Welcome

 The Front of Grandma's House

My name is Jay, and I'm 25 years old, and I'm writing this blog about the house my grandparent's built in 1954 for a few reasons:

• To document the transformation of the house into my own space
• To talk about interior design
• To show lots of before and after photos
• To serve as a family history book

My grandmother let me know that she would love for me to have the house but unfortunately she cannot just leave it to me. I will have the opportunity to buy it before it goes on the market though.

The basement is finished and has a separate entrance so she lives down there. She likes it better down there because it's just enough space for her and she can't take the stairs to do laundry anymore. I asked her if I could move in upstairs. I've been wanting my own place and this way I would be around to help her out when she needs it and I'll be able to start saving to buy the house when the time comes.

I went to college for Interior Design and graduated in September 2012. I was always interested in Interior Design, even as a little kid. Our house was always under construction in some form or another and it fascinated me to see how you can change a house. I liked watching my dad work on the house and when we had the addition put on I thought it was cool to see the guys climbing on the house ripping it up and the construction of the new parts. When I was big enough to slide furniture around, mom would come into my room and it would be rearranged or dad would come home from work and the living room would be flipped around. 

The term "turn-key" is a huge turn-off for me. I like old houses with history that need some love. New houses just don't have that feeling. New houses feel cheap, flimsy and boring, at least in my opinion. My grandparent's house isn't that old or architecturally interesting. My grandma certainly made the little cape her own decoratively. More on that later. Eventually I plan to turn it into a craftsman bungalow with plenty of details to make it look authentic, like it's been there forever. But for now I'm just working on simple, affordable updates to take it from Grandma's style to my own.

I'm a big DIY-er. Doing all of the work myself is both fun and rewarding. When it’s all finished and you stand back and look at something amazing and you can say ‘I did that,’ it’s the best feeling. The journey is just as good as the destination.