Torey painting the movie screen.

This is what the chapel looked like before we moved in.

Kids and Torey moving pews from the gym to the chapel.

This was the boys bathroom with the shower. We haven't done much here, except add a BSU shower curtain and matching rug, plus a new sink cabinet. Torey tried to replace the faucet on the sink, but it was too old to find replacements, so we put in a new cabinet one. The cabinet was on clearance with the top for $30 so we gained some valuable storage too.

Leah's Room

Leah in Andy and Eric's room painting her "new"
$25 dresser to match her other furniture. We
didn't end up painting this room since the paint
was pretty fresh. Torey just laid some carpet.
Both twin beds fit lengthwise along the window
wall with room between for the boys to stash
their laundry bags. They love the chalkboard.

The big pink area was where the chalkboard
was. This is what Leah's room looked like as
we were getting ready to prep for painting.

Now the fun begins. You can see the green of
Chloe's room just across the hall from Leah's
room. I don't know why people always bend
over for my photograhing.

This was the chalkboard wall.

This is the wall opposite the doorway.

Chloe's Room

This is Chloe's room in the process of being

painted by Dad. Green is her favorite :)

All done painting, now on to the next step. . .

Carpet. Good thing Dad is handy.

Leah is a good slave :)

Here is the outside front of the house. Now picture in the place of the flowerpots (which went with the previous owners) a half dozen or so bikes using the rails by the doors as bike racks.

All the crosses were also taken down, thankfully, as well as the stained glass inserts behind the upper windows of the front door. The signs on either side of the door are also gone, and I plan on using some old paned windows with window boxes to dress it up.

Upstairs

Here are some pictures of upstairs where the chapel, gym, and stage are. I can't find the pictures of the kitchen though so I'll have to take some soon since the counters are in bad shape and/or are ugly we will be redoing them first so that we can feed the masses :)

Getting Started

I've been inspired by my friends to start a blog to chronicle our adventures in Arco transforming an old LDS (currently Presbyterian) church into our home. We are amazed that we are able to buy the church by some grace of God, our family's help, and a visit to our local credit union. Thanks for everything guys!

At a blood drive a few weeks ago my bishop's mom told me that the old church next door to her was for sale cheap and it would be perfect for our big family. It sounded a bit too good to be true, but she talked to Torey at church that Sunday and told him that if we came by her place that afternoon she would help us get a look at it. So we got our first look at our soon to be new home on the 4th of July after our new neighbor Nona called about a dozen people to get the pastor's number so he could come show us the church.

We were instantly amazed at the size of the building, and the possibilities of what the space would mean for our family. Upstairs is a chapel, gym, huge foyer, cry room, and 2 bathrooms - 2 toilets each. Downstairs has a Primary room that we will use as a living/dining room, a 15x17 foot kitchen, a Relief Society room (future master suite), and 9 other classrooms. Every child will eventually have their own room, I will have a sewing/craft/guest room, and the old boiler and coal rooms will be Torey's MAN-CAVE. Finally a place for everyone and everything. Also a bonus is that it is almost exactly the midpoint of our 2 school campuses. No more worrying about kids crossing the highway to get to school.

I will post pics soon. Something funny though, Andy was going around the church yesterday while we were checking some stuff out, and he was singing the Christian song "Come, and go with me to my Father's House . . ." He said, "mom this really is my father's house. Both my fathers' house."