House, circa 1899, in desperate need of attention.

Woman, circa 1978, in
desperate need of a project.

I did it. I bought a 1899-1901 historic house here in Spokane, Wash. I wasn’t necessarily looking for this house; I think it found me. I also think my realtor is rightfully rolling her eyes at that sentiment. After all, we’ve seen approximately 7 billion houses together in the past few years. But something felt different about this one, and I think both Laurie and I agree on that.

I saw the house. Two days later I brought my dad to see the house. I made an offer. The offer was accepted. The next day, I took my son (yeah, maybe he should have been involved earlier, but it is well known this particular 8 year old has TERRIBLE taste in houses). Two days after that, we had her inspected. Ten days after my offer was accepted, I was holding the keys to my brand new, 120-year old house.

This past Monday, December 2, I let myself in to my new house, gave us both a pep talk, and dug in.

I’m not doing this alone. If anything has come to light, it is that I have an amazing support system of friends and family, and not one of them has called me out on the insanity of taking on this old lady (the house, I mean). Many, many people have offered support – everything from connecting me to people who might be able to help with the research, to people offering to do manual labor.

But in a sense, I am doing it alone. Or, as a single, widowed mother. When my husband passed away unexpectedly a couple of years ago, I wasn’t sure I would survive. Then I sold the mid-century rancher he and I had lovingly restored and moved my son and I in with my parents so I could “take a break” from yard work, house projects, and the myriad things that are required to keep a son, dogs, and a home going.

So yeah, this old lady (again, I refer to the house) found me. She found me when I was ready to imagine living out of my parents’ basement again. When I had my emotional, physical, and mental health restored enough to imagine taking this on. And when I needed a project – something I could sink my brain and my hands into.

I hope you’ll join me as I go through this process. I am an amateur blogger and renovator – in spite of already renovating a house – but I promise to share the wonderful things about this process, and the not-so-wonderful things (seriously, have you ever watched the video feed of a camera traveling through a 120 year old sewer line?). But I can’t wait to continue this project and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Oh! And the wine part. Well, I do love wine. And my friend Jesse suggested that I would probably be drinking a lot of it as I go through this renovation. So he came up with the blog title. He also says that only gives me 99 posts. We’ll see……

Here is my celebration – with BUBBLY! – for finishing a full week of renovation-related activities: