Was it Madness?

I was in the car today when this catchy little song came on:

I started to feel a bit nostalgic for our little house.

What was so wrong that we had to turn this...

into THIS?

I guess it's inevitable to feel a tinge of remodeler's remorse. The long anticipated rain finally started at the end of last week, and some of the earlier building momentum has slowed down, though not the steady stream of invoices.

It's good to remember how the project started and why. We bought our house in 1999, when we were childless and found ourselves back in the Bay Area. We had recently moved back from Chicago, and were focused on settling in and starting our careers here. The 1376 square feet seemed very roomy at the time. Even after Jacob was born, then Gil came along two years later, the open and very functional design of our mid-fifties ranch house compensated for its shortcomings.

Little by little, though, our inadequate closets, poor light and lack of privacy in Gil's bedroom, and the increasingly limited space for David's growing collection of guitars (they seemed to follow him home like stray puppies), began to grate on us. We started yearning for more- a guest room/office, a separate space for the kids to hang out with their friends, a master bathroom that David and I could actually stand in at the same time.

We love our neighborhood, though, and always have. We are blessed with great neighbors, live across the street from our sons' school, are close to work, and within biking distance of nearly everything in town. Especially given the very high cost of homes in this area, staying was a no- brainer, and remodeling seemed the best option. This still holds true; I just need to keep reminding myself.