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| The day we bought our first home! |
I can't believe that we have lived in this house for two years today. And I'm pretty sure we are going through the five stages of grief...denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Our days in this house have been an adventure, but have been hard. We bought this place knowing that pretty much the entire house needed to be renovated, but really didn't understand how hard it was going to be to live in a house while it's constantly under construction for several years. So, we have been working days, nights and weekends and everything in between for two years. I help where I can, but most of the burden has been on Ironman and I can tell that he is exhausted and ready to be done. We can't wait for a weekend that really feels like a weekend and not like we are procrastinating on a mountain load of never-ending work.
On a positive note, It's been really good to go back and look at all these old photos to remind myself that we have made progress. Since we still have so much more work to do, it is easy to forget and feel like we're stuck in a rutt. Take a look at the changes so far...on all the photos, you can see June 19th 2015 on top left, June 19th 2016 on the top right and today on the bottom!
HALL BATHROOM - We completely tore the entire bathroom out and started from scratch. Because the room was so small at first (see how close the toilet is to the pink tub?), we took a closet from the guest room on the left to add space for the vanity and open up the entire bathroom.
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
HALF BATHROOM - This was our only working bathroom for about a year and it's so small, you can't sit on the toilet straight because your legs won't fit beside the vanity. Every time we used this toilet, we would have to choose whether we wanted to sit sideways with our legs against the wall or wide open with our legs spread open and around the vanity...both were awful and uncomfortable. So, we totally gutted it and it's going to become a half bath with a slop sink, since it's next to the laundry room. Right now there's nothing in it but the old tile floors and new walls.
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
LAUNDRY ROOM - This room was a bedroom with the attached bathroom that is becoming the half bath. We turned it into the laundry room (since the laundry had been in the garage) and closet space for two other bedrooms (the guest room and master bedroom). So, now it's just a laundry room, half bath and a bunch of walls. Also, the entrance to the kitchen has been closed up.
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
GUEST ROOM - This room was the one that lost the closet to the hall bathroom, so we just recently tore into the left wall to create a closet. This closet is using some of the space from the laundry room above. It's a mess right now because of all the tearing out, sheetrock and sanding, but will soon be done and painted!
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
OUR BEDROOM - This is the only room in the house that didn't need too much work. We pulled up the carpets, tore down the wallpaper and painted. It's the nicest room in the house for the least amount of work.
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
LIVING ROOM - We haven't done much in this room yet. So far, we've replaced the light fixture, taken down the old window treatments and put up blinds and pulled up the carpet. Between the living room, dining room and kitchen, we also tore out three walls to open everything up!
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
DINING ROOM - The first thing we did when we moved into this house was pull up that red carpet, only to find linoleum under it...ugh. Ironman built the window seat and shelves that surround the windows, plus the amazing farmhouse table!
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
KITCHEN - I pulled up carpet (yes that green carpet), to find foam. Pulled that up to find linoleum. Pulled that up to find tar paper type stuff glued to the floor. Scraped and scraped and then gave up. Just a few weeks ago, we finally got some professionals in to help us sand up the last bits. We've moved some things around, built a pantry, installed some cabinets and it's really coming along.
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
FOYER - Not much has changed here. We opened up the entryway and have skimmed the walls, over the wallpaper.
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
SUNROOM (aka future master suite) - Since we lost a bedroom to a laundry room and more closet space, we decided to use the enormous sunroom for a master suite! We will have a huge walk in closet, a double vanity, doorless two-head shower and a claw foot tub. We want it to be our own little retreat.
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
FRONT PORCH - The only recent changes are the flag that Ironman put up during elections and the table that we bought so that we can enjoy eating meals on the porch together!
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| 2015 (top left) - 2016 (top right) - today (bottom) |
As you can see, there have been a lot of changes over the past two years. Right now, we are focusing on finishing the right side of the house. Once the bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, laundry room and foyer are finished, we will move on to the left side of the house. Then, we will only have the living room, dining room and kitchen left to be finished! It won't be near as much work as the right side was, so it makes me feel like we are getting closer to the finish line!
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| This morning...730 days into this monster project! |
I would say "come back on June 19th,
2018 to see our progress", but we are actually trying to finish by the end of this year! We will keep you updated for sure and hope to have a big party when it's all over to celebrate that we made it through alive.
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