Roof Stuff

So - two of our last major renovation projects just collided - 1) We had a contractor last summer install a vent through the roof of the sleeping porch to vent the toilet in the half bath below, and 2) we then sheetrocked the sleeping porch, trying to finish out the space. (10 points if you can guess what comes next)

we have a leak. 

So - it turns out that the vent was not installed properly, water slowly got into the roof, and one night during an intense storm - we heard dripping and saw a steady stream of water coming right through our newly sheetrocked ceiling.

this vent is somehow improper. 

Getting Estimates
We reached out to two roofing companies based on Angie's list and yelp reviews for quotes to fix the leaking roof. Since they were going to be up there anyway, we thought this would be a nice chance to put in some more skylights to add natural light to our bedroom and the spare room beside it (something we've always wanted to do), and to take a look at the nasty skylight in the bathroom, which is a constant eyesore. Inevitably, both companies also found a couple other problems on the roof, stuff that was either installed incorrectly or just old and needed to be replaced. Thankfully, both companies said that the main roof was in good shape - a huge relief.

a view of the bathroom skylight from below

I don't think it's supposed to do that.

 

our big old skylight with some chimney leftovers

Both companies had different approaches to the issues - one wanted to just patch the roof and clean up the old skylight, while the other wanted to rip off and replace both. One company wanted to install two new skylights in the bedroom, while the other wanted to install solar tubes. We weighed both options, decided we wanted to do half of one quote and half of the other - and then I managed to negotiate the one company to match the other - so we got 2 new skylights in the master suite, replacing the old skylight, and ripping off and replacing the sleeping porch roof - all for the cost of the original quote. (I am apparently a master negotiator). We signed the contract and were ready to go the next morning.

Placement Issues:
So once we knew who we were using and had settled on skylights (instead of solar tubes), we had to tell them where to put them. This was a bigger issue than you might think, since we have lots of future plans for these spaces. We wanted the skylights centered in their rooms, but we have plans that will change the size and shape of these rooms (adding a new master closet, removing the current one). So we had to quickly map out where the future walls for the walk-in closet are going to go and where the ceiling fan will be once the current master closet is removed to figure out where to put them. They will look super weird until those changes get made, so this more or less committed us to actually doing all of these projects.

time to finalize the plan for the master suite so we can figure out where to put the skylights

Work Day:
Amazingly, they were able to get everything done in one day. I would have loved to stay home and watch, but had to go to work. Thankfully, the roofing guy took a bunch of pictures for me.

cutting a hole for a new skylight

building a new frame (apparently called a curb)

frame gets covered in roofing material

then they plop the new skylight on top

old nasty bathroom one gets replaced

check out all my roof bubbles!

 

oh - and they solved the original issue, by replacing everything on the sleeping porch

Closing thoughts - 
1) I am consistently disappointed every time we hire a contractor (who caused the original damage that led to all this). I feel like we decide to pay the extra money to have a professional do the work instead of doing it ourselves, because we think that means the work will be guaranteed to be done correctly, to code, and whatever else -- but every time, even well reviewed ones cut corners, create new problems, and leave me thinking I should've just done it myself, or hired the subcontractors directly. Working directly with the roofers on this one made things so much easier, even though we now have to find someone else to do the sheetrock work so we can actually see the skylights from below.

2) We now have quite a few sheetrock projects that are accumulating, between closing in the skylights, patching the sheetrock in the sleeping porch, and closing in the air conditioning vents, and maybe a couple more new ones I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about just hiring out sheetrock work in general, since this is really hard to do ourselves and a team that just does sheetrock is quick and relatively cheap.

3) Light is nice. Already the bathroom seems brighter. I very much look forward to cutting into the bedroom ceiling to see the new skylights to let in more light. This is a major downside of rowhouses - inherently dark.

4) It seems like we have to spend a lot of money just to maintain the house, and get to spend much less on actually making it nicer. I don't know if that's just a general rule for houses or old houses in particular - but I think I previously had the impression that houses were a little more resilient. Since we bought this house, we've spent a lot more money on maintenancy stuff than improvementy stuff - we've totally replaced all the guts of the house (water heater, boiler, pump), and replaced most of the pipes in the walls - all projects that aren't even noticeable.  Thankfully, because of the skylight work, the project was at least half about something that makes the house nicer. I'm ready to start working on projects that make the house feel nicer and more functional.

5) We are now committed to the master suite idea - so we are about to get moving on that project. Since it's on top of the kitchen, which also needs to be done - we're about to start both of those projects at once. It's going to be more complicated to do them together, but ultimately cheaper and better than having to tear things back out down the line - so stay tuned.

Progress on the Sleeping Porch

So - most of our projects have been rather short-term and distinct - we like to push through and get things done as quickly as possible to avoid projects just dragging on forever. This project is the exact opposite - we have been working on the sleeping porch in fits and starts for several years now. I think it's time to finally post this one, in hopes that this will encourage me to actually finish it all the way.

2012 - Starting Point
So, when we first moved into our house (>4 years ago), there was a wide but shallow room along the back of the upstairs that had really nasty crankable window panes, that was completely unusable in cold weather and obviously in need of renovation. Because the windows were made of many small panes of glass, it was completely open to the weather and thus freezing in the winter and filthy - so we didn't use it at all.

original sleeping porch with floor-to-ceiling crankable windows

2014 - Contractors Fix the Windows
In 2014, as part of our big renovation which fixed up the basement and did some stuff on the first floor, our contractors removed the nasty windows and replaced them with walls and a few real windows. It was closed off but not insulated, so still freezing in the winter and not really usable. At this point, we figured out that our long-term plan for the space is to make half of it a master bathroom, and then other half an office (with a wall in between), even though we couldn't actually make all that happen yet. So - the windows were placed based on the long-term plan and nothing else happened for a while.

after the contractors close in the walls and install real windows

2015 - Good Intentions but No Real Progress
Then, in early 2015, I boldly laid out my design plan and goal to have the room finished in a couple weeks. This was part of the push to finish up big projects before the baby arrived - which didn't happen for obvious reasons. I got only as far as removing the nasty paneling from the ceiling, which made it slightly more attractive but just a bit colder in the winter - so still not usable space.

view to the right

view to the left. basically just a spot for a litter box to go. 

2016 - Impending Deadlines Make Things Happen
So - last year we decided to refinance our mortgage, based on the value of our house increasing. We were told that an inspector would need to come see the house and that nothing could still be under construction, so we got to work finishing all the open, constructiony spaces. We decided to go ahead and finish the halfbath and mudroom, but were torn about the kitchen and sleeping porch - knowing that we weren't ready to really renovate those spaces. So instead, the plan was just to patch the holes in the kitchen and stick up sheetrock in the sleeping porch - minimizing our costs for things that would just get torn out later. We hired a contractor for some of the plumbing and electrical work in the half bath, which included venting the toilet all the way to the roof through the sleeping porch. So they didn't do anything else to the sleeping porch except to install a huge pipe right through the middle of the room. Then, we spent all summer and most of the fall on the halfbath/mudroom project, leaving only a couple days before the inspector was scheduled to arrive. So we finally just took a couple days off work to get it done. We stapled up insulation, rented a van to get sheetrock and a lift to put it up, and then I mudded and primed almost everything (until I ran out of paint). I also used leftover cement paint to fix up the floor. When the inspector came through, it looked like a livable space, but certainly not a nice room. And once that deadline had passed, no more work happened.

 the pipe in the middle of the room

sheetrock going up

more sheetrock going up

the last piece of sheetrock goes up around 2am. there is joy and mirth all around. 

mudding the walls. making a mess. 

after priming and moving some plants back in

(shout-out to our Vienna contingent - Rubberto is still alive!)

view to the right - looking sort of like an office

2017 -  Finish it Up
So, my goal is to finish all of the remaining renovations to the house this year. That means that in a couple months, we will hopefully make the whole master bathroom thing happen. In the meantime, I can finish up the office space myself - which will make the house better organized in the process. My goal is to paint the walls, trim the windows and add some curtains, add some bookcases, get a new desk and chair, and basically do everything that can be done now that won't have to be ripped out for the bathroom project (ie, no floor yet). Meanwhile - we are moving forward on the bathroom and kitchen projects, so more on that hopefully soon.

The 15 Week Shape Up

So at some point I read that men are more likely to view their houses as the places that they live, whereas women are more likely to view their houses as a part of themselves-  which allows a messy, disorganized house to reduce a woman's self confidence, while it would have little to no impact on a man's confidence. (I can't find the article, but here's another interesting read on the gender gap of self confidence).  For sure, I feel like my house reflects on me, so it messes with my confidence when I know it's a disaster. But then again, my confidence is already kind of messed up right now anyway. There are aspects of both the house and myself that are kind of embarrassing and cringe-worthy, that I've been very slowly trying to fix up or just putting off altogether. For a variety of reasons, the time has come to get both the house and myself back in shape.

house shame 1: the plywood gap-filler between the dining room and kitchen floors

Part A: Me
So, more than a year since having a kid, I'm still carrying pregnancy weight that just won't get lost. I'm tired of not fitting into a bunch of my clothes and feeling not like myself. I have been losing weight steadily over the past 8 or 9 months, but not fast enough - so it's time to get in gear. My goal: in 15 weeks, I will lose 15 pounds. I don't want to turn this into a weight loss blog, but I'm tired of feeling crappy about myself and ready to be back to normal.

Part B: The House
If you've seen our house lately, you would think that we're in the middle of major construction - but really nothing much has happened in quite a while. After the Great Renovation of 2014, we left a bunch of half-finished spaces that we thought we could close up ourselves, but never got around to. Other spaces, like the bathroom and kitchen, have not been touched really since we moved in - more than 3 years ago. The time has come. First, the spaces are just hideously ugly and constantly filthy, which drives me crazy. Second, the kid is basically walking now, and can easily and quickly get to all of the hazardous and dangerous places - which are of course, exactly where he wants to be. He crawls over plywood floors, tries to eat bits of plaster that fall from the ceiling, and picks at the chipping paint and black mold - so, as a well-intentioned parent, I need to do something for his safety. Third, most of these spaces are completely nonfunctional - we have piles of books and office supplies in the office, and piles of trash and donations in the half bath. So, the goal is to finish up all the partially finished spaces (half bath, mudroom, dining room, kitchen, sleeping porch/office) and to redo the main bathroom - or, generally to fix anything that makes me cringe. This is a considerable amount of work to do, but not quite the entire house to-do list - these are just the big projects that have safety/health issues, or major functionality issues. I'll leave the smaller cosmetic things, like refinishing the fireplace hearth, for another time. We've already got a contractor lined up to get started on some of this, but will do most of the work ourselves.

house shame 2: "mudroom"

Here's the list:

• Finish the back porch
• Close in open ceilings and floors in kitchen and dining room
• Fix the eyesores & other hazards in the kitchen
• Finish Mudroom
• Finish Half Bath
• Finish Office
• Refinish main bathroom
• Finish the entryway
• Renovate the kitchen?

For the Boy
So, obviously, this is largely for myself, but it is also hugely related to the kid (as is, basically everything we do now). On the house front, most of the projects on the list are there because they pose health or safety risks to the kid - either rough edges that he could cut himself on or flaking paint and plaster that he could choke or poison himself with.  It's impossible to make a completely hazard-free house, but it would be damn close to irresponsible if we don't fix these things. On the me front, while he isn't quite talking yet, he is already absorbing and repeating just about everything we do in front of him, so we are clearly teaching him all kinds of things right now, including both healthy and unhealthy habits. Just as I wouldn't want him eating junk food and sitting around playing video games all day, I wouldn't want him to feel self conscious about his body when he's older - and that all starts right now. So my goal is to create both healthy lifestyle and habits that he will see and repeat - like exercising and eating lots of produce, and to eliminate unhealthy body shaming and weight loss mentalities.  If we had a girl - I would be even more psycho about this, but even boys get a lot of pressure about body image, so I want to get him off to a good start.

this guy. 

The Plan
So, for me - the plan is the obvious  "exercise more, eat less bad stuff" plan. I'm signing up for a 10 mile race in October to keep me on track - so I have plenty of time to build my base before starting a 10 week training plan. I'll plan to mostly use my lunch hour at work for running and a couple yoga classes for weight training/flexibility to reduce my likelihood of injuring my bad knee. I'll have to do long runs on the weekend, so scheduling that around the boy will be a little tricky. For food,  I'm going to make an effort to bring in my lunch and snacks so that I don't have to buy food at work, and will cut back on useless calories at home.

house shame 3: the current office/sleeping porch

For the house - we have already hired a contractor to get started on some of the stuff we can't do ourselves. For the rest of the stuff, the plan will be to work  mostly during weekend nap times, with some minor work during weeknights after the boy goes to bed. We might also have to take a day off here and there. Balance will be key - since we also want to do fun summer stuff and don't want to waste the whole summer working on miserable projects.

So, a very ambitious, but hopefully doable plan to get everything back in shape by the fall. I'll report back with updates as we proceed. Wish me luck!

The Grand To-Do List

Happy New Year! I am currently trying to make plans for house projects this year, and realized that we've now lived in our new house for almost exactly 2 years. Seems like a good time to update ye olde to-do list, figure out what progress we've made and what's left to do.

Backyard
The yard has come a long way, and really stands out as the best room of the house. It's almost completely landscaped with flowering shrubs that are all doing well and flower at staggered times so that something is nearly always blooming. The table and chairs have worked out really well, and the kitchen garden has been really productive so far. I'm considering it mostly finished, with only a few small additions needed. Namely, focusing on the small porch outside of the dining room.

the almost completely landscaped backyard

the small inaccessible porch

• Re-sod lawn
• Add some new perennials in the back
• Hang the hammock
• Create another seating area
• Add curtains for the porch
• Upgrade seating for the porch
• Add an outdoor rug & repaint cement on the porch

Whole House
Moving inside, there are a few items to do for the whole house, so I'll list them here.

• Refinish floors
• Add recessed lights
• Paint trim
• Replace outlets
• Get air conditioning

Downstairs

Mudroom
The newly-created mudroom is a totally blank slate that needs to be finished. This space did not exist at all until the big renovation closed in what was part of the back patio.

the future mudroom

• Tile the floor
• Sheetrock walls and ceiling
• Add lights & heat
• Add cabinets for extra kitchen storage
• Add a bench and coat hooks
• Replace stairs to backyard

Halfbath
Similarly, the halfbath is a brand-new addition that needs to be finished. This is a high priority for the near-term, and something we should be able to do mostly ourselves. This space used to be a pantry, which was nice, but less important than having a bathroom on the first floor.

future halfbath

• Tile the floor
• Add sheetrock and wainscoting to the walls
• Lights and electrical
• Finish plumbing
• Add pedestal sink & toilet
• Heat?

Kitchen
The kitchen has made a little progress, with the removal of the wall between it and the dining room. We have temporary counter space where the new peninsula will go, and we've upgraded several of the appliances. It never had great storage to start with, but we really took a hit when we lost the old pantry. Once we get to it, the full kitchen renovation will change the layout of the cabinets and add more counter space by adding a peninsula. This project needs some major electrical and plumbing work, so we're holding off on this one to save up, even though it looks pretty awful right now.

the very orange kitchen with no storage

• Replace cabinets and counters
• Add new recessed lights
• Add new vent hood
• Refinish wood floors or add tile?
• Backsplash

Dining Room
The dining room has come a long way, with the new table and chairs and buffet, new chandelier, and open concept with the kitchen. Very little remains to be done in here.

the nearly complete dining room

• Add door to access back porch
• Get a rug
• Add curtains

Fireplace Room & Stairs
The fireplace room got some attention last winter, when we rebuilt the chimney, replaced the ceiling light, and added a bookcase/liquor cabinet and a table for mail sorting, etc. The wall above the stairs was also recently repainted. It will always be our slightly awkward room, but we could do a little more to make it more attractive and functional.

view towards ugly fireplace

view towards stairs

• Tile the fireplace
• Replace/paint the mantel?
• Refinish the bannister
• Paint the stair risers
• Add a dangling light over the stairs

Living Room
Despite being the place we spend the most awake time in the house, the living room has gotten very little attention. We added a bit of wall art, moved in the small bookcase, and got a bigger tv, but otherwise nothing has changed. [Check out my new jellies!]

the very blah living room 

• Get new couches
• Get a new rug
• Add a coffee table
• Nice leather chair

Entryway & Foyer
The entryway used to have awful wallpaper that was peeling. I removed it and repainted, and then the contractors moved the electrical to a new panel box. We bought a new lamp, which is currently resting on a box. (tres chic). We also replaced the overhead light. Otherwise, nothing has happened in here.

entryway gets temporary storage

foyer looking pretty nice

• Retile the floor
• Add a bench and coat hooks
• Add a console table thing
• Rugs and shoe mats

Upstairs

The Old Office/New Nursery
In case you haven't heard - I'm preggers, and we're having a boy in a couple months. So, the current office needs to become the new kid's room. It's already been painted and the outlets have been replaced. It got curtains, but they won't really work now. This is obviously a very high priority with a short timeline for completion.

the current office & future kid's room

• Empty out office stuff
• Get crib, dresser, rocking chair
• Replace curtains
• Get a rug
• Wall art

The Green Room
The guest room is one of the most finished rooms in the house, with a bed, dresser and curtains. It also now has a tv and plant table, but the wall art keeps getting pilfered and moved to other parts of the house.

green room looking purty in the morning light

• Get/make a headboard
• Wall Art
• Bedside tables
• Rug

Bathroom
This bathroom hasn't gotten any attention, other than to replace the caulk and clean the skylight window (which needs to be cleaned again). Now that we're cut off from the basement bathroom, it's the only bathroom we can use. A full renovation is coming at some point, but it's pretty low on the list.

mostly untouched bathroom

• Remove tile and wallpaper
• Replace shower and floor tile
• Replace pedestal sink with double vanity?
• Turn door into pocket door?
• Replace toilet with something more efficient
• Replace lights

Master Bedroom
The master bedroom got some attention last winter, when I repainted the walls and trim and replaced all the outlets. We also got some new bedding, refinished my lady table and hung the snazzy tin wall art - but we still lack nightstands and could use a rug.

master bedroom still has a ways to go

• Get nightstands
• Make a headboard
• Get a quilt
• Rug
• Remove old closet
• Add a ceiling fan
• Add a skylight

New Office
What used to be part of the sleeping porch, will now be our new office. It has already been closed in with new windows. This brand-new space needs a lot of work to be completed. Since this will be the place that all the office stuff goes to make room for the kid - it's a really high priority.

new office is a blank slate

• Frame new wall between office and bathroom
• Add sheetrock to walls and ceiling
• Build built-in bookcases?
• New desk
• Hardwood or tile floor?
• Add storage
• Comfy chair

Old R Room/New closet and master bath
This room is changing the most. What used to be a small extra bedroom where R kept his clothes, is becoming our master bathroom and closet. Over the summer, his old closet space was turned into the new washer/dryer for upstairs, and the old sleeping porch was closed in with new windows.

the current 4th bedroom & future walk-in closet

part of the old sleeping porch and future master bathroom

• Frame walk-in closet and new bathroom door
• Open window into door to old sleeping porch
• Add closet storage
• Tile bathroom floor
• Build shower
• Add double vanity, toilet and tub
• Add lots of lights and skylight

Priority list
So, in two years, we've made a mark on every room in the house, but there is still a lot to do. First up will be the new office and kid's room upstairs. If those go smoothly, we'll tackle the new half bath and mudroom downstairs, and then maybe the new master closet. By the end of the year, I hope to have also finished the entryway and fireplace. Stay tuned.

House Tour and the Grand To Do List

Okay, so we are coming up on our one-year anniversary in the house, and it doesn't feel as far along as I'd hoped. In many ways, it still feels like our predecessor's house that we're just staying in, not our house.  To be fair, we did get married this year and go on 2 honeymoons, all of which took a lot of time to plan. We are also training for a marathon, which takes a lot of time and exactly 99% of my energy. But still, I'm a nester and I want my home to feel like it's mine.

Since we moved in, I've painted almost all of the rooms, and we've moved in all the furniture from our previous much smaller, 1-bedroom condo. We focused on the backyard as our first big project, mostly because we planned to have the rehearsal dinner out there (which was spectacular, even though the rest of the house was lame). The other projects I've worked on have all been small and somewhat random, just addressing issues as they popped up (ie, curtains and moths).

Moving forward, I want to be more focused and prepared. I think it would be helpful to have one big list of all of the projects I want to address, so that we can prioritize them and start making progress. I think we both like the idea of completing a room before moving on to the next, as opposed to a more scatter-shot approach. This is not the all-encompassing list that makes these rooms 100% finished- just the bigger issues that need to be addressed. [Obviously, every room is very sparse and desperately needs some accessories and wall art]. As I've already laid out, we have a couple bigger renovations in mind, that will take a few years to complete. For those rooms, we have a phase 1 approach for the short term, and the phase 2 longer-term project that we'll hopefully get to in the next three or four years. For the phase 1 projects and all the other rooms, it would be great to get through this list in one year. So not only do I get to plan (I do so love the planning), but I also get to take this opportunity to introduce you to all of the rooms and catch you up on all the work I've done since we moved in (and before I started the blog). [Sidenote, this list excludes the basement, which is a project on a separate track that will hopefully start moving shortly.]



Outside

This space has come the furthest since we've moved in. We added the stone walls and lots of plants. We got a new table and chairs, as well as a fantastic grill.

To Do List for the Backyard:

• Add new shrubs to replace the ones that died
• Add curtains between neighbor's porch
• Remove pealing paint on porch 
• Add an outdoor rug for the back porch area

 

 

 

Downstairs
 

Moving into the house, here's the general layout of the first floor:
 

For most of the downstairs, I painted everything light gray, which was a huge improvement over the peachy-pink that was there before. We have a few projects for the whole floor, with the general purpose of brightening it up. There's very little natural light, so everything feels dark and dreary. I know there are a lot of strong opinions on painting trim, but I hate the dark wood. R feels differently, so we're still working on this one.

To Do List for the Downstairs:

• Refinish floors a nice medium brown color
• Add recessed lights
• Paint Trim (?)

 

 

 

Entryway

 

This space, including the area between the two front doors, isn't very functional. It's often where all the mail and shoes and stuff pile up. So far, all I've done is remove the old wallpaper and repaint. Plus we added a piano!

To Do List for the Entryway:

• Add a bench
• Add coat hooks
• Replace tile by door
• Replace security door
• Add a rug
• Replace overhead light
• Add something to sort mail

 

 

Living Room

 

This is our only living room, so we actually spend a lot of time living in this room. The beige couches and beige rug were transplanted from the old apartment. They didn't look great there either, but here they create an overwhelming ambiance of blah. While we don't have any reno projects for this room, we desperately need some new furniture to make this room a little more functional and a lot more attractive.

 

To Do List for the Living Room:

• Get a bigger TV
• Replace couches
• Replace rug
• Replace coffee table
• Add more seating

Fireplace Room

 

This space is our token odd room. (I think lots of houses, and old ones in particular, have at least one room that just has a weird layout with no obvious purpose. This is ours). It's small. There's no good wall space for seating or furniture. We don't even know if the fireplace works. The only thing we've done (other than paint) is to add a rug, which helped hugely in cutting down on echoes, but totally clashes with the fireplace.



To Do List for the Fireplace Room:

• Have fireplace inspected and cleaned
• Reface fireplace and hearth with tile
• Add screen and log holder thing
• Paint mantel (?)
• Replace overhead light
• Add liquor cabinet
• Add seating
• Finish painting the staircase
• Refinish the bannister

Dining Room
 

All I've done in this room, again, is to paint. Unlike the rest of the downstairs, I used a darker grey in this room to create a cozier feel. The furniture is absurd.

To Do List for Dining Room:

• Get a bigger table
• Get comfy dining chairs
• Add a buffet
• New Rug
• Replace Chandelier
• Add curtains
• Open window into a door onto the back porch

 

 

Kitchen

 

Unlike the rest of the house, we haven't done anything in here. The walls are covered in a painted, textured wallpaper, so I didn't want to add another coat of paint over it, but haven't bothered to try removing it yet. The trim is bright yellow- this picture is true to color (yah- that's neon yellow if you were wondering). The cabinets are all nice with granite counters, and were probably part of an expensive renovation not too long ago. Unfortunately, there is almost no counter space, and only one drawer, so it's really not functional. Plus, it just reeks of the 90s. I would love a bright, white kitchen with more working space and a peninsula that allows guests to talk without being underfoot. This is a room that needs some short term fixes while we wait for the bigger renovation, somewhere down the line.





To Do List for the Kitchen:

Phase 1:

• Paint cabinets
• Replace overhead light
• Paint trim
• Remove wallpaper and repaint walls
• Add temporary counterspace

Phase 2 (maybe in 2 years):

• Create mudroom off back door
• Add half bath to pantry
• Open wall to dining room
• Add peninsula
• Replace all cabinets and counters
• Add backsplash

 

 

 

Upstairs

So, moving upstairs. The layout again, looks like this (not including the sleeping porch running along the top):
 

To Do List for all of Upstairs:

• Add lights
• Repaint trim
• Refinish Floors

Office

The office is one of the few rooms that's gotten some love so far, with the new bookcase and curtains. It also got a nice coat of paint, which replaced one very dark blue wall and three very white walls.
 

To Do List for the Office:

• Add a rug
• Get a real desk
• Make another bookcase

Green Room

The Green Room (Guest Room) has also gotten a lot of love since we moved in and is probably the nicest room in the house. With new green paint to replace the one black wall and three white walls (I don't understand the accent wall thing, but our predecessor loved it), the room has a really nice relaxing feel in the morning light. It's all well furnished, with a mattress (no headboard), two nightstands, a dresser and a mirror, in addition to some fabulous curtains.   

To Do List for the Green Room:

• Get a rug
• Add a tv and side table
• Get a headboard

 

 

Bathroom
 

Like the kitchen, the bathroom hasn't gotten any attention since we moved in because it also has painted wallpaper. This is another room that needs some short term fixes before we can get to the bigger renovation.
 

To Do List for the Bathroom:

 

 

Phase 1:

• Replace sink with a new cabinet
• Replace toilet seat (it's faux mother of pearl).
• Replace mirror and vanity lights
• Clean & scrape skylight
• Remove wallpaper and repaint

Phase 2 (maybe 4 years):

• Remove wall tile

 

 

Master Bedroom
 

I think this is just the saddest room we have. When we moved in, the master bedroom had four white walls. Combined with our white sheets, it was the most boring room I had ever experienced, so I quickly picked a paint color and threw it up on the walls. We wanted a smoky blue color, but it came out kind of baby blue. It's also a darker room that doesn't get any direct light, which contributes to the general sadness.
 

When we moved in, we quickly bought a new mattress to accommodate our first house guest, but we didn't get anything else. That means that whenever someone comes to visit, or when we moved temporarily into the Green Room to sleep, we have to move the nightstands, lamps and bedding from the master. [Note pilfered nightstand & lamp in pic below]. So really, this room is nothing more than a mattress with some sheets. Since it's our master bedroom and the place we spend the most of our time in the house, it should be the best. It definitely needs some short term help, but we also have a bigger renovation planned for the future.
 

To Do List for Master Bedroom:

 

 

Phase 1:

• Get bedding
• Get nightstands and lamps
• Make curtains
• Add rug
• Make headboard

 

 

Phase 2 (maybe 3 years):

• Remove closet
• Close in part of sleeping porch and open into room
• Add skylight
• Add comfy chair

 

 

 

R's Room

This room got another coat of the light blue paint, but otherwise nothing. R uses it to get dressed, which is a little disturbing in the morning, while I'm still asleep. When the bedroom renovation occurs, this room will be dramatically converted to a large walk-in closet and master bath. In the short term, it would be great to add some features to cut down on the noise and light when he gets ready.

To Do List for R's Room:

Phase 1:

• Get a rug
• Add a curtain to separate from master bedroom.

Phase 2 (maybe 3 years):

• Add the new washer/dryer
• Create a walk-in closet
• Close in half of sleeping porch and open into room
• Add a master bath
• Add a skylight

So that's the house. Now that we've got everything down, it's a little easier to prioritize our next projects and track the progress. First up is the dining room, which has some major progress coming very shortly. Next will be the master bedroom, because everyone should have a bedroom that makes them happy. Then we'll tackle the fireplace room in time for the holidays. Stay tuned.