Remodel: Before

We've bought our first house and we're moving.

Hurray!

In two weeks, we will be renters no longer.  We have moved every year since we were married, and finally, our nomadic journey is coming to an end.

The house we purchased is in need of a little TLC.  The previous owners made some...unfortunate choices.  And she's an older home, so the layout is somewhat shut-in.

Right now we're smack in the middle of the remodel.  I definitely had naive expectations of what this process would be like, even having watched more than my fair share of renovation disaster shows on TLC.

No, my friends, it's every bit as stressful as it looks on TV.

Our budget was essentially shot when we realized that we needed (ok, not needed, but really, really wanted) to move the laundry hookups from the dining room to the addition in the back of the house.  Why they didn't move them when they built the addition, we will never know.  We had to scale back and abandon other projects to accommodate that huge cost.

Here is our project list, striking through the things we're having to wait on:

>> Knock down wall between living room and kitchen*
>> Install dishwasher
>> Install garbage disposal
>> Move laundry to addition
>> Convert old laundry space to pantry
>> Replace hideous living room floor with hard wood to match existing
>> Replace hideous blue carpet in third bedroom
>> Add closet to third bedroom
>> Paint
>> Replace hideous bathroom tile
>> Replace small, chipped kitchen sink and faucet
>> Add outlets to kitchen backsplash
>> Recessed lighting in kitchen/dining to replace awful fixtures

[*The Wall is getting its own post later; I have a lot to say about it]

Of course, none of those projects is as simple as it seems.  Take, for example, the dishwasher.  Once they removed the cabinet where it will go, they discovered a thick slab of concrete underneath the countertop which doesn't leave enough room for the dishwasher to fit, so they have to cut into that concrete.

Making the whole process a bit more complicated/stressful is that neither John nor I can leave our jobs to go check on everything as often as we'd like.  I can't take a 14 month old into a construction zone, and John can't leave work on a whim.

How about some before pictures, eh?  This weekend I'll try to take some "during" photos.

From the front door

Blue carpet and blue swirly marble...why?

Old laundry on left

Dishwasher will go next to stove

Blue carpet

This tile is new...why!?

!!!!!

Bonus baby picture!