Operation Bigger House: Down to the Details

We are finally at the point in this project that there is nothing left but the details, but there are a lot of them and some of them are rather large, like flooring. With Daylight Savings Time, I have even less time at home in the daylight to take new pictures, so I took a lot yesterday while we were home.

Ella's Room - less scary, still smelly.

All of the sheetrock has been hung and finished. Yes, everything is covered in white dust, but my sweet husband removed the layer that looked like snow from the kids' bedroom so that we wouldn't track it all through the rest of the house. I will miss seeing the cute, little white footprints on the hardwood after the kids follow me into the bedroom to get their clothes in the mornings. I wish I had taken a picture of those footprints. Maybe I can still stage that with the dust that is left in the new bedroom.

Ella's new room is a lot less scary now, but there is a funny smell in there (from the sheetrock mud?) so she still doesn't want to go in there. I'm hoping that moving her back in there will go smoothly, what with purple walls and Tinker Bell sheets, but I'm preparing myself for  a long transition.



Hallway to the master suite.


This is the hallway to our new bedroom. It's finally open to the old part of the house, so Ella can now see how she will come to my room when she needs me. The door in this picture is temporary since the new part isn't climate controlled yet; it will actually be in the entry you see just beyond it. In between the two doorways is the new laundry room.

I am completely excited to have the laundry room right next to the bedrooms. I've been questioned a couple of times about having it right next to the master bedroom, but really, the only better place I could think to put it would be inside my closet. My least favorite part about laundry is the putting away, and it will be so much more convenient to hang the clothes in the closet doorways instead of the kitchen! If I had thought about it before last night, I would have asked for an adjoining door to the laundry room from my closet, but it's too late now!


New laundry room.





I am very pleased with the size of the master bedroom and the amount of natural light that comes in. I was worried that it would be too dark in there, but the double windows in the nook are working out perfectly. Dave is still trying to figure out the logistics of the new TV so that he can watch it from the bed and the nook, but my only requirement is that the wires be hidden (and that he set the sleep timer; I hate waking up to the TV). We don't have a TV in the bedroom now, so this will be new and very exciting for him. I'm not terribly excited about having a TV in the bedroom, but I'm happy that he's excited about it.

Master bedroom from the hallway.



My new bathtub.



My new bathtub has been installed. It's huge and beautiful, and it is not a jacuzzi tub. That's another something I've been questioned about. Apparently I'm a weirdo (that's no secret) for not wanting a jacuzzi tub, but I just really don't. I have no interest soaking with that black gunk that grows inside the jets no matter how often you clean the tub. I tried to convince Ella to pose in the tub for a picture, but she informed me that it is dirty so she cannot get in it.


We will have a double vanity with a custom built cabinet so that we can maximize the bathroom space, and there is a built in linen closet. I know that the cabinet will be stained cherry, and we've negotiated to a compromise on the tile for the shower and floor. I still have to pick the material for the counter top, and the light fixtures and paint colors for all of the rooms.

  

The shower




The shower is oddly shaped, but at least as big as the one we use now, so I'm happy with it. The first layers of the shower pan and drain are in place, but that's it for now. I'm hoping to see it finished in the next week or so.


As we walked through the addition and I explained what each room was and where the shower, sinks, and potty would be, Ella responded repeatedly with, "Oh, okay." Meanwhile, Luke was looting the pile of tools and sorting through the trashcan in the middle of the bedroom. Thankfully there is no electricity in there yet, because he was turning knobs and flipping switches like he owned the place.








Luke, rifling through tools, from the nook.






















New hall bathroom.

 
The old, pink bathroom already looks better. The new tub is in place and the sheetrock has been finished in there, too. The vanity and mirror are here waiting to be installed, but I still need to pick the lighting and paint color.



From the edge of the patio.


The outside of the house had been completely bricked. The brick color matches very well, but the new bricks are a little smaller than the old ones. We found out early in the project that our house was bricked with street pavers, so the bricks are bigger than normal house bricks and, of course, now they are hard to find.

Back of the addition, from behind where the tree was.

 The things we have left are flooring, lighting, finished plumbing, paint, and the deck. Our contractor says he thinks we can be finished in two weeks but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I'm itching to get started cleaning up the mess and putting this house back together. I want to be able to focus on Christmas, and I can't wait to see the kids' excitement about their new rooms. I have surprises for them and I can't wait to give them.