When Alex and I got married, we had this crazy idea: What if we could buy, renovate, and decorate our first home — DEBT-FREE? Yeah, we knew it was crazy, and also, probably impossible. But what can I say? We like to do things the hard way. ( Just to prove that we can. 😂 ) So, here’s Part 3 of the (incredible) story of how we finished our first home, debt-free!

Okay, so… I've shown you ALL the before pictures. 😳 And it you saw the original home that we bought... and you might be wondering how in the WORLD we got the inside of the house finished! So let’s talk about what we did on the INSIDE of our little home. 😍

The insides of our house needed a LOT of love. And, in order to make that happen debt-free, we knew we needed to think outside the box.

Collecting materials for the interior actually started before we even finished the outside! A local farmer came in the family’s store, and said that he was getting ready to tear down their old family farmhouse. Of course, Alex asked we could go inside and see if there was anything we could salvage before they tore it down. We removed all the exterior siding, as well as two stories of beautiful pine flooring.

We spent every night for two weeks in the farmhouse pulling up the floorboards. Alex pulled while I stacked and taped them into bundles. We realized the baseboards were a good shape too, so we pulled them up and brought 'em home.

We also scoured flea markets and antique shops for decor. I had my heart set on an old claw foot tub, which is hard to find for a reasonable price! We finally snagged one at a flea market near our church. 😍

I also wanted a double-basin kitchen sink. You know, those big, old white ones that are super-heavy and have a tall backsplash and drainboards. We found one (at the same flea-market where we got the tub!), and Alex hauled it home for my anniversary present. (Yeah… we don’t do “normal” presents 😂 )

Alex also used the flooring we salvaged to build ALL our cabinets. Aren't they gorgeous? 😍

Then we FINALLY made it through the dust. The drywall dust, that is. Have you ever had drywall work done? Then… you KNOW. 😳 It creates So. Much. Dust. It was such a relief when it was done, because it takes such a long time!

Next, it was time to PAINT! 😍 We had so much fun picking out the paint colors!

It was starting to look like a home! Alex and a good friend worked HARD on sanding the salvaged flooring. It was a long, drawn out process (with MORE DUST 😶).

Next up: stain. 😍 (If you're interested in more about the process of refinishing antique floors, check out this article by A Beautiful Mess!)

And.. finally, we moved in. After four years of busting our butts, raising babies, working every waking hour (and a few extra!)... We were HOME. 😌

It’s worth the wait, because
wonderful things take time.

It felt so natural to move in, and it was absolutely worth the wait. Of course, on moving day, I forgot to take any pictures. 😆 So, I'll share a few gems from right after we moved: