Walls... Can You Tell a Difference!?

So things look different in the house... but not that different in pictures - but so I am continuing to update and document the changes, here are some pictures from our visit to the house yesterday. We go by most Sundays because no one is working and we can really see the updates to the house... plus E loves to roam around the house. Think the dry wall is just about complete... they have sanded it all down and it looks really good. Next is texture and molding (I think)... I guess. Also, I guess next up is flooring... hardwoods and tile. Slowly all the details are coming together. About to officially order the appliances and trying to finalize the remaining finish selections! Each day closer to our target move in... hoping to continue to stay on track!!

The classic picture that I always take... looking into the kitchen - the house is really starting to come together:

View of kitchen from stairs:

Den/Play room:

Entry hall and dining room:

Not a corner in the house E has not checked out... I think this was in Daddy's office... one day soon no one will be able to stand in that corner because a built-in will be there!

In the dining room, E told me she was sanding... I guess she heard Brian and I talking about it. She would go up to the sill and shout "look look sand":

She dragged the dustpans all around the kitchen... she loves schweeping and moving the dustpans around downstairs.

E looks like she is about to serve something from the bench of the shower... everytime she goes into the master bathroom, she walks into the shower and pretend washes her hair, pretty cute to see. However with all her sanding downstairs... she put a lot of white in her hair and on her bow. Her jeans were covered in white dust by time we left... sign of a good time?!

One corner of the master bedroom...

Checking out the plumbing... according to E, everything looks great.

Think that is it for now... more to come (hopefully this week) because it means more progress on the house!

Leaving her Mark!

Because the house is a renovation and we did not do the foundation and are not replacing the driveway, not a ton of new concrete (we actually took some of the concrete out and are putting in grass) - but we had to replace a small section of the front walkway because it was really uneven. Matter fact, so uneven that when I showed up at the house for the inspection when we were buying it I tripped on it. In any case, yesterday the hammered it out and replaced the small section. Brian went by on his way home and said to bring E by the house to put her hand prints in... Unfortunately it was pretty dry already, but it sort of worked and E had fun. Sorry - no new house pics in this update, they are still floating the walls and it was wet - so I didn't take E inside.

Here are Daddy and E putting her first print in...

Not so sure about it.... not really wet or mushy - but not like normal dirt.

Now both hands in....

Watching as Daddy tries to add her initials to the hand prints:

The finished product... cannot really see her little hands, but we know what it is!

Done with the hands... now time to run in the vacant lot next door... would be great if it stayed that way for a while!

Sweet smiles as she slows down for a second:

After running around in the yard next door - she headed right back to Daddy who was still trying to carve her initials in.... unfortunately, the cement was pretty dry, so a little difficult - in any case - she put a small little footprint on the concrete trying to get to him... sort of a sweet reminder of our sweet girl walking (especially since it took her so long to get to this point!) She then found a stick and starting carving like Daddy...

Good thing that was in the mud and not the concrete!

All done at the house - think she was a little disappointed to not go in... next time! :)

Tape and Float... Or Ruin Mommy's Pants!

As I reported in my last post - the walls are up and so this week they have been taping and floating the walls. A messy process, as can be seen below by the damage done to my pants. Think they are now just about done with the taping and floating and then it has to dry. Afterwards, texture (not a lot at all!!!!!) and paint. Also think next steps include flooring in the house. Busy finalizing finish selections. What is crazy is so much of this stuff was chosen so long ago - that at times I don't even remember what I have chosen! Luckily, when I go back to confirm everything, I realize I like my selections even more!

What - not a picture of the house or E to start this entry... well it sort of is... this is what happens when you let your 21 month old run all over a house that is being taped and floated and then you pick her up to go down the stairs that have no railings and boards on them... a giant mess to your work pants! I looked down after I put her down once we were outside and couldn't help but snap a photo of the mess and laugh at it:

Now to the pictures of the house from the past few days.
The kitchen walls:

And a view from the kitchen:

Playroom/Den:

Master Bedroom:

Day 2 of the messy process of taping and floating.... which led to to the above disaster to my pants - again a picture of the kitchen:

Front Entry:

And the sunroom:

While I think we thought when the walls went in some of the rooms would feel considerably smaller since with no walls it was so open... but really the rooms are good sizes and you can truly tell how we really have utilized the space we were working with. I think Brian and I did a good job making sure the house made functional use of the space. That is it for now... hopefully more pics of progress soon!

Walls - walls - walls!!

In my last post - I titled it snowing inside because I thought the insulation looked like snow... or really pillows in the walls, but little did I realize, that now as the drywall goes up - it actually does look like it is snowing inside with all the white dust --- EVERYWHERE! In the past 2 days - there has been a total transformation of the house.... amazing how different it looks with walls now. Friday they finally started hanging dry wall and yesterday - they had a double crew who worked all day and now for the most part, the dry wall has been hung. They will finish up early in the week and begin to tape and float the walls. We just got the "go ahead" to start choosing interior paint colors.... wow - moving along! Cannot believe we are finally getting to a point, where while we have a ton of finish work to go, but the end is in sight and this house will actually become our HOME!!!

When we stopped by the house today - E was a little confused and was looking for her pink wood....luckily, there still is some.... however, once she found a broom and could begin "schweeping" inside, she was happy. Upstairs, Brian was inspecting things and everything he did - she copied, it was quite cute!! Brian and I talked about the feel of the rooms, and overall, while the ceilings are low (we knew that - it is an older house) - the rooms feel open and we are happy with the layout of the house... after all, the layout we ended up going with was one that the two of us came up with together!

Here are some pics of all the progress from the past 2 days - I think you will agree, the house looks very different.

Front half of the house - lots of light coming in from all the windows and a very open feel:

The breakfast room/living room.... and in the corner little miss e "schweeping" the house...

Hard to tell what this is - but it is the opening in the foyer of the house - while the picture does not do it justice - it really is a very cool space and gives the house such an open feel. Thrilled we decided to do this:

View from the front entry, up to my "office" space - you will notice we kept the shiplap which was original in the 1939 portion of the house. There will be a banister, but this small space will be great for me to work in...I love the way it looks from below and also the character of the shiplap:

I feel like I often us a picture of the kitchen as a benchmark of the progress on everything - once again, this space has been transformed with the dry wall up.

Back of the house - den/play room off the kitchen:

E running in to check out her new room with the walls up. I truly love the way her room came out - her closet is really big (thank goodness because the kid has a lot of clothes). She has a nook which will be for reading/playing, book shelves (to finally be able to display all her dollies) and overall - just a really cool feel to the room:

E's book shelves and door to the jack and jill bathroom:

Hiding in the corner of the "nook" in her room:

Brian and E checking things out in bedroom 3:

Inspecting all the wires (because Brian was doing it - she literally went up to every box in the house and inspected it to check them out) -- very good helper:

Hallway from 2 secondary bedroom - looking down to master bedroom -- the french door goes out to the balcony:

E checking out the master bedroom:

Couldn't be happier with the way our bedroom turned out... it feels so open and the decision to vault the ceiling really was a worthwhile one:

Opposite side of our room - we decided to keep the built-in and will clean it up, but it is a nice use of the space and once the pink knobs are gone and it is repainted, I think it will look great:

Master bathroom:

And silly E checking out the shower -- and while in there she decided to was her hair:

So - as you can tell, there has finally been a ton of progress at the house and it is starting to look closer to finished. Will keep you posted as things continue to change!!!