Why Ms. Alycia ....you're looking more beautiful everyday!

It took a little bit of mulling over ....

But finally we figured out the best use for this area. 

The backyard and the creek are so pretty - we wanted windows looking out that way, but we also needed the this room to be solid & insulated.  We asked Stuart to pull down all of the plywood to check things out, and build a new exterior wall. 

While he was working on that, we had Tina's new friend Baker come over to lend us a hand. 

He's already done a great job of cutting out the plywood backing on these shelves! 

We wanted to keep all of the beautiful crown molding - so opening the shelves made more sense than taking them out. 

Once we have a new front door. with a window, you'll see why this was so important! 

The exterior of the new wall

( Looking on from the deck) 

This whole section will still have the roof over head, but we are going to open it up for a nice covered porch. 

From the inside It looks great! 

This is going to be a great Laundry/Mud room.

No wonder it was chilly - look...

There was no insulation in the ceiling at all! 

Not to worry - this room will be toasty by the time we get it buttoned up! 

From the kitchen you'll be able to see right down the few steps and out the french door. 

....and here is the update on the shelves. 

Baker was able to salvage the trim from the wall that we took down to finish off the shelves. 

I am really excited about how these look! 

Once we have a new front door, I think you'll see why it is going to make a huge difference. 

We are right on the edge of the fun stuff! 

( I love this part!!!) 

Not much longer now. 

Cabinets are ordered, Appliances are coming soon, flooring guy is poised and ready, windows are ordered, roofing on it's way...

Much to do!

It's all very exciting! 

Thanks for checking in.

Have a good week!  

Little house in the SNOW!

We've been making progress slowly but surely ...

The hold up really has been this addition off the back of the house. 

It has mismatched windows, a door barely installed , and a host of other issues. 

We like the space, but decided that it would be better as exterior space. The windows have to go, and we really had to deconstruct it a bit to figure out what was going on, and what needed to be changed. 

Looking at the utility room, and the possibilities for a 2nd bathroom - we thought it would be good to "rob" some space from this room ( it is technically a room - but it is so chilly that I think of it as a porch! ) We decided to move the washer, dryer & water heater out there to save all of the space in the utility room to create a bath. 

As we pulled down the plywood that was up on the walls and the ceiling, we saw that there was no insulation even on the exterior walls! Right away that will be a huge improvement. 

We were also able to identify leaks from areas of faulty construction - so those areas will be corrected before we get the new roof. 

Ooh - look! 

No wonder it was so chilly! Just that little bit around the windows - but none up on the top section. 

Cold Cold Cold! 

We're going to open this up more, so the light from the new laundry room will pour into this hallway. 

The 2x4's on the floor are right about where the new wall will be. There will be a single french door & a 36" window on that wall , so it will be a bright room with a beautiful view of the yard & creek 

This whole side was lacking the support it needed, so it will all be reinforced before we sheetrock. 

First snow @ the new little house

Here is a view of the block looking SW

Another view of the block - looking NE

Demo done - time to start making Alycia Awesome!

The Grand trees that flank our walkway were also wreaking havoc on the concrete walkway , so ...it had to go. 

Thank you to Marvin & Junior who chopped it up and got it all into the dumpster in about an hour!

Once we have a few warm days we will create a new one, but we are not expecting visitors anytime soon, so I think we will be okay for a bit. 

We added a partition to recreate the 3rd bedroom . Now that the wall is open to the living room, the kitchen is large , so having this open was overkill. 

Plus - people like to have a 3rd bedroom, whether as a bedroom, a den or an office - it is nice to have a separate space. 

We've opened up the doorway toward the family room & laundry room to make it as wide as possible. 

The kitchen looks so nice and large now that everything is out. I am very excited to get the new kitchen in! 

Here is the layout of the cabinets for this view 

And the other wall looks a bit like this , but in real life it will be better 

The vanity is out - and the bathroom is so roomy without it! 

I was thrilled to see that the floor was perfect underneath. 

With new fixtures, the radiator out, and new paint, this bathroom is going to be adorable. 

I decided that I needed some new work boots. 

I am 100% sure that I am more efficient when I wear these new docs that are just like the ones I loved in 1987! I definitely covered a lot of walls in one day! 

We're going to add sheetrock here. This is where the window was , from the kitchen to the den. I was glad to see that go. 

Atha came along for painting day. She was very impressed with the progress :) 

Tina was not happy that I was having all of the fun with the demo - so she decided to join in! 

It is much more fun with company - so I was thrilled! 

We took out the wall to the den/family room , and we are considering making the utility room into a half bath. 

The rest of the progress really is just in the painting area ...

The Hunter green in the family room/den is gone - 

another view 

The Colonial blue is gone - from the porch , which will become part of the laundry room. 

and the Red, Royal Blue & Green room has also been made a plain old, monochromatic Wickham Gray ( my favorite) 

We were going to move this back wall to expand the utility room, but when we pulled off the aluminum siding, we found this....

Tina & I both loved it, and decided that we can just build a new wall for the laundry. 

Why anyone ever covers beautiful clapboard siding is beyond me! Yes, I know , it has to be painted....but it is so pretty! 

We are definitely not to the... Pretty , WOW , phase of the renovation yet, but we are getting there! 

If you are looking for pretty & WOW , check out my friend Sean's renovation @

www.3018Griffin.com

If you've been reading my rambles for a while, you'll remember Sean as my friend that designed the master closet for my last renovation. 

I think that he might have been a little bit jealous about how great it turned out , because if you look at his pictures you'll see that he added not one, but two, just like it in the master bedroom! 

That's okay, I love a little good healthy competition ;)