reno update

Jeff and I have been busy-busy working on our upstairs renovation.  It's been a little bit of a haul but it's all coming to a close now, the end is in sight!

Our initial problems started with the floors.  Then the walls.  And pretty much everything.  The contractor was trying to put up drywall and nothing was straight.  One day when I got home from work, he was leaving and we crossed paths.  I said, "How'd it go today?"  His answer was "Why don't you just tell Jeff to bomb the place and start over?"

Yikes!  Those old houses.

But we're almost done - it's happening!

You know how they say a renovation really tests a marriage?  Well Jeff and I have done really well...like, surprisingly well.  The only blowout we had was about the bathroom flooring.  I wanted tile.  Jeff wanted linoleum.  Just your basic high price/low price cat fight.  Guess who won?

So let's start from the beginning.  (Unfortunately, I kind of lost the "before" pictures).  The upstairs had three rooms - one large room and two small rooms.  We:

• took everything down to the studs, 
• put in new drywall with all new outlet locations and switch locations,
• installed all new electrical wiring,
• installed a completely new bathroom in the large room,
• pulled plumbing from one side of the house to the other,
• sanded the window frames and all the doorway trim,
• painted the window framed and trim,
• cleaned the windows, inside & out,
• painted all the walls (I'll tell you the colors once we're done)
• touched up mistakes,
• installed ceramic tile in the bathroom,
• installed wall-to-wall carpet (a medium plush) ---> Actually, this is in process as I type.

Wowza.  It seems like a lot (and it was) but when you have professionals doing what they do best, it makes all the difference in the world.  Jeff and I did all the painting ourselves - I outlined and he went behind me filling in.  It sucked, but it's done.

The only other "boring" things left are to put in the outlets and switches.  Then I get to decorate!

My sister-in-law was hard at work last week sanding Patrick's new twin bed.  It was actually Jeff's when he was a kid.  There's proof in the "Jeffrey Rowland" carvings all over it.  After that's finished being sanded, I'm thinking of painting it a light grey color.

That's it for now.  We're making a haul of a trip to Ikea next week for the bathroom vanity and other amazing and wondrous items to feast our eyes on.