My Fixer Upper

Life's been insane since late November when we unexpectedly stumbled onto a "little" project.  After thorough inspections and consultations and crunching of many numbers, we decided to invest in a fabulous mid-century modern home located deep in the heart of our favorite Dallas neighborhood (and a mile from our current abode).

I had no plans to leave my precious 1927 Tudor cottage, but somehow Rick convinced me to jump on the train of this adventure.  (And to be fair, I'm fully onboard and excited.)

The house was built by an architect in 1979.  He and his family have lived here since, but now the children are grown and the architect in his 70s with Parkinson's therefore needing a single-story home.  We think the house has fantastic bones and just needs some tender love put in to make it amazing and profitable. (I hope we are right!)  And did I mention it sits on a 1/2 acre wooded lot with a creek? The view of the trees makes you feel like you are somewhere very far from the middle of urban Dallas.

Nearly two months later, we are deep in the throes.  We've now owned the new home for one week and have one more week until we move in amidst the chaos.  We've already sold our Tudor (to people whom we know!) and are leasing back for just a short stint.

During these two weeks I'm trying to get as much done as possible before we add furniture, humans, and a dog (who is in danger of a bobcat I've recently learned lives under the new deck).

With as many as 10 crews on some days, I'm sweeping thru the new house with all new paint, new carpet upstairs, phase one of hardwoods downstairs (phase two will come next year), a fence, attention to the windows, wallpaper, recessed lighting (see ya, track lighting!), new toilets (does anyone need a 1978 Kohler 7-gallon tank?), demo of some built-in cabinets, moving the washer/dryer area from upstairs to downstairs, and some miscellaneous handy work.  A special shout-out to Carson Carney, who is providing design consultation along the way.

Did you know Home Depot opens at 6am? I now do. I love that store before any of the Jordan children are awake to create a ruckus...

And the kids? They've been troopers and shuffled between grandparents and sitters a lot over the last week.  And sweet Palmer was a doll one afternoon when I had some work conference calls and house appointments all within a short window.  Homeless to the interior because of paint fumes, he set up outside and watched a movie for a few hours:

I treated him to a yogurt date for his patient efforts:

I'll do some before/afters in another post, but for now, here's a sneak peak:

One week down, one to go at this new circus...

-Bethany