First Mud

A friend of mine recently visited the blog and said, "It just looks like a lot of boards."  He's right.  Every nuance becomes unmistakable for owners during a renovation project, and our perspective isn't entirely translatable.  I am excited, however,  that the walls have received a coat of sheet rock mud.

Transition Room

Laundry Room/Pantry

The first time that I saw Tracy look out of that window, I knew  that we would buy this house together.

Attic

The attic is now ready for a layer of flooring.  We've lost a little headroom up there because of the insulation requirements, but the area has been cleared to maximize our available storage space.

Sheetrock!

Kitchen

Laundry Room

Pantry

Basement Stairwell

Den

Living Room

Main Hallway

Steve Smalto with Tracy

Window Weights

My Dad requested a window close-up shot and, as his birthday begins in only a couple of hours,  I am more than happy to oblige.  Check these things out, Dad!  Almost every window is equipped with two weights, and they glide smoothly...old school and classy, just like you.  I love you.  Happy Birthday on August 19th.

Insulation, Continued

Office

Kitchen

Basement

Here's a good shot of the pantry.  Note the laundry room to the left and behind the pantry,  as well as the new attic access in the ceiling.

Here's the new wall between the office and the guest bedroom.

Insulation!

Steve has completed insulating the home.

Sump Pump in Action

Well, we're dry (at least for now).  Hopefully the good start today will last through tonight's rainfall. 

Pool

Steve thought that the Italian marble and the 14-carat gold leaf inlay might be a bit indulgent for our budget, but Tracy and I spare no expense when it comes to relaxation and fitness.  Actually, this picture was taken in April at the Hearst Castle.  At present it has just rained, so I'm hoping that we don't have a pool this size in our basement.  Perhaps the new french drain and sump pump are doing their job.  I'm off to find out.

Transition Room View

The guest bedroom is beyond the extension ladder (our fold-down stairway has not been installed).   The door that is open straight ahead leads to the basement.  The new pantry is on the immediate left; as this photo was taken from the doorway of the laundry room.

Guest Bedroom Revisited

Here is another view of the guest bedroom.  The doorway to the hall is simply hanging unattached in the frame.

Guest Bedroom

Our guest bedroom, as we found it.

Office after demolition

The pink is gone! Steve also framed in the doorway which leads into the guest bedroom; so now the only access point is from the kitchen.

Office, Part Two

The office is equipped with a two windows, a small closet and two exterior doors.  If you look straight ahead, you can see through the guest bedroom all the way to the master bedroom.  If you exited through the right door, you would be in the kitchen.

Office

This is the rear bedroom, which is adjacent to the kitchen, as it appeared shortly after we bought the home.  Obviously these two rooms were an addition to the original home.  The hardwood floors in this room are different than those found throughout the rest of the house.

Another Living Room Portrait

I feel a lot better about the traffic flow of the house now.   Note the new window headers and stripped mantle.

Attic

The original attic ladder opened into the basement stairwell; it was weird and rickety.  When this picture was taken over a week ago, I was standing on a ladder through the new opening in the transition room.  You can see the original opening directly ahead on the left.   Steve had the framers put in new knee walls on both sides of the attic.  The 2 X 6's that you see on the right are for the framework of a new attic floor; which Steve is constructing over the existing floor in order to comply with insulation requirements.

Basement, continued

This is the basement stairwell after framing.  The den hallway wall has been extended toward the front of the house by over two feet; thus creating additional headroom.

Basement

This is the stairwell as it was originally and curiously constructed.  Straight ahead is the den hallway wall.  The footing for this wall is only five feet above the stair directly below it,  which is a little dangerous.

Den Hallway

Our solitary bathroom is situated just beyond the den between the master and guest bedrooms.  The wall to the left concealed the basement stairwell.

Den

Here's a shot of the den shortly after we purchased our home.  The bright room beyond the doorway is the laundry room; which used to be a side entrance.

Living Room and Den

Here's a current view of the living room and den.  The cased opening has been moved to the right almost four feet,  as has the opening into the transition room.  The other new framing visible to the right is the expansion of the basement stairwell, which was slightly re-framed to create more headroom.

Living Room, part two

Tracy and Greg were looking into the attic after the demolition; but I was looking at this impossible hallway.  The room behind Tracy was simply useless due to the positioning of the doorways.

Living Room

This is our living room as seen from the front door in late June, 2010.  The cased opening into the next room is five feet wide; but the position of the entranceway is awkward.  The old pathway through the house divided both of these rooms in half.  Panelling covered the ceiling as well as the walls, with no insulation.

Master Closet

In the 40's, closet space was not a priority.   My wife Tracy is a 21st-century woman with an impressive modern wardrobe.  The framed opening that you see here is new.  Steve tore out a coat closet and combined it with the old master closet space.

Master after Demo

Once the paneling was removed, Steve decided that all of the window headers on weight-bearing walls should be replaced.  These windows are all old school; weights behind the trim boards make it easier to raise them up and down.  Even the large center window works.

The Master

Tracy and Steve convinced me that this room, which is beside our living room on the front of the house, is the master bedroom.  This wood paneling, even when combined with the sheet rock-like backing board, was less than 3/4 of an inch thick.

Transition Room after Framing

This picture was taken a couple of days ago, from the den.  A new doorway stands beside the basement entrance; the old doorway to the left is framed.  The kitchen entrance has been reduced to a three-foot opening and aligned with the new entrance to the transition room; thus there is more wall space for the pantry.

Transition Room after Demo

This photo was taken after the initial demolition in late June.  Surprisingly, we found matching hardwoods under the vinyl flooring in this room.  Straight ahead, you can see our den and living room.

Transition Room

This picture was taken in the middle of the kitchen in late June, 2010.  Beyond the doorway is a transition room, which leads to what we're calling the den.  The door on the left leads to the basement; the door to the right leads to a laundry room.  The blue tape on the floor outlines the rough dimensions for a kitchen pantry.

Kitchen, Subsequent Demo

Many holes were cut in the kitchen walls during the re-wiring process.   We discovered that the rear of the house, which includes the adjacent rear bedroom, was not insulated.  All of our walls our now naked as a result, and the electric rough is complete. This shot was taken just a couple of days ago.

Kitchen Demo

This is our kitchen after the initial demolition; sometime during the second week of July.  They took everything but the sink (well, and the dishwasher) which are both still sitting in the rear bedroom.

Kitchen ideas

This is our kitchen shortly after it became our kitchen in late June, 2010.  It's the largest room in the house, and we really had a hard time with the layout.  When this photograph was taken, Tracy and our General Contractor Steve Smalto had placed tape on the floor to denote theoretical cabinet positions.