Before & after photos

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I love a good before and after session. And now I have one of my very own…without even intending to.

So here you go: my house before the repairs and after the repairs, room by room.

Living room

Living room after being gutted.
Living room after being gutted.
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Living room with new lighting & Chase Decker painting

The Bookcases

A branch poking through the ceiling above the bookcase
A branch poking through the ceiling above the bookcase
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Bookcases after repair

Kitchen

The kitchen being gutted.
The kitchen being gutted.
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The finished kitchen

More kitchen photos here.

The Sunroom

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The stripped sunroom
The sunroom got a new roof and new flooring

The Boys’ Room

The boys' room after a tree came through the window
The boys’ room after a tree came through the window
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The boys’ room after repairs

The Guest Room — Now Gus’ Room 

The gutted guest room
The gutted guest room
Gus' room
Gus’ room

The Hall

Where the skylight fell in
Where the skylight fell in
The hall after repair
The hall after repair

The Skylights

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Two of the skylights were shattered by tree limbs
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New skylights had to be molded & recast.

View from kitchen

After the ceiling came in
After the ceiling came in
After repairs
After repairs

The Garage

The garage was split in half
The garage was split in half
The garage has a new roof, but is still being worked on inside.
The garage has a new roof, but is still being worked on inside.

Exterior

Side of the house
Side of the house, after the storm
Side of the house, four months later

Back of the house facing the water

Outside of the house
Outside of the house
housefront
Repaired

Now that it’s over, I don’t know how I feel about it.

I don’t like to look at the before and after pictures, because I know how much time and effort has gone into the repairs.

It’s not how anyone would want to spend their time: fixing something that wasn’t broken until one freak afternoon and a crazy windstorm.

Now that we’re back in, it’s like we were never gone. We are happy, but in the regular, workaday, life-is-hard kind of happy.

My favorite part so far is watching the boys run around the house and play. This house gives us the space and the room — to write, to read, to entertain, to play.

We bought a giant bean bag for the kids for Christmas and my favorite thing has been watching my five-year-old Gus climb up on the divider between the kitchen and the living room and go soaring into the air, “Cowabunga!” onto the bean bag. I don’t know why, but it makes me endlessly happy, to watch them play, fearless.

And when things slow down and I get a moment of quiet, I think, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. That we’re back in our house, together, in the place I want to be most.