First Look

When the husband and friend first began the adventure we refer to as

Flowerdale, even though that encompasses an entire town and not just

our house, they had the idea that they could fix up the on the

weekends and that within five years, it would be ready for sale.

Since they are both engineers, on the surface, this seems like sound

thinking. Little did they know what they were getting into. Both of

them are experienced with their hands and tools, but neither of them

had ever renovated a house, and they certainly hadn't done it as a

weekender type gig. I use the word 'renovated' loosely. Or perhaps

it's the word 'house' I should use loosely. When they bought this place,

the only thing it had was potential. At some point, I will upload

pictures but for now I shall just describe the state the house was in.

It was missing a wall in the back. Plastic had been hanged to keep

out the elements. The outside of the house is blue stone and the inside

was like something out of a madman's fantasy. The living room is large

with a cathedral ceiling made up of paneling (not sure what kind) and

large wooden beams. The walls were also pine paneling, and they went

through the whole entire house. There were no windows in the living

room, only a set of French doors made up of square glass pieces set

into rotting wood. It was incredibly dark throughout the house because

all of the paneling had been stained dark brown.

The previous owner/builder had attempted to lay a concrete floor, but

it was clear that he did not know what he was doing, so the concrete

dried in the middle of his laying it, leaving pits and holes all over. And

forget the idea of it being level. No hope in hell. The front yard was a

swamp, and every year when the rains would come, the house would

flood.

In each of the bedrooms, for apparent creativity's sake, the paneling on

the walls was laid out differently. The master bedroom had vertical

paneling. The bedroom across from it had horizontal paneling and the

third bedroom had diagonal paneling.

There were many other issues, but a few that stand out are the fact

that one of the walls wasn't even attached to the foundation and the

roof leaked like a sieve. A wood stove served for cooking and another

one, placed smack in the middle of the living room floor, for heating.

The bathroom had been completely gutted, or perhaps it had never

been finished.

It took years to figure out why the master bedroom had a closet with a

seven foot ceiling and a clothing rack that can only be reached with a

step stool, but when we discovered the hole in the wall held a fan, it

became clear that the closet had been used for much more important

things than holding clothes. It had been used to grow marijuana.

Perhaps that explains some of the design features.

This is the house that my husband and his friend bought as a five year,

fix on the weekends, investment. In our next installment, I'll begin

explaining some of the challenges they faced and how I ended up

living in this still unfinished house, nine years later.