Trust me. I do this all the time.: The Accidental Remodel

I've alluded to it in a few other posts, so here you go: the story behind why we weren't exactly living at our house recently.

It all started when I got pregnant - no, really. Our house has two bedrooms. Do we stay or do we go? Well, let's think about it till about week 20, then chat with a few Realtors. Decision? Let's list it! But before we do, lets fix one or two small things, and the foundation. Foundation problems aren't a big deal in pier and beam houses like ours, but it'll still sell better if its done.

So we get a contractor and the foundation guy out here. The news wasn't good. The foundation had problems, but they were fixable. But both workmen found some serious issues with our sub-flooring due to long-term termite and water damage (slow leaking shower). The next thing you know, we are in the middle of a major home improvement project. By the time it was all said and done, here's what we did:
1. Remove carpet in 2 bedrooms and hallway to expose severely damaged sub floor
2. Remove damaged sub floor and corresponding damaged portions of walls
3. Rip out entire master bathroom due to sub flooring and shower leak issues
4. Spend too much time and mental energy resolving conflict between contractor and foundation guy
5. Repair foundation
6. Repair sub floor and walls
7. Remove exterior door in master bedroom, replace with window
8. Expand master closet, add pocket door
9. Move patches of old hardwoods hidden under carpet to hallway and second bedroom
10. Re-texture and paint bedrooms and hallway
11. Remove kitchen window, replace with door
12. Re-build bathroom, including new tile, expanded shower and new cabinet
13. Refinish new hardwoods
14. Install new carpet in master

I think that's it. In truth the kitchen door and the master closet didn't have to be done, but they've been on "the list." The kitchen door we've wanted to do since we moved in 4.5 years ago, while the expanded master closet is going to double as a crib room for new baby. The rest was a necessity to insure structural integrity of the house. I'm not going to lie, its a little less fun to do these projects because you have to, but in the end we are really enjoying the results.

The process, I won't lie, was incredibly painful. Granted it was our first ever re-model, so we had a lot to learn. We now know a bit more about how to work with contractors, what to expect, communication, sourcing materials, etc. But that was only part of the pain. For me, the worst part was living through it. Obviously, we had to move everything - every shirt and tiny item we'd stuffed in closets, all the furniture, etc - into the other half of the house. Our house isn't big, then you double up the furniture and the living space we were left with was tight.

So we kinda moved out. Our wonderful neighbors recently finished their garage apartment and graciously allowed us to stay there during the work (which we initially told them would be about two weeks...oops). It was an incredible blessing to have a free place to stay, close by so that we could keep an eye on everything! Unfortunately, there was no kitchen over there. So we were actually back and forth between the two places several times a day. I was constantly packing and unpacking, thinking of what we needed, etc. Sam learned to ask about the "other house" and learned the term "next door." And he didn't sleep well there, because it was basically a studio apartment.

And back at the house it was DIRTY. I mean DIRTY. Yes, they hung plastic, but there is nothing on Earth as messy as drywall dust. The floor sanding did not even compare. I had to clean my kitchen before I would start cooking every time. Over time it just made me start feeling dirty all over.

So you can imagine that after almost a month of living between two imperfect places, we were thrilled to death to move back into our home last Saturday night. We were beyond motivated to get things put back together. We worked continuously to clean and clean and clean and move and replace and put it all back together. And while I wanted to curse our decision at about 3:30, I am now proud to say we had it restored and ready for our company that arrived at 7:30 on Thursday evening. Sometimes deadlines are really just needed inspiration to get it done!

We are still waiting on our shower glass to arrive, but Sam is graciously sharing his shower in the meantime. I am told the glass will be here tomorrow...

Now if you're paying attention, you'll remember that we started all of this so that we could list the house and move. Then I mentioned expanding the closet to make a crib room. Conflict? Yeah, kind of. Turns out, I think that we're going to stay here a little while longer. Anyhow, here are some pics. We're so glad to be home!

Pulling up the carpet revealed some interesting patch jobs done by previous owner. There were holes in the sub flooring that had just been covered with plywood:

Here is an example of bad patch jobs, but also a poor mid-century decision to glue linoleum onto what would now otherwise be beautiful, 90 year old hardwoods. In case you're wondering, linoleum glue ruins hardwoods beyond repair. We also have old hardwoods with linoleum glued on top under our tile in the kitchen. Sigh: