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Ready!

Sunday was spent emptying the bed, bath and laundry rooms of everything, and although it’s not the most exciting way to spend the last day of a holiday weekend, it was, honestly, refreshing. Goodbye, bathroom! See ya, chimney-that-makes-no-sense! We created piles for donation, sale and trash, and now the upstairs feels… well, it feels empty! In the best way.

before-rooms

To give the contractors as much space as possible, we cleared the whole floor with the exception of my desk area. With nothing in this main room, we’re reminded of just how crooked our floors are (due to a poor support beam that we fixed right away). You can really tell in the photo(s) above, and although we did everything we could to raise the first floor ceiling, there will always – always! – be a dip on the second floor. Old house charm, right?

Now that the bedroom is back to bare bones, I think it’s easier to see that the window on the left is a few feet from our neighbor’s. Those slatted lines are their siding! Once replace that window with drywall and add new windows to the back (door) wall, we’ll get much more light to an already bright room. In fact, the windows have since been ordered, and as I type that, I just remembered that we still need to pick them up! Note: If that makes no sense, you can check out the bedroom renovation plans right here.

bedroom-before-06bedroom-before-03

Once we moved our racks of clothes out of the room, we were reminded of just how bad we left that wall and floor. Let’s see, how many layers to the floor can I count? Old subfloor, new subfloor, underlayment paper, damaged vinyl and then our hardwood. And hey, we totally forgot there were two outlets on this wall!

bedroom-before-09

The torn up drywall is the result of pulling off the former kitchen’s backsplash, but I couldn’t figure out why it only seemed to run the length of a few feet. Lucky for this little photo diary, I went back to see how this now-bedroom looked before we touched a thing. I saw this:

BEFORE-27

So that’s interesting!

And did you notice that the light fixture is different from kitchen to bedroom? I vaguely remember that brown-ish chandelier missing a few glass pieces. There were probably two or three versions of this chandelier in clear glass throughout the first and second floor, with every fixture missing a handful of those pieces. To remedy the situation at the time, we had collected enough glass to make one full chandelier, and our bedroom-to-be was the lucky recipient! There are not enough cry-laugh emojis in the world for that move.

Moving on.

Of course the bath and laundry rooms are now completely bare as well! We’ll have to see how things unfold, but our goal is to finish the bathroom first before moving into the bedroom. This’ll all be dependent on when finishing pieces arrive and/or how often we feel like switching it up, too. Note: See the bathroom plans here and the laundry plans here.

bathroom-before-14laundry-before-16

We’ve been working on our final tile choices, and we’re getting really excited about the direction of the finishes. In addition to obsessing over those details, our plan was to demolish the bathroom wall ourselves, but when our contractor told us that he’d be starting this week (scratch that – today! He starts today!), he also cut us a massive deal if we needed his team to do so. Although no one loves smashing a wall more than these two, we figured we’d cut ourselves a break for our last weekend of dust-free-bliss and enjoy our Thanksgiving weekend to the fullest. #noregrets

In the meantime, we’ve moved our lives into the guest room, and we’re using the first floor bathroom. Having completed the guest room last year, it feels more like a vacation than anything!

Today is the day the dominoes start to fall!

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  • Ashley12.2.15 - 8:39 AM

    How exciting! I can’t wait to see what you do with this blank slate. Our bathroom desperately needs renovation so I am looking forward to being inspired by yoursReplyCancel

    • Kim12.2.15 - 9:06 AM

      Thanks, Ashley! We are so so so so so so excited.ReplyCancel

  • Rachel12.2.15 - 9:35 AM

    We just met with our contractor last night about remodeling our very tiny (23 sq ft total!) master bathroom. I know what I want finish wise, but it’s still such a giant process. I’m excited to read about your adventures before we delve into ours!ReplyCancel

    • Kim12.2.15 - 9:59 AM

      It really is! We’ve been thinking about and RE-thinking about every single decision. Just when we think we’ve made up our minds, it will change again! But we’re getting there. Good luck with yours!ReplyCancel

  • Julia [Chris Loves Julia]12.2.15 - 10:07 AM

    Let the fun begin!!! I’m on the edge of my seat.ReplyCancel

  • Josh | The Kentucky Gent12.2.15 - 2:59 PM

    Joys of old houses in the big city! I never understood putting windows in places that butt directly up to another house. Seems.. counterproductive to me. Also, that floor.. haha. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

    Josh | The Kentucky Gent
    http://thekentuckygent.comReplyCancel

    • Kim12.2.15 - 3:20 PM

      Nothing a couple pieces of well placed furniture can’t fix! But first – bathroom!ReplyCancel

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