As sweet and adorable as she may seem, she's not as fond of sitting in coffee shops taking advantage of free internet as I'd hoped (However she is sleeping nicely in 929 as I type).
That is kind of the theme of this renovation. She sleeps through the entire thing. It's not uncommon for a car to drive past my house to see 5 trucks parked in my yard and a carseat on the front porch because I don't want to bring a sleeping infant into a dust filled home.
Quick recap of things that have happened to bring you up to speed:
- We spent lots of money on a fence (that is worth every penny)
- We had a bouncing baby girl on May 3rd
- We moved out of our house the evening of May 9th and demo began May 10th (Thankfully this was MUCH easier and CHEAPER than most. We were lucky enough to have in-laws that share a home with some friends that they use for football games and weekends in Starkville. We owe them HUGE for letting us squat at their place for so long!!!!)
- CONSTRUCTION!!!! (I'm going to try and break this down with pictures) Shall we begin??
Day 1:
6:25am the crew arrives and begins demo. Here are some before pictures to refresh your memory.
liiittle bitty...
By the time I pull out of the driveway at 6:35 half of our kitchen is already gone. Granted, it's not like it was a huge kitchen to begin with, and half the cabinets weren't even attached to the wall....so not that big of a deal.
liiittle bitty...By the time I pull out of the driveway at 6:35 half of our kitchen is already gone. Granted, it's not like it was a huge kitchen to begin with, and half the cabinets weren't even attached to the wall....so not that big of a deal.
11:30am Lunch break! Let's go look at progress of the house, should be fun. Turning the corner into the kitch....
WHOA!! Oh, ok, yeah, you guys really do move fast. Eek, that as hiding behind my walls, and under my floors? And WOW! That staircase was taking up way too much room. Good decision to get rid of that.
WHOA!! Oh, ok, yeah, you guys really do move fast. Eek, that as hiding behind my walls, and under my floors? And WOW! That staircase was taking up way too much room. Good decision to get rid of that.
5:30pm Let's go back and check on the house now the the crews are gone. They did so much early I doubt much has been done this afternoon. Wrong again....
Well, that's the ground, like, hello dirt, open to critters. Speaking of critters, hello sparrow that is now inside my house and has entered the 2nd floor kids area through the new hole in the ceiling from removing the HVAC. He also pooped on one of George's shirts. Sorry we didn't get any pictures of that. Pretty sure those pipes have been there since the house was built in 1929. Not all antiques should be saved.
Well, that's the ground, like, hello dirt, open to critters. Speaking of critters, hello sparrow that is now inside my house and has entered the 2nd floor kids area through the new hole in the ceiling from removing the HVAC. He also pooped on one of George's shirts. Sorry we didn't get any pictures of that. Pretty sure those pipes have been there since the house was built in 1929. Not all antiques should be saved.
Day 2:
They put in all new floor joists and subfloor in the kitchen.
This may sound scary but we completely 100% expected this so its as budgeted for. And actually it's wasn't as bad as we expected. We were prepared to potentially pay for a new footing or 2. Also, the crew framed the entire room. Pretty awesome! New wall up between the new kitchen footprint and the baby's new smaller bedroom. You can really see in the picture above how much space we gained. Everything to the right of the window was gained from the staircase and the bedroom.
This may sound scary but we completely 100% expected this so its as budgeted for. And actually it's wasn't as bad as we expected. We were prepared to potentially pay for a new footing or 2. Also, the crew framed the entire room. Pretty awesome! New wall up between the new kitchen footprint and the baby's new smaller bedroom. You can really see in the picture above how much space we gained. Everything to the right of the window was gained from the staircase and the bedroom.
Day 3:
All plumbing is installed in the new kitchen space.
Day 4:
All electrical is installed in the new kitchen space.
Long story short, these guys worked FAST the first few days and got a lot of work done really quickly.
Over the next few weeks we had all drywall put up, mudded and sanded. Lots of trim and moldings put in and the space started to actually make sense and look, well, like a real room!
The most recent items were the kitchen cabinets and the floors. I'm going to write a whole post on our kitchen cabinets once they are completely installed so I can really give an honest review, but so far I'm VERY happy with them. Only hiccup, the less than brilliant delivery men that brought the cabinets somehow lost 2 boxes. 2 very important boxes. Talking like, one of the largest lower cabinets, and the box that held all of the little pieces like the filler pieces and what not. Pretty difficult to assemble a kitchen without these items. Fun fact, I don't mind calling them less than brilliant because this is what they did while at my house.
That's right, you are seeing correctly, they got their truck COMPLETELY stuck in our driveway, blocking Louisville St. (for those not familiar, this street is pretty busy...)and during a dreary summer shower as well. Really added to the mood of hopelessness.
That's right, you are seeing correctly, they got their truck COMPLETELY stuck in our driveway, blocking Louisville St. (for those not familiar, this street is pretty busy...)and during a dreary summer shower as well. Really added to the mood of hopelessness.
Also, another very exciting development, the floors!!! When choosing our floors we really wanted it to go with the house. Newer style tiles, though we like them a lot, really just didn't go well. They looked out of place next to our 90-year-old hard wood floors, so something a little more historic was necessary. Brick it is.
And if I'm going to put brick in my kitchen, let's choose a cool pattern than will look legit.
Boom, herringbone brick floors. I'm kiiiind of in love, and they go AMAZING with the brick chimney that we uncovered as well.
And if I'm going to put brick in my kitchen, let's choose a cool pattern than will look legit.
Boom, herringbone brick floors. I'm kiiiind of in love, and they go AMAZING with the brick chimney that we uncovered as well.
We're at a bit of a stand still at the moment while we wait on the missing cabinet and box of pieces to arrive, so the crew is working on something else while we wait. I'll tell you guys about it tomorrow! Until then, I'll leave you with a picture of where we are right now in the kitchen.
Overall, SUPER excited about the progress so far!!!
