We purchased Belle in January 2006.
She is named Belle because she reminds us of a Southern Belle.
She is strong with great bones - but just needs a little love and care to bring her back to her original glory.
Please take notice of the little red outhouse (yes, outhouse) in the center of the yard.
Our first weekend at Belle we immediately got to work taking down wallpaper from 150 years!
We did not have any furniture in the house, besides one bed. Bentley and Zazu surely agreed, we had lost our minds!
One of the first major projects we tackled was taking down a chimney in "GB1" (Guest bedroom #1).
You might be wondering how you take down a chimney?... the answer is, one brick at a time!
Finally Spring came to Livingston and we were able to begin exploring our new backyard!
We hosted a wonderful 4th of July party our first summer at Belle!
Our first summer was full of garage sales for furniture, buying tools, and playing in the backyard!
We spent every weekend night bbq'ing and talking under the stars at the firetable!
What a great summer!
Fall comes to NY and Jen became the proud owner of "Reba" her lawn mower.
There might not be anyone in the state of NY that enjoys mowing the lawn as much as Jen!
In the fall, Jeff & Jen spent THREE weekends straight raking all leaves off the property
(not a happy Jen & jeff let me tell ya!)
Finally the yard is clean and Belle begins to nestle down for the winter.... what a great first year!