So many of my days begin with, “I can’t believe this morning…” Today, I’m surrounded by men. A huge machine is in my side yard, digging a pit to begin the construction of an addition to our little farmhouse.
It all began two years ago when we first spoke to our building contractor, Dave Leff of Leff Construction. We asked him to look at our old, ramshackle, funky farmhouse to determine whether it was even worth saving. The little house was not “cool” funky. More of an “I-can’t-believe-we’d-want-to-live-here” funky. As a matter of fact, the son of the previous owner assumed a buyer’s first move would be to tear the house down.
Dave took one look at the place and said he didn’t believe there was any reason to tear it down. He said it definitely needed improvements to be brought up to code, to make it green and energy efficient and to turn it into something wonderful. But he did not believe we needed to start from scratch to get that done. What stayed with me the most was this statement: “It wants to be a cottage,” he said. “If you want to live in a cottage, this is the place.” He and his company turned the little farmhouse into the sweetest cottage imaginable with all the modern efficiencies and conveniences.
After the remodel, Clay looked around at our kitchen/great room, two bedrooms and a bath and said brightly, “This is big enough for us!” This was true if we didn’t consider our two children, their spouses, our four grandchildren and a multitude of family and friends who hoped to stay here. I gave him the irritatingly arched look of someone who knows better, and figured time would tell better than any argument I could present.
Two years later and two weeks after we finally moved to the ranch full time, Clay looked around at our space, and at the cramped area I laughingly called an office, and said, “Hmmm, it’s kinda small, isn’t it?”
Today we’re breaking ground on a new addition.
