On The Move

By not having any house plan finalized, and Secrest selling after 90 days on the market we were pushed into probably the best thing that could have happened. We moved into our Boulder House AS IS in October. All our art, but very little of our furniture fit inside. Yet I think we did a pretty good job of making it comfortable and homey. We stuck the rest of our furniture in storage and settled into what we had. We woke everyday to the Flatirons turning pink with the sunrise and watched the birds play in the creek. Tim fished a lot and the dogs loved playing in the water (which didn’t help his fishing!). In the mornings we’d walk our loop trail along the creek and spot the bear, bunny, coyote, and Owl scat from the night before – a favorite time for the dogs.

We fell in love with the little house, and ideas to update and give it a face lift started to unfold. The square footage of the house (2,800) felt comfortable, the layout, while needing some adjustments, didn’t really need much. As Tim’s Dad Daryl says, “How much living can you do?” We started working on new plans that kept the footprint of the house as is, and would repair or replace the entire kitchen infrastructure, framing and roof, interior finishes, doors, windows and siding. Also, bury all the electrical and cable lines, add a new gas meter and line, and add a cistern and new pumps to the well. Did I miss anything? Ahh, yes, decks, patio and landscape will be added too! 

It was tough as the November cold came in. The windows in the basement that were actually not windows but pieces of plexiglass screwed on from the outside of the house let all that cold air right in. The back door and front door let wind blow right in even with insulation tape added. No insulation in the basement and next to none in the ceiling allowed all our heat to escape. So, living in the house AS IS  had it’s challenges. By December, we were getting tired of being cold, especially at night!

By mid-December we had a rough plan sent off to the Architect. As there was no way we could stay in the house during the remodel (6-8 months), we started looking for a rental and found one quickly. At Bailey’s request we rented in Lakewood to be close to her and make life easier. 3 months after moving into Boulder, we moved again to Lakewood. We took most everything from the Boulder House and stored it in the garage there except for clothes and kitchen items. Then we had everything from our storage unit delivered to Lakewood. It was like musical chairs with furniture and very of unsettling. 

By January 15th we were completely moved out of Boulder, into Lakewood, and had the architectural plans in hand ready to begin the Boulder transformation!