Mud room. Ever since my friend finished the renovation on her dining room, I've been thinking about turning my mud room into a dining room. It adjoins the kitchen. It would work.
In fact, I've been thinking about it more and more since I calculated that I could in fact finish the floor in there with the leftover hardwood from the upstairs.
I know I know I know I know I know.
The cardinal rule I set for myself when I set out to finish my upstairs was, and I quote, "THOU SHALT NOT START A NEW PROJECT UNTIL THE UPSTAIRS HATH BEEN COMPLETED."
Me starting new projects usually results in lack of doneness everywhere, as opposed to lack of doneness just here and there.
But I just can't help thinking - we've got the hardwood. It's sitting right there in boxes, just screaming to be put down in that room. And I know it's not that easy, because we already have plans afoot for that room.
First, we'd have to rip out the double windows at the front and replace them with double french doors. Then we'd have to replace the other window in the room with a new window and get rid of the original single gross entry door at the side.
Then we'd have to relocated the doorbell and exterior light and all light switches next to the new door.
Then the drywall would have to be repaired, new wainscoting and chair rail trim installed, and everything would have to be primed and painted.
And even when that was all done, we'd have to purchase some slate tile and install around the new doorway (for your gross feet people) before the wood could be installed.
Not to mention that I've been tinkering with the idea of making the ceiling in there sloped.
You can see now how I get into trouble by starting these projects. I try and pass it off as some easy cheap weekend thing - and then it turns into a major gut-busting months-of-labor type of affair. I don't know why I get my kicks like that. It's sick, isn't it?
My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.
And here we still are... renovating away.
This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.
We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.
New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.
We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.
Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.
Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.
And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!
In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!
In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.
And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.
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