The best laid {plans} of mice and men oft go awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy~Robert Burns
That's the only way I can describe my feelings for this chapter of our renovation project: The Pergola.
After selling our newly constructed home in 2005, Hubby and I purchased five acres of land in hopes of building another house. We were temporarily living at my hubby's childhood home when I found out I was pregnant.
Oh the timing...we had been trying to conceive for two unsuccessful years. "Why now?" I asked God. I didn't want to build a house while I was pregnant and I didn't want to live at my MIL's.
All these thoughts were running through my mind on that eminent day in May. The day I saw the house of my dreams. Yes, the house I planned on raising my unborn child.
Once we closed on the house, we worked feverishly, as time would allow. We tore up nasty carpet to reveal oak hardwoods. We gutted the main bathroom, the basement, a "bonus" room above the garage, took off all the kitchen cabinet doors for repainting and improved the function/appearance of our basement bathroom....all projects I hope to share with you.
Before long, it was Christmas and my due date was approaching. We officially moved in on New Years Eve. As a new mother, I was anxious to nest and felt guilty that the nursery wasn't finished. A week later, none of that would matter.
There would be no baby come home...at least not then. The baby I had loved, nurtured and bought this house for, was gone. Stillborn, three days before the due date.
What to do? Do we stay? Do we move? One thing for sure, we had to stay long enough to put the house back together. So, while I was in shock, my "Handy" Andy jumped into as many DIY projects as he could find. One of his first, was building an awesome movie screen in our basement (yet, another project to share in the future).
Weeks later, just as the initial shock was wearing off, we got hit with another reality...literally. A teenage neighbor ran into the side of our house. Thankfully, our central air unit absorbed the brunt of the impact.
Once the police officers left and we inspected the central air unit, it was determined that it would have to be replaced...at the expense of the culprit, of course. It didn't take me long to figure out that we could RELOCATE the unit to make room for a deck....a project we had planned on doing much later.
As later became sooner, Hubby now had another project that allowed him to work through his grief. He doesn't show much emotion, but I honestly believe this deck was built with his blood, sweat and TEARS.
The first job was taking out the double hung windows. We then replaced them with a five foot sliding door. Throughout the construction, the plans changed a couple times. We added the pergola to help shade the deck...this area gets ALOT of sun. And we added a little bump-out for our BOHEMITH grill.
Here it is...ALL FINISHED! The posts were wrapped in prefabricated architectural columns made of fiberglass and ordered online. In-stock vinyl rails were used to enclose the pergola deck. The remaining pieces of treated lumber got a liberal coat of white paint. We later added an allweather ceiling fan to cool down those warm summer days.
Three years and two beautiful sons later, this house now brings me joy. Sincerely, Lisa
