March FORTH

We moved in to the Bay View Bungalow exactly 2 years ago today, March Fourth, 2011. We've done a lot in two years - I won't list it all right now, but we really have done a lot. We really didn't know what we were getting into when we signed on the dotted line. The house was "turn-key" with a brand new kitchen. Sure, we wanted to redo the upstairs eventually, but we figured we could knock that out in no time, once we got to it, then sit back and relax.

Well two years later, there is no end in sight to the restoration that is the Bay View Bungalow. The good news is that the house is completely livable. The "Bad News"? We have a lot of interior finish work to complete and a whole lot of deferred maintenance to address on the exterior; mostly paint, and rotted shingles, and refinishing two storm doors, and...

Fortunately, we (and sometimes just I, but mostly we) still enjoy the work and approach things with the same enthusiasm that we did in the first few months of working on the house, and we will continue to do so. March Fo(u)rth, after all, is about moving forward. Which is why it is so fitting that Nicole, who I am so proud of, also happened to start a great new job as an Art Director at a Milwaukee-based Ad Agency today. So, March Forth we will. (have I crammed that pun down your throat enough yet?)

Before-and-after composite; the bedroom as appears today, with an
overlay of me tearing it apart on day three of new home-ownership

(...Also, thanks to Steph Rose for pointing out the meaning of March Fourth to us upon closing on the Bay View Bungalow; the meaning would have otherwise been completely lost on us)