My MEME

A Fisherman's House came up with these great questions. Here are my answers...


1) What has been the most challenging aspect of renovating this place for you as a couple? What about you individually?
Both Tim and I are very controlling. To me our biggest challenge was trusting the abilities of the other person. I had to let go of my fear of having the up-stairs waste pipe dripping on our guests heads, and Tim had to give up his fear of having the woodwork put on crooked. Surprisingly doing this house has really showed us once again how well we compliment each other. My nit-picky attention to detail that Tim lacks has made me shine at the finish work. Tim's understanding of the whole picture (which is always a challange for intensily focused little ol' me) made him the go to man for all of our systems. Between the two of us we are one well balanced individual :)

By the way dear, quit playing with the cat and put that floor in!


Individually it has been the balancing act that this place has put us through with both time and money. There are days when for some reason in the back of my head the thought of how many trips and how much family/friend time this house has cost me pops up. Those days can be pretty depressing. But then there is that feeling of complete belonging when I walk into the house (even if I have to step over a pile of baseboards) that makes it all worth it. I feel at home here in a way that I never did in the house in town or the old apartment we lived in.


2) Regrets? We all have regrets about certain projects in our renovation files. Besides all that business with the p.o. do you have any regrets about anything like "I wish we'd done this first" or "not bought that" or something?
My biggest regrets stem from the compromises we had to make for time and money. We should have spent a more time making sure the house was water proof before closing up the walls but our contractor was days away from showing up. Same with the walls and windows- both major regrets even though they look very nice and work very well it's just not the same.


3) What's the most common statement people make when they see the house for the first time? What part tend to impress them most? Least?
Like many have said the comments have changed as the house took shape and became more habitable. We are hearing why don't you just build a new one less and less. I don't know if it's because people are finally starting to appreciate what we have done, or if they know that is now financially out of the picture.

My two favorite first impression comments were my mother-in-law and my sister:
Mary (my sister)- "The house is going to eat your soul." I know when she said this she meant that it looked like one of those houses in the horror movies, but some days it seems like a pretty dead on comment for other reasons.
Ronnie (mother-in-law)- "Can you give it back?"

People are always commenting on the staircase and the tin ceiling in the kitchen. Those, of course, are givens.

It's some of the other things that draw people's eye that surprises me. People are always commenting on the swirl pattern in our ceiling. The orange and blue tile laundry room floor is another favorite on the tour.

The woodwork and light fixtures don't really draw people's eye as much as I thought they would considering we spent a lot of time/money on both of these items.

What am I forgetting friends and family? Leave me a comment and let me know what stuck out most in your mind and what you were too polite to knock during the tour.