There are many reasons why people renovate. The list generally includes: more space, better functionality or even a longing for beauty. My name is Lisa Murray and this is the story of my family’s renovation. In this challenging economic time I have decided to do two completely crazy things. The first is to start my own interior design and custom art business, and the second is to undertake a massive renovation of our house, cottage and future garage.

After a 12-year cycle of moving every 2-½ years my family and I had finally found our own slice of nirvana in Los Gatos, Ca. The house is 3,850 square feet with an adjoining cottage that is 360 square feet. Both the house and cottage are in need of major renovation, remodel and cosmetic work. And in case you’re wondering – yes we knew this when we signed the offer letter on the house and went into escrow.

My husband, Craig, volunteered to deal with the moving-in day, since in all our previous moves I had been bestowed this great honor. I welcomed this knowing how much fun it is to deal with moving men, hundreds of boxes along with hot, bored and grouchy children. I kissed him goodbye and took the kids up to Vancouver, Canada to see my mother who had been battling cancer and wasn’t feeling well.

You know the old saying, “that things happen for a reason”, well I feel a sort of destiny in finding our little fixer-upper in Los Gatos. House hunting was a long and stressful journey with many offers falling through. About a year later we finally found a home that “spoke” to us.

I know that if we did not have a close of escrow on July 1^st, 2008 I would not have seen my mother alive again. My mother, Elizabeth Murray, who had battled cancer for 2 years took a drastic downturn and within 5 days of the children and I arriving in Vancouver unexpectedly passed away. I was devastated.

The overwhelming prospect of organizing and designing such a huge renovation helped me cope through my grief by making me focus on something other than my sorrow. The loss of my mother also made me wake up to my own mortality and become proactive in turning my dream of opening up my own art and interior design business into a reality.

This is not just a blog about our renovation. It is the journal of a family and how we cope under stressful times. Please meet my family and take this journey with us.

~ Lisa

Related stories:
This Darned House Intro: Los Gatos Family Takes on Big Remodel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Architecture, Decorating, Home and Garden, The Mud Room, This Darned House. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.