the Sunporch (Before & After)

The lower sunporch is directly off the Dining Room and entered through a pair of french doors. When we purchased the house, it was a plywood box enclosed by louvered (70s) windows. It was dusty, the glass had never been cleaned and we used it as an enclosed cut shop while working on trim and other items on the ground floor.

One morning in May 2009 I awoke to my husband dismantling the louvered windows. Thus, the demo began and I joined in on the fun... The neighbors behind us started cheering us on as they saw their backyard view instantly improve with the louvers coming down. I'm sure our house was cheering too,I know I was. It instantly brightened up the Dining Room as light was now able to enter unobstructed.

The sunporch looked like this for about a year, until we finished residing the exterior and had some experts come strip the paint. SO glad we didn't think about replacing these doors with new ones. The fir was in pristine condition and looked brand new.

And once it got painted?

Those are hops that are growing and provide shade during the summer

Ahhh, summer

When we return from AZ, we plan to tile the floor (it's painted plywood right now!), hang some light strings, and possibly make some outdoor curtains to accent the space.

2010 reflections (part 2)

continued from last night... i got lazy.



June 2010

the weather turned around and exterior painting was finally making good progress

July 2010
with the help of my cousin, our Master Suite was progressing nicely.

August 2010again with the help of David, our Master Suite was kicking butt!

September 2010David killed this and we never would've finished without him, literally. Master Bedroom was ready to move in a year after we began!

October 2010
and same for the bathroom!
November 2010
we couldn't resist to paint the sunporch and occupy it off the master... our unheated office retreat!

December 2010
i framed some of my grandpa's blueprints from the Navy for bedroom artwork

the making of an office...

First coat of paint went down on the floor today, 2nd coat tomorrow.

I think we'll wait two weeks to let it dry before putting furniture on it.

It's going to be VERY hard not to want to move things next weekend. Maybe we'll go shopping for a little heater for this room, to distract from the temptation. It's a little chilly!

Still have no decisions on curtains... all I know is that we're (I'm) ready to make this an office and get more organized. It's been 2 years of an ad hoc office and I am wearing thin. Can we say, perfect timing?

next project

Master Bedroom Sunporch!

This photo is of our painting progress this weekend. One last coat of trim paint and we'll be ready to paint the floor a nice gray. This room is off our Master Bedroom and we'll be using it as a private office retreat. It's a bit quirky and our budget is basically large enough to pay for paint (aka $0).

Visions for this room? Some low cabinets/ bookshelves under the windows, a big comfy chair for reading and some major desk space for both Joe and I to spread out and for all my crafty things to have an organized home. Oh, and Joe wants to put a small coffee maker up there for his insane coffee drinking habit.

The quirks of this room? The windows are hap-hazardly installed on 2 sides... the trimwork is mix-matched... there is no heat to this room... and the floor has a large crown (roughly 1" in the middle) where it straddles the exterior wall of the house below.

The previous homeowners of the house had this room as a bedroom for at least 1 person. Talk about COLD in the winter! You might remember this room as our temporary kitchen when we first moved in. You know, where the coffee pot froze...

flashbacks

Joe and I have just a few finishing touches on the Master Suite before we take a BIG {financial} BREAK on things... for me to part with all the work (my eyes see so many more projects to do!) I am the type that has to justify it. I started looking back on our journey over the past two years and thought I would share some of the befores/ durings to inspire anyone who is also in the midst of a big project.

Whenever I get overwhelmed with the state of affairs or frustrated with progress (I work on a jobsite so I easily forget that DIY at home is much slower and different than building big things at work). I also find it interesting how I so easily block things from my mind, it's too easy to block out the "befores" and lost focus on the progress.

What were we thinking!?

wall repair in the dining room

poorly installed old windows that had major gaps

(it's built in ventilation, right?)

our temporary kitchen that froze in the winter ice storms...


and how could i forget the pink, mauve bathroom
with the gurgling sink (not properly vented) and
toilet waste line held together by duct tape (disgusting!)

our working "ninja turtle green" bathroom

(future project)

the master bedroom (before)

after we had taken out the louvered windows

the attic bedroom (before)

Master Bed/ Bath Progress

We spend all our time working and no time blogging...

Labor Day weekend marks the 1 year anniversary of when we started to demo the Upstairs back bedroom and pink bathroom to create an updated Master Suite - complete with electricity!
Here's our progress and hopefully next weekend we'll be moving furniture in!

The bedroom is awaiting paint touch up and cleaning of the floors, Sunporch is ready to prep for paint and the bathroom is waiting for fixtures to arrive as well as the glass door.

the upper private sunporch (Future Office) is now cleared for paint prepping and paint,

as well as home to our 400 lb claw foot that is too heavy to move easily.

the shower just needs the frameless door to be installed,
i am in love with the marble.



view looking into the corner where a pedestal sink will one day sit
(they're on backorder, of course)

an overall view of the bathroom

weekend update

Since we're trying to finish the first floor - first... we decided to clear out the sunporch (goodbye salvaged wood trim storage, chop shop) since it's summer and it'd be nice to have a covered place to eat at nights. progress, below.