The long road through renovations
Two days after Christmas, we quickly put all the decorations away and began getting ready for a bit of renovation. This prep work involved moving the contents of our dining room and multiple closets into the living room. It didn't start out too horribly but it got worse as the work progressed.
We had three big projects on deck. First, we were enclosing our den with French Doors so that it could become our guest room now that baby Madeline is on her way. That job involved bringing the entry way in and down in order to fit it properly for doors. Second, we had knocked a wall out of our coat closet under the stair in order to create a large, wrap-under closet.
We took out the wall but the contractor was hired to finish out the drywall and install lights. The third, and biggest project, was tiling a good portion of the downstairs area. The tile would be in the front entryway and down the hall from the garage, in the bathroom and closet along the right and throughout the kitchen. I am not going to post pics of the doors yet because we still need to paint so they match, but they do look great.
The first two jobs - the doors and the drywall in the closet - went off without a hitch. The third part was where trouble found its way into our lives. We had hired a general contractor who said he could do everything. While that is true, and he can "do" tile, it was not quality work. So on New Year's Eve, we sat there staring at the entry way and the horrible job he'd done on the tile. You could literally stub your toe on the uneven tiles. Plus, the tile was cut crooked where it met the carpet in the den. Here are a few pics showing just how bad it was:
Plus, once we got more than a few tiles down, we realized we weren't all that happy with it. It was fine color-wise for the entry, but we thought that 400 feet of it in a long block would wash the room out. So since it was coming out anyway, we decided to go ahead and change to a new tile.
The weekend after New Year's we interviewed three new tile contractors and found one we really liked. A week after the original work started, we had the new vendor starting. This is what we came home to on day one.
Day 2 and beyond got a little better, except that now all our appliances were sitting in our living room, and the toilet from the half bathroom was in the garage.
And each day things got a little closer to being done and a whole lot dustier. By the end, this was where we were at:
But every bit of dust, dirt, clutter and confusion was worth it when I look at where we are as of tonight. I can not believe the difference in our house. The room looks amazing!
More pics to come of all the areas once we've finished mopping, cleaning and organizing.
PS: The toilet is still in the garage.
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Christmas is All Around
We finally got around to decorating the house this weekend. It's amazing how it transforms the house and gives you a whole different feeling when you walk in the room.
Last year I began utilizing the space above our cabinets in the kitchen to show off our snowmen.
And we're using the buffet to showcase our nutcrackers and new advent houses.
And since we don't have a mantle we are using our DVD case to hang our stockings.
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