PROGRESS. Its the word that I LOVE to hear and the sight I love to see when it comes to our home renovation. If you want to know more about what we are up to, click here. When Mike and I weighed the options of moving to an entirely new house off of our island or renovating our current family home, it was, in all honesty, a 50/50 split decision. Off island meant cheaper living. It meant more land. Trees. It meant a bigger garage for my husband’s 69 Camaro. It was important for our garage to look more attractive too, this was something that occurred to me after my friend showed me some oak framed buildings that looked so natural against the house in the pictures. Perhaps we’ll look into that, it would be nice to renovate every detail of the home, including the garage, and start fresh! However, this isn’t the only thing being re-designed. The whole project meant change for us! Something we were both ready for. We’ve had friends who have done renovations themselves, offer up help to us with companies and contractors that they had a good time with, like Plastpro for the outside doors of the house. Help is always welcome!

After an evening walk on the beach with our pup Ellie and our kids, the answer seemed to fall in our laps. It was something about the setting sun, salty air, and the muted laughter coming from the boys running around us. We knew staying was going to be work…displacement for a while, and so many other struggles….but we knew in our hearts God wanted us to stay. The boys ran ahead of us on the beach splashing their feet in the warm ocean water and laughing uncontrollably. Mike grabbed my hands and said I know this is going to be stressful and test us in new ways, but we all belong here. We are a team and we are going to be able to provide a life for our kids most families dream of. Only 2 blocks from the beach (we literally can hear the ocean every day.) 1 block from their school (we walk in the morning and afternoon!) and one of the safest neighborhoods in Cape May County…..the answer was just clear.

So, after almost a year of planning, prep and permits, we broke ground last month and LOTS of changes have already been made. Since we are replacing our 2 bedroom, 820 sq ft home with a 5 bedroom, 1 office, 3 and 1/2 full baths home, we needed a stronger foundation to hold the weight of the new house. In order to do so, our house had to be lifted in the air and new footing/concrete was poured. Before doing so, LOTS of demo had to happen. We tore off the front porch and our back breezeway. The interior of the house was gutted down to the insulation and drywall.

For now, enjoy these images, because by next week the house will be dropped back down and our lumber delivery will be here. From there….TIME TO STICK BUILD. Ultimately, when it comes to home remodeling, changes do not happen over night, but I do believe that good things come to those who wait. While that is being done, we will be picking out our windows, doors, siding and roof! YAY! We have been using the James Hardie siding guide to help us decide on the material and style of the siding that we want to be installed on our home; we want this house to be perfect so we’re taking our time with the decision making and are investigating all possible options but I definitely feel like we’re edging ever nearer to the finish line! Say it with me guys…. PROGRESS!