Donovan's new basement bedroom

We are turning the part of the basement that was an addition into a bedroom for my son.  Putting in an escape window and wiring him up fully for all things electronic.  It has been a slow process as we discovered that is where the basement leaks and have had many challenges...hopefully soon he can move on down.  He has usb port outlets, his own breaker in the power box just for his electronics and will have a barn type door when we are done

Master bedroom made Living room

The master bedroom backed the old living room.  We opened the wall between the two rooms mirroring the arch that was in some of the original walkways.  We still need to take out the closets from the room and put up permanent walls, but there is a walk-in closet behind this room that we still need to access until we move the hallway thru the house

The "old living room" ... NEW dining room!

The living room before...                                and after

We removed the carpeting




Opened the wall to the room next door

And enlarged to opening to kitchen

 we have since added a hutch (that will eventually go in the kitchen when it enlarges for the final time- moving the stairwell and adding patio doors)  and above table lights were installed




 

Kitchen/Living Room wall

The project that was about 3rd on my renovation list is now project numero uno. We spent the first couple days slowly moving things in and then decided to tackle the appliances. But wait...my fridge?...nope...does not fit into the kitchen from any opening! So we're off!


 Here is the view from the Living room                                      And the after
(eventual Dining room) looking towards the
 Kitchen before demo
 
We took out a portion of the wall that divided the two rooms so you don't have to go around a corner to get into the kitchen anymore.  Still have to put the corner wall up to hide the vent pipe...





 Here is the view from the Hallway into
the kitchen before demo...see why my
gigantic fridge wouldn't fit around the
chimney stack?                                                        















View from Kitchen toward Living room
 before demo                                                                  and after...

     

 

Donovan and Maggie knocking down the wall with hammers grandpa supplied.  Not only were the walls plaster on the surface, but they also had a layer of drywall underneath!  Heavy hauling that Donovan got to do!

 

the kitchen cabinets were a hideous yellow/orange stain.  I am slowly stripping them and whitewashing.  there is a slight 50's retro decorating that is meshing well with my furniture so I think the scroll work is going to stay, at least for now...

 




 and of course the workbench that I found downstairs that I turned into an island for the kitchen.  had an enamel wear top, perfect for prepping meals!  It just needed a little whitewashing to match the cabinets

Found the hutch at the thrift store.  glass shelves and lighting in top.  It is housed in the dining room currently, but will move to kitchen once we get the stairwell moved

 

Our UGLY Brown House

We fell in love with the location, the yard, the quiet...but the house?!?  Not so much.  So...the adventure begins.  We are starting out with a one story 1960's ranch - 3 bedrooms (1 being a walkthru) 1 bathroom, kitchen and living room.  About 800 sq feet in all.  For a family with 5 kids we need to carve out some additional space.  To our advantage there is a lot of unused space throughout the house (attic, basement, garage).  The plan is to create 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, dining room, office space and family room all while giving the front a much needed facelift; roughly 1100 additional square feet of space.  Doesn't look possible right?  But our ugly little house is deceiving from the outside...just wait and see.