Remodeling is not all it's cracked up to be...ugh. It's really nice to have the newly finished rooms, once they are done, but it's not so much fun getting to that point.
The first room we did was the room that had been our bedroom. It was the carport when I was a kid and my mom had it turned into a bedroom for me in '99, but it's always been a bit of a misplaced room. It was initially supposed to be a family room, but that's a longer story than I plan to tell. haha This room was the newest room of the house, so besides spackling over the holes from all the stuff I had hanging on the walls, repainting, and cleaning the carpet...it was pretty easy. This room is now my mom's bedroom/living room as it is a pretty large room.
The second room we remodeled was the master bedroom. It had the lovely old wood paneling on the walls around the closet. After getting everything moved out of the room, Eric hung drywall around the closet and removed the ugly old sliding doors. There also used to be a dual entry to the bathroom (the ONLY bathroom in the house) from the bedroom, but we covered that over with drywall as well. A new light, new carpet, new bedroom set, fresh coat of paint, new closet doors, new bedroom door and now we're in business! It was a looooonnngg few weeks of sleeping on an old mattress on the floor in a room upstairs with our clothes in our old dressers downstairs in the living room. You didn't expect this much fun, did you? ha Our Christmas present from my mom was a new bedroom set. So we got a new bed frame and 2 dressers. The room is pretty much finished, minus deciding which pictures I want to hang in the bedroom versus in the living room.
The third room was the living room. To say it was a hot mess to start...well, that was an understatement. After 2 different indoor dogs over the years, the hardwood floors were in disrepair. We decided to treat them with a chemical to remove any odors, then carpet over it. I know, I know. It was so much cheaper to carpet than fix the hardwood. We swapped out the front door as our first step. We painted and had carpet installed. Our living room is now a cozy spot for everyone to hang out. We bought a BIG sectional couch and a recliner for Eric. We hung new curtains and added an electric fireplace to help warm us up on cold winter nights. We're slowly getting pictures back on the wall...I'm waiting on my IKEA picture ledges to arrive so we can finish decorating.
We also completed the hallway while doing the living room. The metallic pipes from the AC had never been covered over, so Eric framed it in and hung drywall. This included the staircase needing a coat of paint and carpet. We removed the door to the staircase to open it. The hallway and staircase each got new light fixtures, a fresh coat of paint and new carpet to cap off the look.
And now...well, it's been a few months since we finished the living room. Eric started to demo the room that will eventually be the girls' bedroom. It was my sister's bedroom. She cleared out all her stuff over Labor Day. This room also is covered in wood paneling, so we started by spackling the cracks (cause we are NOT going to remove and drywall). The old closet which was not even wide enough to hang an outfit without it being at an angle has now been demolished. The next step is removing the old carpet and finish spackling/sanding the walls. Then Eric plans to frame and drywall a new closet for the girls with lots of storage space. The girls have already picked out their paint and they are getting the same carpet as the first floor. We already have their new beds, mattresses and bedding. So, now it's just a waiting game as Eric can only work on his days off in the room. With any luck, we'll be able to finish the room in the next month (depending on when the carpet guy can come).
I would love to say that we'd be done after this room, but we have so much more to go! Some projects are going to require more work and money than others, but at least after the girls are in their new room, we'll be about half way to being done.
Hats off to anyone who has survived remodeling their home while living there!
And I promise, I'll post some "finished" pictures soon :)
So not jealous! We remodeled our kitchen prior to moving in.. and that was a job and half! good luck!!! And in the words of Andy, "If a marriage can come through a remodeling, nothing will tear it down!"
ReplyDeleteI do not envy you, Erin! I remember what this is like as we did it in our home in Tennessee for about a year and a half. In fact, we'd probably STILL be in the same situation were we still living there because we had so many rooms to update! You will be so happy with the final product, though. It will be beautiful. I hope you'll share some photos when it's all done!
ReplyDeleteHard work pays off. I couldn't agree more that getting from the beginning of remodeling to the result is not very fun, but the result is worth it. My wife Julia and I are about to start our remodeling project as well. I hope it goes as well as yours. I'll be checking in to see the result!
ReplyDelete