So we began the demolition in December '08 and had our first service in March '09. During that time I was consumed with many aspects of the renovation; especially any and all audio and video concerns. A new sound system was purchased as well as a new projection screen and computer.
By the time all the dust and details had settled down (around April '09), my wife and I decided to put our house on the market and take advantage of the economic downturn. It seemed that we could now afford a larger house... that is if we could ever sell ours first. So I began to fix all those things that I never got around to fixing. While the house was in good shape... that list of things to fix to make it in "show" condition... was bigger than I could handle. So I contracted out some ceiling drywall and painting to ease my burden. My wife painted two rooms and I did a bunch of other things and we got it on the market first week in May. By God's grace He blessed us by giving us 2 competing offers on the 2nd day it listed. WOW! The offer we accepted was only $5k under what we listed it for and had a close date 8 weeks from then in late June.
So now the task was to find a house we wanted to buy! It was stressful at times over the next week, but we finally found the house for us. It has an extra bedroom, a living room, a 2 car garage and a big back yard... all things our previous house didn't have. And we were able to buy it at only about $70k over what we sold our old house for... definitely couldn't have done that a year or two ago.So the big move happened on June 28, 2009. Besides the normal move in and unpack activities, I had a substantial list of home improvements that I wanted to get done... and my wife had her own list too! First on the list was upgrading the electrical service; the current box was stuffed full and the unfinished side of the basement (where my new woodshop was going) had only 1 outlet and only 1 single light bulb. So I upgraded the electrical service... which since I pulled a permit with the city, meant I had to upgrade some of the romex wiring to conduit as well. Over the past few months, I've added lights and outlets and the shop is getting close to being usable.
By the time August came around, most of the boxes were unpacked and we were starting to settle in. Some friends of ours were moving to Oregon and decided to give us their pool - what a blessing. At first I wasn't too sure about this. I knew this was going to be a lot of work, but I also knew the wife/kids would love it for many years to come. So we took it and had a crew install it. But I dug the trench for the electrical line and installed the deck. All this took a significant amount of time... basically most of my free time in August and September. We only got to use the pool for about a week in mid-August, but it will be there next year to use and many years after that.Currently, I'm building a workbench for general use in the basement. I was able to bring the workbench I built for lutherie when we moved, but not the large general purpose bench that I had. Hopefully I will be able to build this and get the shop organized this fall with hopes of getting back to the guitar this winter. The woodworking is done; all that is left is to sand it down and put the finish on it... then assemble it and do the setup work. With any luck, I'll be playing it in the spring/summer of 2010.
