house on the move!

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Joshua 24:15

To put this simply, I bought my sister-in-law and brother's house. Yes, house. Then we moved it. Next door. Now it's my house. Well, it's their house until their new house gets built, where their old house was. Then it will get renovated. Then it will be my house, and I've got to make their house my home! 

Like a recipe, this is much easier to follow with pictures. 

view of my new yard from my parents' from porch

getting the soon to be foundation ready

view of the house when it was still in my brother's yard

garage... it gets moved too!

I can't seem to find my pictures of the house while they are breaking apart the foundation and tearing down the chimney. The house movers jacked it up and put it on this trailer.  I had no idea you could even move a house until my sister-in-law and brother wanted to sell and move this one. I'm fortunate enough to know the seller... let's just say he's done more than his fair share of the work. 

It sat here overnight, getting ready for the big move!

getting ready to go

Plywood and a tarp covering where the chimney used to be. 

It has to get rebuilt along with the foundation once the house it put back down. 

Ernie of Johnson House Movers leading the way!

His wife making sure everything was going smoothly. You'll never guess who they let drive this rig down the road...

Matt! 

backing in to her new yard

Would you believe this whole thing had a crowd gathered across the road watching for the better part of the morning, a police officer blocking the road and traffic backed up down both sides of the house?!

rocking chair made the move without a scratch

the garage got moved earlier in the week

Charlie excited about our new house :)

In the mean time, Lis and Matt's new house will take a year to build so that gives me 12 months to scour Pinterest for ideas on how to best update and renovate what has now become H4!
(Everyone's house has a title. H for our last initial and a number depending on the order in which we joined 'the compound.' There's some debate as to the order, but since I'm the latest addition I'll be H4, even though Matt insists on calling it preparation H. Funny, huh?)

What would I do without a website where I can collect all of my favorite decorating and design ideas?! It sure beats the days of circling pictures of things you like in books and magazines. And it's much lighter too, considering the interior and exterior of our new abode will be subject to the overhaul.