more framing progress

Last week, when we got back from Disneyland, we were so happy to see the progress in the framing of our house. Unfortunately, it rained for the rest of the week, so nothing was done Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.


Thank goodness, the sun has come back, and so has the progress.



I went by the house today, and this is what I saw.

The stairs have been completed. Yay! In case you don't remember --or missed the first few posts-- this is what our staircase used to look like (before we removed it.)

Framing for the upstairs bathroom renovation has also been coming along nicely.

And this is what the interior looks like.  

 
We are increasing the size of our teeny-tiny itty bitty master bathroom. It used to look like this. 

But that's not all.

Check out what the new entry looks like.

You can see how it has been framed out for our new gas fireplace and for the new front door.

I'm starting to get excited!!

uh oh

Anybody who has ever done a remodel, knows that you are bound to uncover details in your house that you didn't foresee. Things that you couldn't have foreseen without tearing open the walls...

We found our first snafu:



That, my friends, is a sheer wall that we didn't expect. You may remember it better as the backside of a closet in 4's room (seen here) and seen below.




What does this mean for us?

We had intended to steal that space for the great room, as every square foot of living space counts. But since it's a sheer wall --a loading-bearing wall-- we can't remove it. The wall has to stay put.

We were talking about it this weekend, and John and I came up with a solution that we're happy with. We still intend to *steal* the space from 4's room, but we're going to turn it into a storage closet or linen closet, accessible from the great room/front entry. However, we don't want to be *greeted* by a door, when we work through the front door. (see our front entry here)

We haven't figured out the exact details, but we might try to build a "secret" bookshelf or something. Once we figure out the plan, I'll be sure to update.

p.s. Our trip to IKEA was a big success -- I'll post about it later.

oh em gee

welcome



to progess!!



There used to be a spiral staircase there.



The appliance graveyard. Craigslist, here we come...

3 big changes

We have a lot in store for the little blue house.

Obviously, we have a lot of cosmetic changes, "lipstick and rouge" if you will. However, it is the structural renovations that are more important to us right now.

#1 Bump out the front entry

The plan to bump out the front entry came about as we were talking with the architect. Although we have many ideas about *modernizing* (is that a real word?) the rest of the house, John and I were stumped as how to change the front. The curved section pictured here threw a wrench in the works. The architect suggested that we push the front door out several feet and create a hip roof. We already had plans to convert the fireplace to a gas insert so the need for the chimney stack went away.

#2 Relocate stairs to the back of the house



As mentioned earlier, we will be removing the spiral staircase in the center of the house and the exterior staircase. The staircase will be relocated to the back of the house, as pictured above and below. The above elevation shows what the upstairs will look like, and the elevation below shows what the downstairs floorplan will look like.

#3 Push the kitchen back approx. 10 feet.

We will push the kitchen back so that it lines up with the second story bedroom wall. This is what it looks like now...



so imagine those walls closed up.

And there you have it. Wish us luck.

house tour, part I

In October, we bought a house. We didn't intend to buy a house so soon after moving to the central coast, but that's another story for another day. The point is, we bought a house. In our dream town!

Because I don't want to overwhelm this first post with an avalanche of photos, I'm going to show the entire house in a series of posts. Also, the layout of the house will make more sense once I get John to upload a blueprint of the house. And then later, I'll have him upload the blueprints for the planned renovations.

But first things first. Come on in...

Upon entering, you are greeted with this *warm and inviting* oasis of concrete. A view to your left,

and to your right.


At least there is some greenery down the side of the house... It goes without saying that there will definitely be some changes made to the front entry of the house.

Open the front door, and you are greeted with this monstrosity of a staircase.

Guaranteed, all kids will love this spiral staircase. It's like an indoor play structure. The staircase leads up to a landing/loft area (John's future office) and the master bedroom suite.

***Spoiler alert: the spiral staircase is the first thing to go.

Part II of the tour
Part III of the tour
Part IV of the tour
Part V of the tour