Where Rustic Living Meets Refined Elegance

Friday, January 29, 2010

Ok Joy, here you go.....

 I recently sent fellow blogger and artist, Joy Waltmire of savvycityfarmer an email to thank her for her fabulous blog and she replied a little confused as to why my "stuff" has been in storage for four years so I sent her a quick synopsis of my story and she replied that it would make a great blog post, so here it.
(Token picture because I think it's a sin to post anything without a picture and I absolutely love this picture!)

Husband finds property with empty barn he just has to have...
Loving wife (aka me) says ok.....
Talented, artistic couple with huge vision goes to county to do their "due diligence" since structure is 30 years old with expired permits......
County give a big thumbs up with a smile and says "no problem".....
Talented, artistic couple with huge vision buy property and giggle with the excitement at the prospect of what lies ahead......
Escrow closes........
Loving wife boxes up everything but the bare (and I mean bare) bones of necessity to get by and moves into said structure (no insulation, drywall, only concrete floors and no heat except one very worthless antique wood burning stove) to begin the finish process to make it a home.....
County says "Oops, that guy shouldn't have told you that, you need to (a crazy list I wont' bore you with but would equal about $175,000.00 minimum to complete) in order to get this permitted as a home........
Loving wife gets more than beyond angry and begins the process of fighting the County to avoid any of their stupid request.......
Three years later and numerous letters, phone calls and a televised hearing before the board of supervisors......
We win!!!!!!! (and I must add that we did not have to do one single thing they said we would have to! Yep, tenacious is my middle name)
Last year has been spent completing what we originally started and all the while my lovely "stuff" sitting in boxes in storage.
So I am but a mere 2-3 weeks from setting this place up like a real house as we should have our final by then, (the inspector knowing what a nightmare this has been has been a dream and has signed almost everything off he could so that we could move back  in a month ago even though not fully permitted)

Ok, there you go, that's my story.


7 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, what a struggle! Now I get the name "the gilded barn". I didn't know it was an actual barn. That is so cool!

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  2. Good for you! Your home is really coming along and I know it will be beautiful when finished. Thanks for your visit and comments on the Ballard Knock-off. The print is a copy of a birth certificate dated 1811 so it was already yellowed and darker in areas. I did use Ralph Lauren Glaze in Smoke and wiped off more in certain areas to give the piece more of an aged look. I hope this helps.

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  3. Tamra,
    You deserve a gold (of course it would have to have a bit of rust too) medal for what you went through !! Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a sweet coment on my blog. Sorry I missed you on Sat., I will give you a call soon, I'm on my way to the snow this week, but will try to call before I leave.

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  4. What a nightmare that must have been! I'm glad it's all working out for you now! I'm sure you will laugh at it all one day! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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  5. I just read this. This sounds like a nightmare! I'm glad you didn't have to do the work. The same thing happened to us! Believe it or not! We bought our "Wine Country Retreat" in Sonoma County. Then we found out that the previous owner built the pool house and guest house without permits. He also lied about the septic. Soooooo, we had to spend at least $150,000 to "make it right" and get the permits and finals. We had to put in a new septic, tear off stucco, put in new motion sensor lights, sprinklers in the ceilings, drainage etc. Can we say nightmare? It's all done now though....

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  6. I am so glad to read that you were able to follow your dream. Good for you that you were able to do what you wanted to do and not what they said you had to do. I think more people would do more fixer uppers if the towns, and countys would stay out of it. I am going to have to look for more pictures of your home.

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