Second Anniversary at Home

The end of the year is a natural time to pause and take a moment to reflect on the past. For us, this also signifies the end of another year at Humphrey House. Yesterday, we passed the two year anniversary since we purchased our house in the last week of 2004. With this spirit in mind, I've put together a brief summary of things we've accomplished (or not):

• Created plans for kitchen and dormer. Created plans for basement. Learned about zoning and recreated dormer plans. Got permits and learned all about inspections.
  
• Lots of structural and other work to have a finished basement.
• Learned about security and built a fence.
  
• Insulated with cellulose. And fiberglass. Several times.
  
• Removed scary winder stairs and built a new stairway.
• Started stripping a thing or two. Never finished.
• Gave our backyard and garage a facelift.
• Ripped apart our roof to build a dormer bath and renovate our attic.
• Found ways to squeeze all types of pipe and wire into an existing house.

Looking back through all that we've done is downright provoking. Perhaps it was the foolish naivety about what the Humphrey House project entailed, or just the sheer number of adventures we've encountered, but it certainly does not feel like only two years have passed us by. Thinking back to those early days, when we still lived in our condo, seems like a decade ago.

Anyone familiar with home improvement will tell you it could easily last indefinitely and never be "done", especially with some of the other things on our wish list (like our kitchen remodel, removing carpeting on the first floor and sanding the floors, etc). But with luck, the next year in Humphrey House will bring more fortune and a semblance of completion to our house, bringing it closer to returning to a home.