"J" is for Juxtaposition

Always loved that word. I think my blogging from this month versus last month are too obviously juxtaposed. I blame it on the sunny weather since summer didn't arrive till August and coicindently I've only blogged one time this month versus eight times last month! Now, this doesn't mean we haven't been working on the house...

Check it out!

The family room/kitchen are quickly coming together! We've been super focused since  I leave for Guatemala in October and we are expecting family in December for Christmas! So we are all the more motivated to get this remodel completed (or at least more liveable).

It gets a bit crazy

Our amazing friends helping us out! Love you Irena.

Hanging some drywall

It's a team effort.

Thank you friends!

Insulation complete....

Getting pretty close to finishing the drywall. Time to start thinking about paint colors already! We are thinking about doing a charcoal grey for the family room. A bit bold but I think it will be better since it can match all of our previously purchased art work, furniture, etc. 

Oh my...how did that chick blog everyday for the Julia & Julia blog? Gets a bit monotonous right....? Maybe if it rained every day of the year but I will definitely not be blogging with 80 degree whether out. We'll do our best to keep this exciting!

"I" is for Ignorance

For some reason, the word for "I" was very easy for us to think of. In fact, it was hard to choose which one...there was "ignite" for the electricity fire that started in the wall...Danny came up with "irritated" (often with my ignorance to house remodeling) and finally "idealistic" for which some of our plans for this house have often been truncated by the infamous $$$.  But we will settle with "ignorance" because it is with both of our ignorance that we have learned to be humble and patient in this process. Who knew that figuring out where to hang a light fixture, what color to paint the hall, how to design the kitchen would all be monumental tasks!?  It is so much easier when you go to a friend's house and give them your opinion because it isn't your house or your money.  Everything takes longer than you think it will!

Once the room was finished we kind of took a hiatus to enjoy "life" for a bit. We finally went out with our friends, enjoyed some warm weather and visited family in California. Then back to reality. We needed to decide and finalize some logistics on the house layout.

BEFORE: Family room

This is now going to be the second bedroom

The new kitchen will be this first part of the space and family room the back half.

Blurry but disgusting...Danny lived in this front room at the beginning!

The new plan has the 2nd bedroom where the kitchen used to be and the large space that originally was all a family room is now the kitchen + the family room (watch the video clip on "H" blog for layout). So the next part of the blog will be focusing on the kitchen/family room.

DEMO:

BEFORE: Wall removed. Current door goes into old kitchen.

BEFORE: Kitchen. Danny and Jason taking down this wall which was old fireplace.

BEFORE: Kitchen DEMO

Window on the left was removed and will now be the hallway to the back laundry room and the right corner used to be another awkward space as a pantry. It will eventually by a second bath.

This is so much harder to explain via words and pictures! Hopefully this makes sense but it probably just looks like a disaster. 

Carpet all gone...Wood pieces cleared out from loft above. Fridge is technically where the future kitchen will be. The framing of second bedroom is also done.

AFTER: New Hallway. Master bedroom is on left side. Straight ahead is laundry room and back yard exit, and to the right is going to be a second bedroom. Loft stairs will be directly where the ladder is now.

The main wall you see will be one side of the NEW kitchen!

So the worst is over in terms of garbage and demo. Now onto insulating and designing.