, father and father-in-law were with the deck.  Hey Jacob, the Lowe’s people miss us I believe. 😉 My mom deserves a lot of thanks as well. She helped me move clothes (MY KIDS HAVE TOO MANY CLOTHES!). She helped me sort, plant, shovel (literally and figuratively) and put it all back together.

THE ADDITION BEGINS:

THE GIRLS ROOM:

THE EXPANDED MASTER BEDROOM:

THE OFFICE:

THE REST OF THE HOUSE:

OUTSIDE:

We got to move and we never had to leave home. We will have an open house in the future. I’ll let everyone know. A lot of people have asked to come see all the work completed. Feel free to message me if you want to come. We love company and would be happy to show it all off.

FOR HER,
Bobbi