A photographic tour of “casa la crap” my cheap-ass home on my slice of heaven. Before and current photos.

Since I refer to my cheaply built sanctuary as “casa la crap,” on the rare occasions I allow another person into my home, they look around confused and ask, “What do you mean it’s ‘crap’?”

It’s not fair that I spiritually tear down my home as often as I do. But I also refuse to give it positive affirmations until it tries harder to fix itself.

My home was built by people who had more confidence than skill, in an era before any of us could YouTube “how to install a floor.” Not that the builders would’ve had the sense to ask for directions, but the option wasn’t available had they the proper self-awareness. For details on that, check out My office renovation proves DIY home improvement culture is built on LIES.

Some aspects of my house, such as the views, the open living area but closed rooms, separate laundry room, and four (YES, FOUR) bathrooms are fantastic. Other things, like the teeny tiny master bathroom shower, poorly installed wood floor that is not throughout, two different carpets, two different tiles, and lack of attention to detail (like filling in brad nail holes on the trim) put my eyes at risk for over-rollification.

So let’s get into it, shall we? A photographic tour of Casa La Crap, starting with the “before” pictures of the empty house, taken in Spring of 2021, shortly after I took ownership of the home.

You see that tiny shower behind the bathroom door? That’s what I mean. Bedroom-sized bathroom, telephone booth-sized shower. It makes sense only if you believe it does.

Not a single piece of furniture had been moved in. Nothing. This is was all just me in the house taking measurements of the rooms thinking I’d rip out all the floors and redo it in a more timely fashion with all the extra money I just couldn’t figure out what to do with. Best laid plans.

Three years later and I’ve made some progress on renovations (room by room) as well as some lived-in touches, like mystery stains on the carpets which I’m choosing to believe is dirt, in-progress paint prep, post-paint progress failures, and the general normalities of a human that lives in a real house that is not a furniture magazine, such as cords to electronics, useable clutter, open storage, and a lack of closed storage.

In a post I’ll pen later, I’m trying to normalize normal. I’m so sick and tired of the pressure to have everything perfect for public consumption. Sick of it. Like congratulations to you if all your cords are zip-tied and labeled but I wasn’t raised by psychopaths.

This gallery is CURRENT. Not “AFTER.” My house is in a state of flux, as am I. But let’s do it. Some of these photos employ the wide lens feature to get the full room in the shot.

Okay see what I mean, the house in photos looks kind of wonderful. Like what the hell am I complaining about? Jeebus.

Most of the improvements made are actually invisible. Mainly and in this order:

• New septic system (entirely new tanks, this was not cheap)
• Electrical work
• New appliances (the house came with an oven and a microwave only)
• Removed a cupola and patched roof (it leaked like crazy and this caused a bunch of secondary problems I can get into later)
• New water softener (there wasn’t one and the water in TX is hard as rocks)
• New windows throughout
• New plumbing

We’ll do room by room renovations in another post.

You can’t see the flaws in the photos above. You can’t see the brad nail holes in the trim, the water marks from leaks from the bad roof that I had fixed, you can’t hear the floor creaking in the bedroom (I fixed the creaking in the office), the carpet stains aren’t as evident, you can’t see the gaps between the wood slats where the floor is wood. In fact you probably looked at these photos and said to yourself “If she thinks this is crap, I’d hate for her to see my house.”

Firstly, I only call my house crap. I’d never call your house crap even if it was. It’s probably great.

Secondly, me criticizing my house is like picking myself apart when I know I can do better. It’s “motivational” or at least trying to be. Come on, house. Get it together!

But even with it’s flaws that you cannot detect in these photos without a magnifying glass, I do love this house. I like the views, I like having more space than I need even if it’s a lot, I like the location, I like separate laundry, separate office, separate everything. I don’t think I’d ever go back to renting, I like owning and all the problems that comes with it, even if I’m poor now.

So here’s to you, Casa la Crap. You’re a problem but you’re my problem and there’s no place I’d rather be… except a finished house with a barn, but other than that…