Privacy Fence (5/27/17)

A few weeks back Mike put up a gate between the back of the garage and the side fence.  This area was always open and we needed to close it off since we got Bentley.  Over Friday and Saturday of Memorial weekend, Mike put up a privacy fence along that same garage side of the backyard.  He cemented all the posts in on Friday night and put up the panels on Saturday morning.  We love how it turned out, the backyard seems so much bigger and new again.

Before (also you can see the new gate next to garage)

After

Renovation COMPLETE!!!! (1/8/17)

I can't believe I am actually saying this but....our renovation is finished!!!

The last thing to finish was to paint all the interior doors.  Over the past few days Mike has painted them!!  He started with the downstairs doors, then did the upstairs.  It took of day of prepping and spraying them and then the next day he could hang them back up.

Painting process

Kate's Closet Door is finally white!

We took the kids out to dinner to celebrate.  I brought the iPad with and we started looking through the blog while waiting for our food, but didn't get too far since there are so many entries!!  It was fun to see how young the kids were when we started!  We reminisced about the renovation - the good, the bad, the ugly, the most memorable moments, the moving things around, the crazy, the exciting times.  The kids all agreed that they wouldn't do it again, but overall viewed it as a positive process.  We all had a really good time talking about it and I'm really glad we got to share those memories together.  It definitely feels amazing to have this behind us finally!

Faces of excitement!  Reno Done!!

The "Mother of All Burgers" we shared!

I put away the last of my supplies I had out - a paint pail with touch-up white paint for the trim.  I can't help but be amazed at the transformation our house has taken - it's a completely different house than the one we moved into 6 years ago.  Every door and window has been moved, all the walls have been knocked down and moved.  I remember saying in the beginning, the one thing I would not do myself is mud and sand all the walls --- but I did it!  I can't believe I mudded this entire house!  There was countless times my Mom would call and ask what I was doing, the answer was always "mudding again....I'll never get this done, I'm going to be mudding forever!"  She always gave me such kind words of encouragement and would tell me how far we've come and say that we are doing so good.  I could never see it at the time because there was always so much ahead of me, but it all makes sense now.  I whined...A LOT....along the way, but it was a hard process!  It was trying on the marriage, I felt a lot of guilt not spending that time with the kids, it was hard to be home all day in the house with tons of motivation to get things done - things that I couldn't do myself without Mike's help, and then he'd come home from working a full day and have to go full swing into working on the house.  Little progress was made day to day but it all added up.  We worked so hard and were so determined, I often look back at this blog just to remember those days and it still leaves me in awe of the determination we had.  We also created lots of fun memories, the kids learned so much - they all could build a house themselves I bet!  They were so patient and versatile when it came time again to move them into a different room or share with someone else, they slept through countless loud nights of us working late into the evening. There definitely will be future projects. but hopefully never again to this scale!  For now we are figuring out how to relax again, something that doesn't come easy when you are used to working hard!  It definitely feels good and like a big weight has been lifted off of us!

Outside Gate (12/20/16)

Our family grew by 4 feet....we got a puppy!!  8 week old Bentley the goldendoodle joined our family on December 9th!  Mike put up a gate between the house and the garage to contain him in the backyard.

Tour of New

Here are pictures of all the new without the before pictures:

Office

Back Entry-way

Master Bedroom

BEFORE and AFTER PICS (11/16/16)

FRONT OF HOUSE

AFTER: Today - Post Reno

AFTER: Today - Post Reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

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BACK OF HOUSE

AFTER: Today - Post Reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of purchase

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of purchase

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of purchase

In between face-lift

In between face-lift; Starting to tear things apart for reno

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KITCHEN

AFTER: Today - post reno

AFTER: Today - post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of purchase

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of purchase

In between face-lift

In between face-lift

The galley kitchen was along the wall that the kitchen sink and oven is now on.  Where the island now is there originally was steps going downstairs.  Where the steps are currently going down used to be Kate's room (see pic below).

Steps now go down here - this is what it looked like when purchased

Steps now go down here - this is what it looked like in between (we closed off door-way to make it a bedroom)

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LIVING ROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

In between face-lift

In between face-lift

We moved the front door to the other side of the living room and took down the center wall.

Where the picture is hanging on the wall to the right of the TV is where the new front door is now

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DINING ROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

In between face-lift (we had started reno in this pic and took out the back wall)

In between face-lift

 The new dining room is in the addition that we put on the back of the house - much more space than the tiny eat-in space we had!

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BACK ENTRY WAY

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

In between face-lift

The new back entry-way is in the addition that we put on the back of the house. 

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OFFICE

AFTER: Today - Post reno

During our in between face-lift stage we built a desk in the living room nook by the window with the curtains.  The same desk is now in its own office.  The office also has 2 closets - one is a walk-in (way more space!!)

Office nook space; what it looked look when purchased

In between stage office space

The current space that the office now sits used to be the master bedroom.

Same space - What it looked like date of purchase

Same space - What it looked like after in between face-lift

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UPSTAIRS BATHROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE - 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

In between face-lift

The toilet is pretty much in the exact location that it was originally.  

See the angled wall to the left of the tub, this is the same angled wall in the next pic

So the tub was in the hallway space

I love how this pic shows how tiny the original bathroom was!

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MASTER BEDROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

In between face-lift

In between face-lift

 The master bedroom is in the addition we put onto the back of the house.  The old master bedroom space in the front of the house is now the office.  We used the space that used to be Evan's bedroom for the walk-in closets for both the master bedroom and the office.

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FAMILY ROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

In between face-lift

In between face-lift

 The downstairs family room is now turned and using the space along side the driveway, it used to run along the front of the house.  The space that it used to be (across from the yellow door) is now the bathroom and a playroom.  Part of the new space (where the couch currently is) used to be the in between stage laundry room.

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LAUNDRY ROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Location we moved laundry to for in between stage; this is now the family room where the couch sits

In between face-lift location

The laundry room is in the addition that we put on the back of the house.  The original laundry room space is now where Kate's room is.  The in between face-lift laundry room is now the family room space.

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DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 Date of Purchase

BEFORE: 11/2010 Date of Purchase

In between face-lift

In between face-lift

We separated the shower and toilet from the sink with a door with thoughts of the kids sharing this bathroom and then they will have a door for privacy in both areas

The space that the old bathroom was located is now where the furnace room is (behind the yellow door).  The bathroom space now is part of the old family room space.

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EVAN'S ROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

In between face-lift of his actual new bedroom downstairs

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase (Upstairs bedroom)

In between face-lift of his upstairs bedroom

Evan started with a bedroom upstairs.  That space is now used for the master and office walk-in closets.  In between the downstairs bedroom was used by Jonah, while Evan was upstairs---but that downstairs room is now Evan's room.

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KATE'S ROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

AFTER: Today - Post reno

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase (space down past the washer)

In between face-lift (used as storage room)

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of purchase (Kate's upstairs bedroom)

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of purchase (Kate's upstairs bedroom)

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of purchase (Kate's upstairs bedroom)

In between face-lift (Kate's upstairs bedroom)

In between face-lift (Kate's upstairs bedroom)

In between face-lift (Kate's upstairs bedroom)

The steps is where Kate's upstairs bedroom used to be located

 Kate started with a bedroom upstairs.  It was intended to be a dining room and was a pass-through room.  We closed off one of the doorways to make it into a bedroom.  The downstairs space that her bedroom is currently in, was originally the laundry room when we purchased the house and then we turned it into a storage room.  NOTE:  We have a new storage room in the addition on the back of the house next to the laundry room.

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JONAH'S ROOM

AFTER: Today - Post reno

AFTER: Today - Post reno

BEFORE: 11/2010 - Date of Purchase

In between face-lift

In between face-lift

 Jonah's room is in the addition that we added to the back of the house.  He started with the bedroom that was downstairs -- which is now Evan's room.