On the afternoon of June 23rd, I heard the sound of a large truck braking on the road in front of our property. I got up from my computer and put down my headset to run over to the window and peer outside. What was it that I saw… Well of course it was the monstrosity you see getting ready to come down our driveway in the picture.
My next thought was, oh man… I hope it fits through the gates. It did just fine as you can see in the photo. This signaled the end of the house we have lived in for the past 17 years and at the same time was the trigger for the new house we were about to begin.
Not knowing exactly when things would get started, we were startled when we heard the first of many dumpsters being dropped off shortly after 7:30 AM on the 24th of June. I had taken time off from work in order to be outside to witness the destruction and of course so that I could film the demolition! Jumping up and quickly making my way outside with my camera… I found they had already taken the front porch roof down with a single swipe of the bucket.
The large CASE CX210D excavator made quick work of the living room before the rest of the crew had even arrived. Our construction manager wanted to be there early as there was a post from our deck that we wanted to be saved since it was helping to support the winch we use to raise and lower the tower we have our security lights on. After the deck was demolished what remained looks sort of like a doorway. Not sure what or how we’ll incorporate that once the new house is built, so if you have any suggestions leave us a comment below!
While both Mrs Harv and I were happy to see the house demolished, there were a few bittersweet moments throughout the day. The blue and white you see in the middle of this picture was the very first room we remodeled. I built all of the cabinets, installed heated tile flooring, a tiled countertop and the shower was amazing!
As I texted, Tweeted, Instagrammed and Facebooked throughout the day there were several people who responded and asked me how I was doing thinking I was going to be heartbroken. Like I said, there were moments that I thought about all of the work I put into fixing up our fixer upper over the years and of course that led me to the memories of my father coming down to help me with whatever project I was tackling. Having just lost my father a month prior to this day, I will say again that this day was bittersweet. I shared so many things with my dad and the excitement around building a better life for my family and giving them the home they deserved was just one of them. Even as I sit here writing this blog, the thoughts of him never getting to see everything we talked about coming to life is bringing tears to my eyes.
What started out as a simple addition of an Attached garage with some bedrooms upstairs and a small bump out across part of the front to tie it all together, now has us staring at dirt depression in the ground where our house once stood. It is on to bigger and brighter things to come… And hey, just think of all of the furniture, built-ins and other projects I get to look forward to making and posting on my YouTube channel to share with all of you!
