New Project!

Ok, obviously I haven't kept up with this blog at ALL!  We sort of took a break on house flipping since the big housing crash.  We've only done one house since the last posting.  Maybe one day I'll write about it (but probably not).  Our new adventure is for our own home.  My parents actually bought this house over 20 years ago when I was 12 (not to date myself).  Jamey and I moved in over the summer when we sold our house and we hadn't found a new house.  Basically we fell in love with the place (or for me, fell in love again) and decided we didn't want to leave.  My parents were open to selling and it all worked out.  It's truly been a blessing and I feel like we are following God's plan.

In order to make this home "our own", there are a few things that need tweaking.  So, the renovations begin.  We've been in demo mode since Monday and already a few surprises.  This is what makes renovating so fun - no 2 days are the same and you never know what's going to happen next.

A big thing I wanted in our "new" home is an awesome mud room when you come in our side door (which is the main door that friends and family use).  Before, you would walk in to this narrow hallway all the way to the kitchen.  My parents had a coat rack hanging on the wall but it's not sufficient for me, Jamey, our 2 kids, and all the coats, jackets, book bags, purses (me), and other stuff that we have.  Basically, I want a drop zone when we come in so it doesn't all end up on the kitchen table.  In order to do that, we have to move the laundry room somewhere else.  Luckily, my parents built this house with 2 half bathrooms.  We figured out which one we use the most and are moving the laundry to the other one.

Here's a pic of the hallway with door to laundry room before demo:

And here it is with the wall down.  I love all the light that comes in now from the window that was in the laundry.  You can see all the way down to the lake when you first walk in the door.  (Yes...we are fortunate to have an awesome fishing lake behind our house). 

 

The other big project is the master bath.  Let me tell you...I am soooo glad we decided to re-do this bathroom.  We had debated just leaving it because it wasn't that bad and it was certainly functional.  As it turns out, it was just a matter of time before the shower gave way to the basement.  Again...feeling God's blessings.  You know that nagging feeling could sometimes be a message from above.  "Sure it's expensive but let's just do it while we have the guys here" turned out to be our saving grace.  When the guys took out tile in the bath they discovered the floor completely rotted out.  The reason you couldn't see it from the basement is because it was covered up by HVAC piping and the basement garage door.

 

Check out the before:

And the during:

 

I don't think we would have necessarily crashed into the basement but who knows?  There's also a ton of black mold everywhere which we had removed.  Jamey and I sprayed what was left on the studs with bleach.  We had to lock up the room that night so the kids wouldn't fall to the basement.

Our next big fortunate discovery was made today when the flooring guys came to put hardwoods in the master bedroom.  They ripped out the carpet to find that the doors leading to the porch had been leaking...it was still wet from the recent rain we've had.  They can't install the new hardwoods until we get it fixed.

 

 

Notice the round outlet in the floor next to the window on the right?  Turns out that junction box is completely made of metal, and because of the leak, was totally filled with water.

 

Check out how rusted out the junction box (above) was.  Our workers said that we are lucky we didn't get electricuted just walking on the wet carpet (which we didn't even realize was wet).  My 3 year old has been playing in that room a lot lately since it's been empty of furnature.  Counting my blessings again that she didn't get shocked.  Not only that, but when the deck was originally installed, they had bolted right throught the electrical line.  Apparently he had just pinched the ground wire and missed getting electricuted by milimeters.

On a good note, my hardwood floors in the great room look awesome!  I can't wait until the end when we sand everything and refinish them.  Yay!

It's been an adventurous time.  All our stuff is still in storage (and has been since June) since we can't move in yet because of the renovations.  My parents took all their furniture whe we closed on the house (Feb 13).  So, we've been sitting on the floor, and poor Michael (our 6 year old) has been demoted from his bed to an air matress.  Jamey and I took his bed and Helen has my bed that my parents gave me for my 16th birthday (no new car for this girl...nope, just an antique bed...but I'm loving the fact my baby girl gets it now).

That's all I have for now.  My ears are full of the soothing noises of hammers, nail-guns, and table saws.  For now, this is my life.