The Renovation that Kept on Growing...

.. as renovations are wont to do. When Art removed the little hallway leading to the bedroom and bathroom, he discovered the original doorways. There were two openings, one to the bathroom and one to the bedroom that our predecessor just nicely covered up with ugly panelling. WHY????? do people do such silly, silly things??? So now we have removed all the panelling and lovely fake bulkheads and such in the bathroom, and we have one big open space that we can design how we want it. For the price of a few more sheets of drywall, it only makes sense to do it all now.

The opening is going to be the door to Tim's room, right beside it is the doorway to the bathroom. You can see the cutout in there. There was a little built in curio shelf or something there. We also now have a totally open concept bathroom. Even to the laundry room! Or Tim will have a bedroom with a toilet...

We have to enclose that dryer vent somehow, and eventually I think we will rotate the toilet. There will be room for a shower across from where the toilet is now.

The tile floor is the existing bathroom. It will become a little narrower to accomodate Tim's closet and a shower (eventually), but will be much more usable. And more visually appealing :)

Then the girls won't be afraid to use it. Right now they call it the "spider" bathroom.

Progress .... ?

Well, as with any renovation, things progress slower than you think they will. And of course there are the lovely surprises you find when you open things up.

Whoever "finished" (and I use the term loosely) our basement was obviously a professional with much attention paid to detail. Ahem. Or perhaps not.

Evidence:

Stellar framing job! Going into Tim's room

Quality light installation:

(Can you see the chain it's hanging from?)

This is the bathroom ceiling.


More wonderful woodwork? Between Tim's room and the bathroom. We removed that wall, and will put his closet there, leaving room for a shower beside it. Well, in the bathroom, but still beside the closet. You know what I mean....

It just left Art speechless:

(Bathroom ceiling. This was a bulkhead to enclose the ductwork.)

However, there is some evidence of progress. In the rec room, there are nice new straight walls framed up:

It will be nice when it's done. I just keep telling myself that.

And I had to take the Princess's picture too. With her puppy.

Before... and Demo Day

Wallpaper stripped off interior walls - check.

Window frame removed so garbage can go out and drywall can come in without being tracked through the entire house - check.

Lovely faux trim installed with one nail on each end ripped off - check.

Tim's room - before. Sadly, the Norman Rockwell puzzle has been taken to the dump. I know you all wanted it...

This is now my laundry/family room. The DVD player and Wii are hooked up, so at least the kids can use those. Apparently it's scary down there though. That's okay, a couple weeks without tv or Wii won't hurt anyone.

The carpet was removed from the stairs a few years ago, when one of the kids upchucked all the way down the stairs, and we decided that it wasn't worth trying to clean it up. Oh wait, Daddy decided that, since I wasn't home at the time...:)

Remove closet from Tim's room so it can be relocated - check.

You can see where it was before, really inconvenient when you walk in to the room. This way gives him a lot more space.

Take time out to attend Euchre Tournament - check!!!

And the lovely stucco ceiling is gone too.

It has begun...

at long last, our 3rd level family room and bedroom is being overhauled. The bedroom had been used as Art's office, but as Tim gets older, he needs more space and privacy, so it will now be his room. Art has a new office on the fourth level, and the plan was to just paint the panelling in the bedroom/family room.
HOWEVER, once we had a closer look, and discovered there was no insulation down there, and the carpet is well past its prime, we decided to bite the bullet and do it right. New drywall, insulation, windows. We have had carpet sitting in the storage area for a while now, waiting to be installed, and now is the time!
Rats, I forgot to insert photos first, so rather than spend hours moving everything around, I'll do a new post with pictures. BEFORE pictures, anyway...

Aww....

If you're a Mom, I know you've had those days when you wonder why you bother? It seems every time you turn around, there is another mess to clean up, another load of laundry to do, another meal to cook, another pile of dishes, more homework to help with, etc etc. It seems never ending.
And then one day, your 5 year old leaves an envelope on your dresser. And this is what is inside:

For those who don't read 5 year old, it says : I LOF (love) MOM. And she wrote it all by herself. Brought a tear to my eye, let me tell you. And made all the laundry, cooking, cleaning etc worth while again.

This was the scene the other day in our family room. They were chatting away while Amanda played on Webkinz and Natalie played with her hair. I love when they get along like this...

Speaking of the family room, stay tuned for renovation pictures and news! Tomorrow is demo day! Finally getting rid of that carpet.... yay!