Happy Thursday! I sat down to write this blog post title and literally hit a brain block. I couldn’t even think of another short phrase other than “Fixer Upper” to describe our new journey. Most definitely NOT comparing or copying the amazingness of the Gaines empire! Just had to make that clear real quick! SO today I am SOOO excited to share the journey Mark and I have FINALLY officially embarked upon last Thursday. A journey we have dreamed of for some time now. A journey that has been brewing in our minds forever and was just waiting for the right place, the right time and the right situation to bring it all to life. All of which have finally come together. You see, we have flipped quite a few homes over the course of our sixteen year marriage. We have also fixed up and lived in quite a few more homes as well. Basically anytime we have had an “opening” in our schedule and a little extra money, we have found ourselves a “fixer upper”. Fast forward to late last year when a fire ignited in us both to focus all of our extra time and energy into fixing up our beautiful small Georgia town. One historic house at a time. Whatever and whenever we could get our hands on one.
Although we have always loved historic homes, literally almost bought our first one at the age of 20, AND have always loved our beautiful Southern town, it really took us purchasing “Our Historic Wonderland” and living downtown to become so super passionate about this place and this idea. As our town has really started to take shape and make some exciting changes over the last few years, our hearts have slowly led us to this idea of REALLY taking on Monroe. Really taking a chance on the homes that have sooo much potential but also need sooo much work. Turning homes that were once unkept rentals into permanent homes for families that love this small town just as much as we do. Homes that are walking distance to downtown just like ours. Homes that have character for DAAAYS just like ours. And homes that most others see as a project almost too big to tackle just like ours.
So our goal is simple… to restore and bring back to life at least ten homes a year. All historic and all in Monroe. As I said before, I can’t quite think of the correct “term” because we are hoping they won’t all be true flips. We hope to flip some and we also hope to work with homeowners some in finding and creating their dream homes. So here’s where I need your help… Help Mark and I think of what we are going to call our journey. The journey where Addison’s Wonderland takes on Monroe. Leave your ideas in the comments and hopefully we will fall in love with one and use it from here on out!
Now let’s chat about our very first “fixer upper” on this journey. Just one street over from ours on a beautiful street downtown is a home that I pass every single day. A home that I stare straight at from the stop sign as I leave home and take my girls to school each morning. A home that is among so many historic beauties yet has likely seen waaaay better days…
I can honestly say that Mark comes to me with 456,345 ideas per day. Literally. He is the hardest working dreamer I have ever met and he has so much passion and energy that he wants to take on the world. And probably would if given the chance. So he has become rather accustomed to proposing these 456,345 ideas a day to me and getting a quick no to at least 456,344. Yet this time I think he had not even completed his sentence when I said “YES! I want it!” He was kind of shocked to be honest. We both knew we wanted to find the perfect first fixer upper but had not even gotten a chance to go house shopping quite yet. A local real estate agent and friend, Nathan Purvis with ReMax, called and told Mark about this home and he reluctantly brought me the idea. It had been converted to a duplex at some point and rented out for years as far as we know and is in pretty terrible shape. Terrible being the understatement of the century. If you watch my Instastories you may have even seen the day we first toured the home. It is AWFUL y’all. Like gas mask awful. If you could smell through these images you would think we were nuts. But recreating awful is what we love most and tearing down a 100+ year old piece of history is just not an option in our book. So we teamed up with Nathan and officially purchased this home turned duplex last Thursday and we have even already begun demolition! To say that I am SOOOO excited to bring some Addison’s Wonderland to this beauty with so much potential is also the understatement of the century. So here you go! A “BEFORE” tour of our first project…
XOXO, Brittany Hayes
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