BEFORE tour of the #AnglinAbode

I sure hope you, my lovely blog readers, are prepared for LOTS of house posts from here on out! Truthfully, I love a good before and after and really want to document the renovation process well- and this little space is the best place to do it!

This is our 3rd home to purchase, and though it happened pretty quickly, we had been pondering it for a while. I have always been an old-home lover, and preferred fixing up an existing home rather than building a new one. There is something really special about the unique nooks and crannies, creaky old floors, and history of an old home to me. So for several years, Shawn and I have been talking about buying an older home to buy and make ours- keeping consideration for the original features and personality of the home while adding in some modern conveniences.

We absolutely loved our old home (photos in my last post), but we’d reached the point where we were hesitant to make any more improvements to the home, lest we over-invest in the property and not be able to get our money back when we sold. So, we had our eyes on a few different neighborhoods in our city- ones where we believed we would be able to invest a good chunk of change into a home and still see a return.

Thankfully, one of our best friends is a realtor (and a killer one at that! If you need one in the Lubbock area- Jim Archer is your guy!), and was very patient with us as we would randomly text him Zillow listings, asking for his thoughts on a property- yes, we were THOSE people, haha. After a while, Shawn and I decided we needed to quit our Zillow hobby and just be content.

Sure enough, one Saturday a couple of months ago, Jim called us and said he had found a house that might work for us. We’d already seen the listing, and weren’t super excited about it, but we went to see it anyway because it is in one of our favorite neighborhoods. Seeing it in person didn’t help our attitudes about it. It was sort of hodge-podge, as many homes in this neighborhood are, and had been renovated maybe 2 or 3 times already- none of which was in our taste.

So, we pulled out of the driveway with kind of a “bye, Felicia!” attitude, and then turned the corner to see the perfect view of one of our favorite parks- literally a block away. And then the more I thought about it, the more I was able to have a vision for what we would do to make it ours- to pull it together to feel cohesive and cozy.

The location is one of the biggest perks- as well as the fact that we are getting an additional living space, another bathroom, and 4th bedroom. The square footage is still about the same as our old home, but the backyard is nice and large with big trees.

But I knew I’d want to do some big-time renovations. Like, an entirely new kitchen type big. And completely redoing all the bathrooms, plus at least one other project in each room. So the numbers had to work. Shawn and I had already decided that the proceeds from our 2nd home needed to cover all the down payment/purchasing expenses of our new home PLUS the entire renovation budget, which is a lot to ask. We ran lots of numbers and several different scenarios. Jim was super helpful with this and it was really nice to have an outside opinion that understood our overall goals in purchasing this home.

We put in an offer. They countered. We countered again, and they accepted. And suddenly, we were buying a home!

Our main goals for this house are:

1. Make a great investment. Don’t over-invest in the property- be smart with our renovations and improve it so that we are able to sell it (if we want to) for a profit.

2. Make a great home for our family. So much of this purchase was about the neighborhood. We are SO excited to be close to 2 parks and a coffee shop, plus a lot of other families with kids the same age.

3. Create a welcoming space for others. We believe that this never would have worked out had God not gone before us in it- and want our home to be a place where people feel God’s presence.

4. Create functional workspaces for both Shawn and I. Since we both office from home, this is also a priority and boy have we realized that during quarantine! Ha!

We chose to go ahead and start with the kitchen and flooring renovations first, move in with my parents for a few months, and put all of our stuff in a storage unit. We had been warned that living through a kitchen reno isn’t for the faint of heart- and because we had the option of staying with my parents, we took that opportunity quickly! So thankful they are willing to put up with 5 more people in their home.

So without further adieu, here are the “before” photos of our new home!

I wasn’t able to get a straight-on view the day I took photos, because there was already a dump trailer in the driveway- ha! I love the wide porch, circle drive, and large pew that the previous owners left on the front porch. In this photo I’d already moved all my plants over.

Front entryway.

Front entry hallway. This is actually a very wide hallway that I really want to make great use of.

Front bedroom. I am thinking this will be the guest bed/my office. I love the light in here!

Front living area. We are hoping to put Shawn’s desk and a small living/tv space in here.

The front entry hallway ends in this room which is the back living space. It was originally the back porch of the house.

The room is open to the kitchen.

Another view of the kitchen. The door on the right is the master bedroom.

Looking into the kitchen/back living space from the east hallway.

This is an odd little sitting area off the master bedroom. To the left of this window is the master closet.

Opposite view of the sitting area. The door on the right opens to the front bedroom closet which is a bit odd.

Master bedroom

Master bath- this is through the left door in the above photo.

Laundry room- this is through the right door in the master bedroom photo. We moved over our deep freezer and Christmas tree- that is not a body bag! Haha

East side hallway- connects the kitchen to the kids’ bedrooms and guest bathroom.

Back bedroom

Small ensuite bathroom in the back bedroom.

Hall/Guest bathroom

Front bedroom

And backyard! We moved all of our “outside stuff” over, so it is a bit of a mess right now.

Planning on lots of sweet memories here!

There you go! Next up I’m going to show you the work that has already been done- our contractor did NOT mess around getting started!

Tell me what you think! What do you like best? What would you get rid of first? If you want a sneak peek of what I am envisioning, come follow me on Pinterest!

This has already been such a fun project. Thanks for tuning in!

our new home • before images

It's high time I blog some "before" photos of our new home. But first, I have to let you in on the history...

We bought our first home in Lubbock about 6 years ago. Our basic reasoning was that it was smarter to be paying a mortgage than it would be to rent (and it was actually less expensive for us, too!). Some friends of ours were selling their house, and once looking at it, we decided to go for it. A month later, we had a house! 

Fast forward 5 years. Add a baby. Add a home-based photography business. Add friends and relatives sleeping on our floor, our couches, our toddler's plastic-sheet covered twin bed. Like in any home, things broke. Repairs were made (remember that time we had to replace the entire sewer line? Yeah, that wasn't fun). Every surface had been painted at least once. My various attempts at gardening/keeping plants alive had failed (except for that honeysuckle! Thank God for the honeysuckle!). We felt like we were busting at the seams. 

Then we began an adoption. Something like that will put things into perspective very quickly. Suddenly we had all we needed. A roof over our heads. People present to hug. A pantry that was full of food. God placed a real peace in my heart, and it was wonderful. It still is. 

This past year (for the first time ever) I actually met my goal number of weddings I'd like to shoot per year. Clients, THANK YOU. I'm not sure you totally realize what a gift you are giving our family when you hire me. I get to do what I love, and also pay the bills. That is nothing short of a miracle.

Having met our initial goal to raise for our adoption, we were able to turn our focus back to a big downpayment on a new home. Before we knew it, it was there. God had provided it. We couldn't believe it!

So we set out with our awesome Realtor, Donna Isbell. Lubbock people- she is the BEST! Donna showed us at least 30 homes. She never quit. She had high expectations just like we did. She negotiated her tail off. We made 3 offers on 3 different homes. Every offer was met with the response that they sellers had already accepted another offer (talk about a booming market!). Then this house. It had been on the market for a year. The sellers were an older couple who were wanting to move out-of-state to be closer to their kids. They weren't too keen on negotiating (this is when I was SO thankful to have Donna on our side!). In the end, everything worked out perfectly. 

OUR GOALS WHEN BUYING THIS HOME:

• More square footage. 

• More storage. 1 hallway closet just wasn't cutting it anymore.

• Grass. This was a big deal since we couldn't seem to get it to grow in the last house.

• No galley-style kitchen. 

• Great window light. Hello?!? I'm a photographer.

• Fireplace

• An older home. It's just our style. 

• At least 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage

• A home we can see ourselves paying off and living in for a long, long time. 

We ended up getting all of this and many more perks! One in particular is that this house is just 4 houses down from some of our good friends from church who also have a son around Knox's age. Already it has been so fun to let them play. And, we found out while moving in that some other friends we know are just down the street on the other side. Another perk is that this home was built in 1965. I love that era and have so enjoyed decorating with a nod to the style and colors of the 60's. 

Now on to the photos. Please put on your "vision goggles"…this baby had a good bit of "old lady style" to it, and much has already changed. Pardon the mess and extra people in these photos- I took them while the estate sale ladies were cleaning it out.

The exterior. Not super in love with the orange-y brick, and the yellow shutters have already been painted black. They don't look as "caution tape" in this photo as they did in real life, so that had to go! But that tree in the front yard! Knox loved it the second he laid eyes on it.

The entryway. When I saw the photos of this in the online listing, I thought it looked dungeon-like. But in person, it was much larger and I liked the texture.

Main living area. Built-ins, fireplace, GIANT windows, open to the kitchen area. I loved it. Except the carpet,

Dining room. This room has a big window that faces the front of the house, and doors that open into the entryway on one side, and the kitchen on the other. The far wall on the lower image had now been opened, so that this room is open to the living area!

Kitchen. It's so roomy. I even love my 60's oven and stove. I imagine that we'll be doing some updates to this space in the future, but not for quite a while. I love how it functions as-is.

Additional view of main living area from the breakfast table space. Shawn is wondering why the previous owners only installed crown moulding in part of two rooms- ha! There is also a cute little built-in desk he is facing in the kitchen that you can't see in the photo above. It's one of Knox's favorite spots. 

2 of the bedrooms are identical. Both huge- like 14x14 ft! When I saw the size of these rooms I knew I'd have no problem making kiddos share bedrooms. This is the guest bed. 

Knox's bedroom. The froggy border is now gone, but sadly the pastels are still there. :/ I've got a ton of ideas for his bedroom, I just need to plan a weekend to do it all!

The guest bathroom is in the middle of the guest bed and Knox's bedroom. It has a kind of funny, unique layout that is actually working really well for us. The toilet, sink, and tub are all in 3 separate spaces. So far, it's been great during potty training, kids baths, and when guests are over. And I love the wall heater, however dangerous it may be. Knox has always ben unusually aware of the dangers of hot things/burning himself, so it wasn't hard to emphasize safety with it.

The laundry room! It is actually 2 rooms. This was a HUGE perk to me, seeing as our old laundry room had about 1 foot of walking space and was pretty much in the garage. This one has a SINK and a TON of storage in the back room, plus a window to let in light and I can monitor Knox in the living room while doing laundry. 

The master bedroom. Guys, this thing is LARGE. It was never a huge priority for me to have a huge bedroom, but we will literally be able to have a king side bed AND a seating area when it's all said and done.

Master bath and closets. Shawn and I both have walk-in closets (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Never imagined!) We don't have a double vanity, but that was never a big deal to us. The jacuzzi tub has been experienced by all 3 of us now- and I think Knox loves it the most!

The backyard. The two huge windows in the living room look out to this. We have TREES! And GRASS! Waking up in the morning and seeing this view is a huge blessing.

So, there you go. SO much more than we'd ever imagined. And we are still amazed that we get to live here. It's been an incredible blessing to us and I am so excited to be a family under this roof. Much has changed since these photos and I'm excited to show you little by little!

What do you guys think?