It's been a while!

Well, I feel like it's been a while since I've done this, and it has! About 10 months ago, I posted about our bathroom renovation - which is now mostly complete! We just lack some trimwork around the windows, and that will wait until we actually have the money to replace them. In the meantime, we have taken on another MAJOR renovation - in our living, dining, and hallway spaces.

Living Room (fireplace and side door) Before

Our home was built in 1928. It originally had 9 foot ceilings, but those were lowered sometime during the 1960s for efficiency and given a popcorn texture for reasons only people then understood. There were no overhead lights in the living room with this new lower ceiling - even though there was evidence that the older, higher ceiling did have them.













Dining Room (note our only cooling source) Before


So, we began the project in March and are just now finishing up. Thus far, we have: stripped the rooms down to studs and ceiling joists, knocked out a wall between the dining room and kitchen, reinforced the ceiling and put in headers in the doorways, created archways between the rooms, put in insulation in the outside walls (there was none before), installed recessed lighting in all areas and a chandlier in the dining room, re-drywalled (no popcorn here!), added a MILLION electrical outlets (I was starved before), AND - this is my favorite - refinished the beautiful but hiding hardwood floors! Oh, and we had someone come put in central heat and air! It is revolutionizing our lives! We are NOT sweating through the nights any more! It's been a BUSY couple of months.

The rooms are so bright now. The high ceilings and the lights make a huge difference. Cami's not sure what to think of the hardwoods - or the holes in the floor for the air conditioning. She's having to relearn how to run in the house. She is, however, happy to have her spot on the couch back. It's been hiding in the garage for 5 weeks.

We've hung the TV on the wall and sent the cords through the wall, so it looks very nice - not cluttered by wires running everywhere. Eventually, a built in cabinet will go next to the fireplace to hold all of the components. For now, though, they are just on the floor.

The trim, baseboards, and crown molding are all painted but not up yet. We decided to replace the windows and doors before hanging them to avoid the possibility of having to hang them again. John was nice enough to cut some trim and our baseboards for me because I have strange taste that doesn't exist in regular hardware stores. He has a great setup at his house complete with router table, planer, sander, and lots of saw horses.

It's still not finished yet, but we are getting closer! Furniture is getting moved back in slowly, and I'm determined not to put any CLUTTER back in these rooms! Let's hope I succeed! I'll post updates of the finished project soon!

Bathroom Renovations

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since the fun began in our bathroom. Thus far, we have ripped out the floors all the way through to the basement, removed all of the drywall and the ceiling. We're still trying to decide what to do about the window. We need new windows in the entire house, so it may be more economical to wait and replace it with the others.

We have re-plumbed the entire house (fresh water and sewer), and, thanks to a little detective work, we have also replaced the water line into the house from the street due to a gushing leak...which wasn't gushing until we wiped the rust off of the pipe...then it was gushing. Bryan has discovered a piping called PEX which has made it so much easier to accomplish - very little joint work, and relatively inexpensive (compared to copper...).

We have been living in John and Karen's camper while the water was not working and while we have no toilet or shower. It has been so nice to be able to escape the disaster area that our entire house has become and sleep in a cool place with no nails or dust. I've been able to wash dishes in there too. Now, however, we do have water back in the rest of the house - just not in the bathroom, obviously, so I can cook again, and do laundry (not that I was really missing the later, but our clothes were emitting an odor that was not exactly pleasant).

The last couple of days have involved an interesting process of jacking up the existing floor joists and screwing new joists into them. The floor had sagged at some point in the past, and the previous owners had added an extra support under the house. Now, the floor has sagged more between the wall and that support (about 8 feet apart). Soooo we are now attempting to get the floor more level so that our tile won't crack when we put it in soon. It's exciting to see progress being made now - up to this point we have torn out a lot but not really begun to put the room back together.

Homeowners...

Well, we've taken the plunge. Bryan and I are now officially homeowners. The process in its entirety has been an absolute nightmare; however, now that it is over, we are so excited!

Bryan - on the same day we closed - came home and pulled out the holly bushes in the back that he has been longing to pull out for the past four years. The look of glee on his face when it was done was really amazing. There are now three gaping holes in the back yard where they were. No more pricked fingers or toes. Hooray!

We've been dreaming for months of what we could do to the house, but now it's a matter of what we will be doing. Sketches of moved walls are littered around the house, and we've even taped out lines on the carpet of where things will be when we are done renovating. I'm positively drooling over the possibility of increased storage in the house. Every chance I get, I'm asking Bryan for a closet or shelves or something (2 small closets in the ENTIRE house somehow just aren't cutting it).

As we are emptying out all of the furniture, which will go back to Bristol, I've been pricing everything for our giant yard sale. I'm being quite ruthless if I do say so myself. I've already decided that if it goes outside, it isn't coming back in...this house is going to be clutter free!! Four boxes are priced and packed already, and I've not really gone through a lot. Oh excitement!