Well, the baby is set to arrive in just five weeks, so we've been playing a game of beat the clock. We're trying to time our renovation projects so that they flow right into one another and so far, we're doing well. First things first - storage! We've cleared the house of many possessions. Just in case we didn't mention this in one of our previous posts, our first renovation goal is to make the front yellow room (which has been our main storage area) into a functional laundry space. Right now our washer and dryer literally sit behind the kitchen sink and greet you every time that you walk through the backdoor. Here is what we're doing to create our future laundry room:
- Tearing out part of the wall behind the half bath
- Modifying the plumbing in the half bath to work with a new laundry pair and a laundry tub
- Running the proper electrical wiring to accommodate a 220 line
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| Wall space behind half bath - Before plumbing/electric work |
- Cutting through the stone exterior wall of our house to allow for a dryer vent
- Repairing the interior wall (hang drywall, add texture, paint)
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| New W/D hookups, sink plumbing, outlets (note the 220 line) and vent exhaust pipe |
- Painting window trim (as we never got to that before)
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| Ben blended the new drywall seams to the plaster, added texture, and painted |
- Ripping up the carpeting and installing new cork flooring
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| The original tile in the room (to be covered) |
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| The cork underlayment for the new cork tiles |
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| Cork tile flooring ready to go! |
Believe it or not, we're through steps 1 through 6, in part due to the help of John Kerns (the same guy who installed our bath tile) as he can run electrical, modify plumbing, cut through stone, hang drywall, and rip up carpeting in just two days. Ben (the rockstar remodeler that he is) has been a machine working every night to keep us on track for the washer/dryer delivery.
Now, since we're crazy, we are breaking the cardinal sin of renovation and remodeling two areas at the same time. In addition to the laundry room, we're overhauling the main part of the house, which includes the living room, dining room, and hallway. We know that with the baby coming, it's now or never if we want to get it finished once and for all. Now, it's not like we haven't tried to get our act together. We removed wallpaper from the hallway about a year ago and wanted to get the plaster cracks fixed, but the bathroom remodel got in the way. Since the bath is done, we called Tom Kelly back in to repair the plaster cracks. In the picture below, you'll notice the original color of the walls (hidden for 59 years behind the mirror above the fireplace). If you look at the top right of the image, you'll see where Tom prepped the cracks for repair.
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| Original wall color of the house. Note upper right corner (plaster repair work in progress). |
Once the plaster cured (7 days), Ben cleaned the walls and the painters came in. Before you chide us for hiring painters, keep in mind, the baby is coming very soon, so power renovation requires help. Our painters, Justin and Jeremy, are firefighters who paint on their off days. They were lovely and painted our ceilings and walls in just one day.
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| TV is finally mounted on freshly painted walls |
