Bottom Back Renovation!!!

We've been slowly trucking on for the past 2.5 years with one renovation after another.  We've been spreading them out by about 6 months each time.  Our first project was when we moved our gas lines and built a fence (those are pricey if you've never done one!) and we've been off to the races since then!

Then was our HUGE kitchen renovation.  Remember when we had to tear down a staircase that has been boarded up for dozens of years and steal another few feet from the attached bedroom? We still love it and it still looks great!!

Next we did all the outside wood on the house (you know, all 36 windows) and restored that smaller peak that had been chopped off.

and most recently that 700 sq/ft deck that has been WONDERFUL for our young family. The amount of s'mores we've made is a bit ridiculous...

We've done plenty of little projects all over the place, but those are the big ones that actually impacted our pocketbook.

Now we're on to another big one.  In fact, this next phase might actually rival the renovation of the kitchen from two summers ago.  Don't believe me?  Just you wait (Enry Iggins) just you wait....

The reason for this renovation wasn't singular.  We had several items swirling in our heads that needed to be remedied.

I should also probably mention that the moment we started really considering this renovation seriously a casting call was put out in Starkville for an HGTV show.  We came REALLY close to being chosen, talking lots and lots of conversations but the

1. Guest room- The guest room has been upstairs since we bought the house.  The plan has always been that once Eileen gets a little older (say two- and happy 2nd birthday from May 3rd!) she would go upstairs and the guest room would be relocated to her current room.  We are doing that, however, there are some changes to that room.

You see, back in the late fall I had a parent become very ill.  Ill enough that we were thinking worst case scenario and all of the sudden the small guest room we had wouldn't fit the bill.  We needed something larger and more comfortable should a grandparent need a comfortable (quiet) place to go and rest away from loud kids.  Maybe their own area to store refrigerated items or a coffee maker. Maybe even a space where a grandparent could live temporarily if they one day relocated to Starkville. Thankfully, that parent is doing MUCH better, but that idea still stuck around for the inevitable future as well as other guests that might stay with us that bring kids and pack and plays!

So this space was no longer adequate.

2. Master Bedroom- It's almost a joke that we call our current bedroom the master bedroom.  It is easily one of the smallest rooms in the house, and it's also got the least amount of natural light, especially when you have a queen bed up against the one window.  We also didn't really have a good closet, more like 2 little closets and one closet system we had to attach to the wall because the floors weren't level in the back room (we'll get to that in a minute). So yeah, a good sized closet, actually part of our bedroom would be nice.  Also, having a master bathroom would be quite the plus.

3. An OFFICE- The only office space we have in our house is the kids homework room upstairs, and I don't know about you, but writing papers for a doctoral degree with kids running around you isn't my idea of a calm and thought provoking experience (at least not academic thoughts my teachers would appreciate). I spend a lot of time working after hours and I really needed a place for this.  We also have TONS of books and other paper with no real place to store them.

So, here are the thoughts.  We currently have three rooms we are looking at:

Downstairs guest room

Master Bedroom

Back (junk) room

I call it the junk room because that is what it has been for us since day one.  The back room is actually and addition that was put on the house back in the 50's or 60's and it is literally RIPPING AWAY FROM THE HOUSE.

The floor is the opposite of level, and though I don't at all expect level floors through all of my house (this is a 90 year old home....) the back room was so bad it was comical.  There's actually about a 4 inch gap in the middle of the room where the floor used to be attached to the base molding.

Not the case anymore.  We also have a bathroom back there that we have never really used.

Did I mention that we also have trees growing through the walls?

squirrels coming through the closet

and likely zero insulation in this space?  Are you thinking what I'm thinking??

TEAR IT DOWN!!!

And in it's place we're going to expand.  Not only expand in it's current footprint, but extend it out to cover more.  This space will now include our entire master suite with attached bathroom and closet.  The bedroom won't be HUGE by any stretch, but I don't need a huge bedroom if I have everything else I need.  This picture gives a good idea of what we're looking at.  Two big windows to bring in some light!!

Next, since we're moving the master, our current master will become our new home office.  I'm REALLY excited about this space!  We're planning a big built in on the wall, something similar to this....

Lastly is that guest bedroom.  The current space is plenty big for a bed and some end tables, but we wanted more space.  And it just so happens that right out that big beautiful window is a covered patio that we plan to extend out over, creating a second space in this room that will be a sitting area.  Not a lot on there, just maybe 2 club chairs a coffee table and a TV.

We're also going to turn the current little closet into a type of bar area for guest.  Thinking something to this effect with different finishes

Here is the floor planner I used (it's Floorplanner.com, I'm a fan!) that is the best image of what we're going to have.  Everything above the red line will be 100% NEW.  Not renovated, but NEW.

That is pretty exciting for us!!  That means no more "working with what we have", it's brand new everything!!!  Old house, new sections?  Best of both worlds in my book!

Demo starts TOMORROW and we can't wait to keep you guys in the loop on what happens!!!

We're diggin' this deck...

***This blog has been edited- 
I no longer suggest this crew*****

Remember a long time ago I talked about how we built french doors, and how we built a little bitty deck/walk out?  Well, that was all in preparation for our future plans of outdoor entertaining.  The problem was, we didn't know what this outdoor entertaining would look like!  There are so many options!  Just look at my pinterest board!

These were all options we threw around.  Do we just throw down some new soil and grass for a nice side yard for kids to run around? But does that ruin the outdoor dining we want?

Or maybe we do one of these cool gravel side yards that would be super budget friendly and great for putting furniture out. But can you image the mess the leaves would make.....

Oh, what about about paving it.  Here's a great tutorial on Young House Love......no....that's too much work. My back hurts just reading this tutorial...

OOOOhhhh....what about a whole outdoor ROOM that is covered and has a big beautiful fireplace and built in outdoor appliances?!?! Ha, I just built a REAL kitchen, we don't have money for that.

Ya see, our biggest problem is water.  This part of the yard is pretty low and it's not uncommon for there to be some sitting water when it rains pretty heavily.  Lucky, almost all of this ground is clay so it handles the water pretty well, however, not super ideal for grass.  I could easily see this getting super gross after a rainy Friday, and ruining any outdoor fun for the rest of the weekend.

The super expensive outdoor rooms were also not an option.  Sorry, I'm not spending 40k on some huge outdoor entertaining space when I still have to renovate the back half of my house. This is really happening people!

So genius husband George had a thought.  I give credit where credit is due, and I give this to him (you are welcome...) "Hey Laura, hear me out...what if we built a deck?"  Huh, a deck you say?  Let me look on pinterest really quick and see what they say.....

 

Yeah, I can work with this.  Still has that casual vibe I want, but I can dress this up.  And my toddler can ride a little car on it since we still have a gravel driveway. 

So the very next day we sat down and did some initial drawings.  The space we were looking to do was everything from the house to the fence, so roughly 20 feet, and stretching all the way down to the end of the original house, which is 35 feet.  That's roughly 700 sq/ft.  Pretty substantial. We did have two air conditioning units to account for.  

Here is a run down of the space.  

When you are standing in the kitchen/dining (yes, I still love my kitchen floors), you look out the french doors to the existing deck.  Off the little bitty deck is dirt and leaves. We're fancy like that. 

Looking off of the deck to the left you just see more dirt and leaves and forgotten outdoor toys.  Oh yeah, and two air conditioning units. 

Wanna know a secret about those air conditioning units?  They moved before I could even snag a picture before the contractor came to move them because this happened so fast!!!!!  They used to be right in between where that cinder block and rusted paint can is.  So literally, right next to the door.  

Back to the story, so once we decided we wanted to do this deck we brainstormed some contractors.  It just so happened that we had seen a contractor all over social media in Starkville, and some of our very good friends happened to use him for a project they recently had.  They seemed happy with him so we called on an individual to come out to our house and give us a quote.  I called him on a Tuesday.  He came to my house on Wednesday.  He steps on my back porch and interrupts me to say "Don't you want to move those air conditioning units?  I mean, your deck would be a lot bigger, and much quieter if you moved those"  Ok.....good point.  Sure?  But how much does that cost......."I'll have a quote for you tomorrow"  

Sure enough, very next day he text messages me with the quote.  Without you gettin toooo much in my business, it was a great deal.  Seriously, it was about 5k less than we thought it would be, and that price included moving the units, as well as electrical for adding outdoor lights and outlets.  ummm.....yes, please!  So I type back "SOLD!! When can you start?" basically right away.  

Friday morning as I'm leaving the house at 7am I see a man pull up in our driveway.  "I'm just here to take a look at your AC units.  I understand you want to move them."  Yeah....we do, wow, his crew started quick!  But surely they're just looking, not DOING anything yet.  Nope, wrong again.  I came back at lunch to find both units have been completely moved to their current location, a good 20 feet down, clear of the new deck.  

That evening we also had all of the materials delivered for our deck.  

Monday morning they were off to the races.  I guess I should mention this was the Monday a week before Thanksgiving (so like 10 day until Turkey day) and my entire family would be coming to Starkville the next Tuesday.  Both sets of parents, my oldest brother with his wife and kids, my middle brother with his now (YAAAAYYYYY!!!!) finance', and us.  That's a lot of people, and my contractor PROMISED ME this would be absolutely done by Thanksgiving.  Better be....because we'll be all about some outdoor dining people.  I don't care if it's cold! 

So Monday it started....

 Day 1...wow, this is gonna be big...

Day 2...wow, really coming together...

 Like, really.....

Day 3- WOW!!!!!

Day 4- I'm in love. 

And by Monday the next week he was almost 100% done.  Legit.  I hired this guy on a Thursday morning and he was basically done with his project in under his time frame, and kept to his budget!!! All that was left was to cut down the posts and put in lights.  We decided to hold off until after Thanksgiving since my family was due any second and we could work with what we had.  

I mean, this is just a bunch of wood, and I can't love it anymore.  

I can not say more good things about this contractor.  I was very impressed with his ideas, his honestly, his patience, his communication, his workers.  I was very happy with our experience and will most definitely be calling him back for future projects.  ***We called him back for a future project and had the worse experience ever.  He needs to stick to little jobs like doing decks and bathroom renovations.***

As for Thanksgiving, it was PERFECT!!!  

Look at those smiling eating faces!!! 

We even went out and got a fire pit while everyone was in town.  Sure we didn't have real outdoor furniture yet, but those white folding chairs I borrowed from my office worked fine.  The company was the best part.  

A week later all of our outdoor furniture arrived and we were ready to start enjoying! 

Safe to say the kids are enjoying it tremendously, and so are we!  

This has literally become a new living space at our house.  I can't even imagine my house without this awesome space!!!  

Phase 2 Progress

Hello friends!!!!  A couple weeks months ago I unveiled the beginning of Phase II and it started right as I had stated, the very next day.  Though Phase II refers to really all of the outside, I'm focusing just on the house itself, not the landscaping.  As I stated previously, we needed to have all of the wood work on our house carefully inspected, fixed, replaced, sealed, and painted.  Sounds simple, but it's not.

We went with a contractor (he's really a carpenter) by the name of Austin McIlwain.  We chose Austin because he came with some great referrals from friends that owned similar old homes and he does a great job restoring them.  He definitely came through!  Austin and his assistant worked VERY quickly and I didn't doubt his judgment for a moment on the many problems we encountered.  I'll go into the problems and solutions in just a bit.

Besides Austin, we also had another individual do our painting for us.  The painter was a suggestion from our carpenter- and although he has had nothing but positive reviews in the past- we were less
than impressed.  I will say that I am all about giving positive reviews when they come about, but I'm not going to call anyone out for doing a bad job.  Just know I don't suggest the painter I used.

Now, let's break down this outside reno:

This horrible awning......

Who remembers this gem?

I try not to, really.  Just leave my memory and never come back.  It was the absolute first thing that Austin dealt with.  He arrived at our house promptly at 7am and when we came back at lunch, wow!  that looks different!

He did a great job tearing the awning off, and finding a LOT of wood rot.

There was a hole that was literally about 9 inches wide that was completely open above the awning that squirrels were using as their own personal front door.  The wood rot was expected so no huge shocker, but the pictures were still pretty scary.

Over the next few days he did a lot of work up there.

He build out the second tier the very next day and replaced all of the boards on the front of the house. He also tackled all of our windows and that was a pretty challenging job considering some of them were pretty messed up as well.

We also elected to make sure we had all window weights intact.  I was 100% fine with sealing shut every window because I have no intention of opening them (critters, HVAC).  But for the sake of potential future buyers, if we had these windows opened up anyway, let's make sure we get all the mechanisms fixed and someone will just have to cut some caulk and they'll be back in working order.  

I was VERY happy with this quick progress! In two quick weeks every single window was carefully inspected and either fixed or replaced (the wood, not the window).  Thankfully, none of our windows were in such bad shape that we had to take any of them out.  It's amazing was some new wood and some caulk can do!

Notice above this window is actually a tad crooked, so instead of going in and lifting a window (which would be crazy expensive and break up brick and my beautiful brand new backsplash and drywall in my kitchen), he made sure the wood trim he put in would fit the windows and still give the look that it was even.  (you can see it's wider on the top left than the top right).

Fast forward two weeks, the painter starts, however, it took him a solid MONTH to finish.  I will say that there was a LOT of rain over the course of June in Starkville- but it took FOREVER.  We also had considerable overspray on our front windows that I addressed the first day and they didn't remove it for a month.  Overall, they did a good job and I'm happy with the ending.  I will give credit where credit is due.  However, I've never had such poor communication with someone I've hired in my life.  I am a positive person so I will not get into the gritty details of why I was displeased, but please know that I am a reasonable person and my concerns were very real and would bother any sane person paying that much for painters.

Now let's get back to happy....VOILA!  Hello new painted trim house with no more wood rot or leaky windows!! This picture was taken on a dreary day so it's hard to get a good view of how the color really looks, but we're happy with it!

Paint makes a big difference on individual windows! 

One of the reason we went with such a dark trim is because we know in the next couple of years, unfortunately, all of this brick will be painted (we have brick crumbling in parts people....).  This trim color will look good with the current brick, and our future brick color, but that's for a way later post.  

Still have a lot to do, but it's coming along!  We're working on a lot of other smaller outside items that we will cover soon as well.  But we're coming together!!