Progress on the House!

So it turns out that working on a house doesn't leave much time for blogging, but I wanted to give you all a quick update on some of the progress we've made (More detailed before and after posts coming in the next few weeks!):

Original backyard:

Backyard that has been neglected for 15+ years

 

The backyard was completely filled with ivy, bamboo, and blackberry (a trifecta!) It's definitely still a work in progress -- and I can write a whole post about some of the bizarre and awesome things we discovered while slicing through all of that greenery. I'm saving the after picture for a later post, but in the meantime, here's a picture of us with one of our first trees:

 

Me and Ellen with the key lime tree!

 

We've also been patching some walls:

And removing others:

All in all, the only thing we're contracting out is the foundation (I do not want to mess with that!). While it's been taking a lot of work, I have to say it feels good to do this kind of work ourselves -- it really feels like we're building our home together. Also a plus is all the money that we're saving by doing our own work, buying materials used, scavenging for materials on freecycle and craigslist, and the old-fashioned borrowing from your neighbors.

I can't wait to post our next updates! We're moving this week and it's all been a little hectic, but I'll have more pictures soon!