The construction phase begins

Scott and I embarked on our house remodel journey a year ago. We had been frustrated with our older house for years, particularly because the layout was not working well for our family's lifestyle as the kids got older. Our home was built in the 1940s and was expanded in the 1990s. We purchased the home in 2005. At the time, the home was a significant investment for us, mostly because the cost of living in our Dallas neighborhood was well beyond what we were accustomed to in North Carolina. The size of the home was certainly adequate as measured by square footage, but the layout was not working for the four of us as time went on. Plus everything in the home was old and was already broken or starting to break. After researching current real estate trends in our (pricey) area of Dallas, we knew we wanted to remodel our house (and retain our equity in the land) rather than buy something new.

We hired an architect in December of 2015 to create construction drawings that would help us to expand the existing footprint of the house to incorporate what we wanted in our next home. In addition, since then we have been working with our contractor to finalize plans, come up with a budget, secure financing, and compile all of the logistics to make it happen. We finally agreed to a budget in September, signed financing paperwork in October, and moved out of the house on November 4. We are currently living in a rental home about a mile away from our house on Bryn Mawr. This has been a long journey so far (and we still have a ways to go!) but this week we finally saw the beginning of the construction phase. Below is a photo of our home with a bulldozer and trash trailer in the driveway.

The bulldozer was on site to pull up the concrete floor of the detached garage. First the garage had to be dismantled. This is our detached garage after one days' worth of demolition. 

And two days after demolition. The garage is entirely gone, with only a concrete slab in its place and the bulldozer ready to pull up the existing concrete.

It's crazy how fast our garage and backyard went from a place of space and openness to a place where you don't want to be until this project is finished. But at the same time, Scott and I are so excited that we are finally (!!!) moving forward with creating our dream house. Seeing the renovations in progress is a sign of improvement. 

I searched my current laptop for an old photo of the garage so that I could provide some perspective on the now versus then aspect of our backyard. But due to the age of my current laptop, I don't have any photos with the garage in full view (photos with this view are on a backup drive in a box somewhere that I have not yet unpacked). However, I can leave you with this adorable photo of Amelia and John, taken many years ago. What cutie pies!

This photo relates to the story though, in that the space that A & J are playing in is the space just to the south of where the bulldozer is located in the photo above. This used to be our cozy family backyard, which will soon be filled partly with new space for our family to grow.
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