Let's Add Sprinkles: East Texas Addition Update Spring 2024

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I meant to write a blog post last week but I left my laptop out in East Texas. I could have pulled out my old Macbook but that would have been way too frustrating to add pictures to the post. I have pictures for this post and I think you need pictures.

We have made progress with our plans to move to East Texas permanently when Bill retires. We have a tentative date and it will be here before we know it.

If you have been following, we bought a little house out in East Texas in the fall of 2020. We talked at that time about our "five year plan". If we liked the area, we hoped to make it our new home.

From a relational standpoint we are well settled and have made friends and have found a church home.

The house, however, is a little small for all our stuff. We will be downsizing some of our possessions but I would like to be able to fit all our pretty and sentimental things.

We spent a great deal of time last summer chatting about what to do. We had some friends from a company called The Plan Factory come out to dream with us about how to add on to this house. They took our ideas and made them better.

We picked up the final plans in April so we have been busy in recent weeks meeting with contractors in order to get started.

There were a couple of things that we needed to do. When I say we. I mean, Bill for the most part.

We painted the front porch ceiling and posts. I love the fresh clean look of the posts.

The screen porch in E.T. has been a cat lock so to speak. It is a place where we can come and go and there is less chance of Caroline escaping. At both houses, she hears the click of the lock and she comes running. She's escaped here a couple of times and each time I freak out. With workman coming and going we needed a safe place for her to hang out so Bill enclosed part of the front porch with screening. We can lock her out on it and we also have a bug free place to hang out while construction is going on in the back yard. I can keep my pretty porch decorations for the duration of the construction. This is temporary until we are finished. We are enjoying a new point of view, however.

We are doing four things to the house. We are enclosing the back porch and carport to add more dining and living space.

Last summer's unbearable taught me that I need spaces that I can use all year. Two seasons will not cut it. We are building a new back porch which we will screen. It will also have three screened sides and the ceiling will be insulated so that it isn't an oven in July and August.

We are building a small addition which will give us more closet space, a bigger bathroom and a bigger laundry.

We are creating a small library nook in our bedroom by taking out a closet and a shower.

Here is an inspiration picture. This was designed by an architect friend of my cousin.

Ours won't be this big and we won't have this many book shelves,

That gets you up to speed on what we are doing.

Here is a look at what we are doing to get ready.

First, we needed to get the propane company move the propane tank.

That was easily done!

I wasn't here when they moved it. When I did arrive I didn't even notice it. It is way more noticeable in the photos. It looks like a giant blimp.

While I was away, they also decided that a tree needed to be cut down.

I wasn't happy about losing any tree, but no matter which way we went with the addition, we were losing a tree. I had hoped this one could be saved, however.

I will have a nice new flower bed. The roots of the tree prevented anything but baby oaks from growing.

Next, we had to move the shed that was next to the carport in order to get the renovation started. Bill wanted to tear it down three years ago but we needed it to lock up tools. We used it a ton during our first stage of redecoration.

For about a year, we have asked shed movers and several other contractors if they could move it for us.

They all said, "no". I can get a brand new shed moved here in a heart beat but no one wants to move an old shed. They would tear it down for me but we still need it for storage until I get a "she shed."

Our neighbor and his tractor came to the rescue. We are so thankful for his help.

Here is a photo of the carport with the shed gone and the shed in its new spot.

I have to cross quick sand in order to get to it and it needs some cosmetic work but it will do.

Bill needed to remove the old screen from the back porch so they can chip away some and level the concrete. It slopes away from the house to drain water.

He has also started taking down the ceiling of the carport to see the structure. He thinks it looks fine but our framer will come out and have a look.

They have also removed the guttering and set it aside so that it can be reinstalled after we get a new roof.

That is about it for now.

The plumber comes soon to do the rough in plumbing. Once that happens, it will be time for concrete.