Quick Update

As if starting a total home remodel on the same day as bilateral knee replacement wasn't enough, I had to have my gall bladder removed last Wednesday.  I went the ER Monday night, was finally admitted Tues AM, surgery Wed, and came home on Thurs. Not fun.  

Breakfast tray the day after surgery.  Looked appetizing after 4 days of no food at all.  I drank the Boost.

Home resting this week.  I will post remodel updates when I have the energy to get up and take some more photos.  

Exterior Changes

We have had some progress on the exterior of our house!  We waited forever for our contractor to find a crew to do the block and brickwork and nothing happened.  So Mr Creative took matters into his own hands and went to a man that used to work for him. They came last Sunday to check it out and started on Monday!

House before

The windows across the front of our house were all level with the roof line, but b/c the house is on a hill, the master bedroom/bath was above the garage. The windows you see here were actually partially in the master bath closet and partially through the floor into the garage below.  These windows were boxed in with sheet rock on the inside so you could only see them from the outside. 

Our design was to start the windows closer to the bathroom floor and then go through the roof line with dormers so we could reclaim the windows.  

The framing crew built the dormers in the same space as the old windows, but closed up the bottom where it went through to the garage.  

Here you can see the old windows from the inside going through the floor.

Another view, but with boards to keep Daisy from falling through to the garage. This entire space was our old bathroom with a narrow closet across the front to hide those boxed in windows.

This shows the new window openings before the interior framing was completed.  

Now we claimed that closet space with one new window in the new bathroom the other in the laundry room.  
The dormers under construction with the new roof.

The finished dormers.  I love the herringbone brick. All of this ugly brown brick will be painted.  

We have also had some major changes on the other end of the house.  The masons also built the base of the new front porch.

The arrows point to the old porch steps in front of the new front door and the side of the old porch under the window.  We increased the porch size considerably!

Of course Daisy has to check every new footprint. 

A phantom crew shows up around 6:00 PM each night and works on putting new fascia boards around the porch edges.  They work until about 8:00 PM and disappear until the next day.  Today a couple of tons of gravel will arrive to fill in the porch.  Stay tuned.

Raise the Roof!

Friday was the busiest day yet!  The framers, the roofers, the contractor, yikes!  At one point there was at least 10 trucks parked all around the house and in the flower beds!   

After they removed the three layers of old roofing, the view from inside the attic was pretty cool.

Every available parking spot and even the front yard was in use! 

This is the house before we started.  The two windows on the far right were boxed in with sheet rock.  The house is on a slope so the master bedroom is three steps up from the rest of the house and sits on top of the garage on the far right side of the house.  When the house was built they wanted to keep the windows all the same level across the front, so they installed the windows starting in the garage and they went up through the garage ceiling into the upstairs floor in a closet behind the master bathroom.  

You can clearly see the hole that went through the floor to the garage.  

We decided to reclaim the windows and the lost closet space by having the windows start above the floor in the master bath and go through the roof line. 

The new windows will arrive and hopefully be installed tomorrow!  We are also replacing all the shutters.  

Old roof...

New roof!  The new color is actually slate grey, but is showing up green in these pictures.  The color looks terrible with the brown brick, but we will be painting the brick cream.  I am just so happy that things are finally moving again, they can park in my flower bed anytime they want! 

There is Light at the End!

Things are slowly but surely getting finished!  

You have seen the hood that is wood painted to look like metal. 

Cabinets without knobs....

Cabinets with knobs! I decided to go with wood knobs b/c our finished kitchen will have a Country French theme and I was told that the French use wood.  Not to mention the savings.  All the knobs we ordered on Ebay for less than $120.  Can you imagine what 180 metal knobs would have cost?

I have been using the range over the last two weeks and it is awesome!!  It is a GE Monogram 48" dual fuel with griddle.  I can't really fire it all the way up b/c the Vent-a-Hood isn't ready to use yet, but so far, I love it. 

Refrigerator cabinet.  We had room behind the fridge to install a narrow cabinet.  Once they install the dividers, I will fill it up with baking sheets and platters. 

Not loving the drawer microwave.  It takes forever for the drawer to open and it's noisy.  Hopefully once the walnut island top is installed it will be quiet.  

 Blue knobs on the blue cabinets

 The dining room cabinets with knobs.  The blue tape has instructions for the crew to rout finger pulls under the three pullout shelves. 

 Even the master bath cabinets got dressed.  

A single knob painted to match the pantry.  Our cabinet sub is so amazing, he took these to his shop and painted/stained them to match the cabinets.  

 The master bath had some major progress today.   
 The dormers are taking shape.  No other changes to report unfortunately.  Still lots to be done, but having a sink and being able to use my amazing range is making me happy!!

The Real Story of Living Through a Remodel

Living in our house through a major remodel was a financial choice.  To move out and pay rent, would have put our remodel out of reach.  This is the "other" side of a remodel.  

 In our current bedroom, the carpet had to be torn up when the roof leaked into the room. No sense in fixing it b/c it is all coming up once we move back to our master bedroom. 

 Sharing my dish closet.  

 The hallway outside the bedroom. 

 The living room

 Waiting to be hauled away.

 The second dishwasher waiting to be installed

 Master bath cabinets with the guest room mattress. 

 Decisions daily.  This is the master bath tile. 

 The old microwave

No counter space anywhere yet

Temporary counter space

Pantry doors waiting to be finished and installed

 Brown paper and cardboard everywhere

 Half finished walls

 Every room is covered in dust

The master bedroom after we moved out  

Open to the heat of the attic space  

This is one of the master bath windows.  They were installed through the floor into the garage below to keep the front of the house symmetrical, then they built a box around them.  

These windows are coming out to be replaced with windows we can actually use!

The old shower drain, open to the garage below

The view from just about every window in the house.

 Open the beautiful front door and this is the view 

 Piles of stuff in every corner

   Dressing mirror that doesn't fit in the guest room

Unfinished walls in our temporary bedroom

The garage

Everything including the kitchen sink on the deck.

I do laundry on the deck

The view from the deck

Doors to the patio

The other side of those doors waiting for the mason

The view from the street

I can't imagine life will ever be normal again.