The kitchen/living room archway is in!

This is one of my favorite changes so far. There used to be a doorway and a passthrough between the kitchen and living room. The passthrough had a stained glass window in it. This really broke up the flow of the house. I think another reason the house didn't have many potential buyers is because most people want a great room where they can socialize with the people in the living room while cooking in the kitchen. You can see that with the door and passthrough this layout wasn't conducive to that.

My idea was to remove the passthrough and shove the doorway over so that the light switch that was between the two could be moved to the wall by the pantry. I wanted the area between the passthrough and doorway to be opened up with an arch at the top. So Zac made it so. Usually I do all of the conceptual design and he does the detailed design (this is what happens when 2 engineers work on a house).

View from the kitchen before:

View from the kitchen after:

View from the living room before:

View from the living room after:

The drywall around the arch still needs to be textured, but even roughed in you can see the difference it made. I love this arch! Now it flows with the house so much more. The traffic line between the furniture in the living room will flow right up to the arch, and continue between the cabinets so that everything lines up now. And with the large opening one can be in the kitchen and socialize with those in the living room.

Home & Garden Channel eat your heart out! ;)

I destroyed the lower bathroom

All of this destruction was my handiwork. First the sinks and cabinets came out. Then I chipped away and removed ALL of the tile around the sinks and shower. Then removed drywall. We are removing a portion of the wall that separates the toilet area from the shower area to allow more light in and make it more of a single room.

We will be keeping the sink plumbing here and installing a vanity sink.

Here is the vanity sink that I've chosen. It's from JC Penny online, and is the only vanity sink that I've found that I like and that is in our price range. I didn't want to spend $2K on a sink!

This is the dividing wall that is getting removed. The electrical will move over, and the plumbing for the other sink is capped off and will be walled up. The door will also get hinged to the other side. And the lightbulb bar will be removed and replaced with downturned lights.

This is where the tub and tile was. The black pipes are the drains from the upstairs guest bathroom.

The plumbing for the shower. The tub was removed and is going to be replaced with a fiberglass shower and tub combo. I'm going to purchase a Sterling Acclaim shower & tub, which is a 4 piece unit. I found it online at FaucetsDirect.com, which is one of the few places I could find where you could get a shower/tub and toilet and everything else for a bathroom shipped to you without going through a dealer like Lowes.

This is the Sterling Acclaim shower that will be installed. Ours will be in Ice Grey (not white), and we're ordering a Kohler Cimarron toilet also in Ice Grey. I also need to pick out a shower door for it.

Laundry room fixes

Zac removed all cabinets and the sink. Caulking was used nowhere in the house except the one wrong place: to attach the sink to the counter top. This was supposed to be done with plumbers putty so that you CAN remove the sink from the top. So that will be interesting to remove.

Zac built up two walls for the countertop and sink cabinet. Before there was 2 big gaps underneath. The one on the left was useless because the dryer was in the way. So it was just a big area to collect junk. The one on the right was too small to store anything. So Zac walled them in.

Before the walls were built:

After:

Zac also replaced the flexible ducting for the dryer vent with proper vent ducting. On the opposite side of this wall is the lower bathroom, and since we were ripping out the drywall for the sink, it made it easy to replace the ducting. Except when we opened up the wall we found a TON of dryer lint inside the wall around the ducting. Talk about a fire hazard! We are quickly discovering how lucky the previous owners were that the house never burned down.

Apparently the washer either leaked or flooded, because the lower area of the drywall had water damage and mold. Anytime we find mold we cut out the drywall and install a new piece.

Office painted and new ceiling fan installed

We have finished painting the office in Behr Blue Fox. The ceiling was painted with Behr Frost (white). I've picked out pine crown moulding for the top where the white meets the blue. I chose a blueish wood stain for the crown moulding so hopefully it will go well with the walls. As you can see, the purpose of the crown moulding is to hide the paint chips and uneven lines between the white and blue.

The new ceiling fan was also installed. I call this the Howard Hughes fan. The filter on the bulb that is shining on the wall is the wrong color. This one is yellowish, and the other two are white, so we need to find another white filter. Zac also re-wired the switch because the fan and light switch were backwards on the wall.

New entry lights for the front door

We removed the large, brass lights that were by the front door. One had a yellow bulb in it, and the other had a blown out bulb and a rather large bird's nest above it. Zac removed the old lights and discovered some wiring issues. He fixed those and installed the new lights. We also have matching side lights that go around the outside along the lower and upper decks.

We have picked out a new front door, but it won't be installed until the new furniture and everything is moved in. The current door has already been gouged up from moving. The new door will be similar to the one below, except without the decorative square arch around the oval and without the top portion of glass. It will also be in a different color. But the glass design is the only one that I've found that I like. It kind of reminds me of Celtic knotwork. Everything else I've seen reminds me of a grandparent's home.

Paint colors

These are the Behr paint colors that I've chosen so far. From top to bottom:

Blue Fox = office
Chocolate Froth = hallways, triangle room, laundry room, craft/sewing room
Mountain Haze = living room
Slate Pebble = kitchen
Southern Breeze = lower bathroom
Frost = ceilings

Right now only the office has been painted, but it looks so much better!

Game Room photos

This room is difficult to explain. It will be the future game room, after we tear down some walls. Currently it is 2 kid's bedrooms with access by only 1 door. Confused? The pics probably won't help.


This is the entrance to the first room, and the only entrance from the hallway. The wall on the right is the wall that will be torn down for the master bedroom. The window shown here will become part of the master bedroom.


Step all the way into the room, then turn around and look behind you. Here you see the door to the hallway, and the door to the closet. Notice the second doorway in the closet leading to the rainbow room?




Step into the closet and, oh look! Another room! This was labeled the "toy chest" room on the plans (see "Music Room" photos for description). So the kid used to go into the toy chest room via their closet. On the right wall there used to be another doorway leading to the closet of another kid's room (yes, it's strange and I don't get it). But it is now walled up. We figured that the house was originally built for 2 kids and a baby. But 3 more kids (total of 6) showed up. So this became a kid's room. Yes, there was a kid living in here. I hope the kid with the main room was nicer than me, because if I were the kid with the main room I would lock the door of my closet. The kid in the rainbow room would have no way to get out. Wonder if that's a fire issue?

Master Bedroom photos

The master bedroom. The fireplace is not gas (doh!). We have plans to knock out the wall on the right and push it out further to gain a window. This will make it into a master suite.

The french doors lead to the balcony on the back of the house. Also, one side of the arch is longer than the other. Apparently measuring to find the center was difficult to do. Yes, this will be ripped out and corrected.

The master bath. This is a disaster, and we're not even using it until we fix it. The whirlpool tub doesn't work. The shower is disgusting with moldy tile, and I think the shower in our RV is bigger. The doorway also is less than the minimum required width for showers. Once again, a level wasn't used when installing the glass block, so it's all uneven. And that's just the beginning. This is such a huge room to fix that we are waiting until the downstairs is fixed before starting in on the problems of this one.

Master closet. The back wall used to have a door that led to the nursery (see "Office" photos).

Sinks and toilet closet. I hate toilet closets but I'm not sure what we'll be able to do about this one.

Office, Upper Bath, & Music Room photos

This room will become our office. The wall on the right used to have a door leading to the master bedroom closet, but it was walled up. This room was labeled "nursery" on the plans. So apparently parents could go through the master bedroom closet into the nursery to answer the screams of the child. This room also didn't have cable TV drops. Babies don't need cable TV.

The upstairs guest bath. At first glance the tile looks nice (and in photos too). Unfortunately, the installed didn't believe in levels, because it is all uneven. Don't slide your bare feet across the floor because it is rather painful. There is also no caulking between the tub and tile wall, so we suspect mold & water damage as in the lower bathroom.

If you'll notice, the toilet and sink are in the wrong place. They should be switched. They are switched on the plans. Why they were installed like this we don't know. But you hit your elbow on the TP rack while sitting. The door to this bathroom is also hinged on the wrong side. This keeps the plumbing of the toilet somewhat hidden when the door is open and as you walk down the hall. Nice fix. (insert rolling eyes smiley here).

The future music room. This is my least favorite room in the house, so I assigned it to Zac for his music room. (he he). There are 2 closets. The closet on the left wall used to have a door inside it to get into a common room between the 2 bedrooms, which was labeled "toy chest" on the plans. So the kid would open the door to his closet, pass through the closet, open the second door and proceed into the toy chest room. At some point in time the door to the toy chest room was removed and walled up, because it is no longer there.

Hallway photos

How does the upper story of a 2-story round house get supported? With this! A great big huge diameter support pole. This is in the furnace closet of the downsairs hallway.

View from the front door down the hallway. The walls aren't parallel to each other, so the walls converge as you go down the hall.

Stairs leading to the upper story. Lovely pink carpet. :-p

View from the top of the stairs. It's very "tunnel of death" feeling. We have plans to rip out the left wall and put up an open banister. The bars of the banister should let more light in and make it feel less claustrophobic.

Upper hallway.

This is the very peak of the dome of the ceiling. I already have a new light fixture picked out.

Triangle Storage Room photos

There's this bizarre little room right by the stairs that we call the "Triangle Room". Actually, it's a trapezoid, but when you look at the room from the hallway it looks like a triangle. On the building plans this room is labeled as "study" but modifications were made in the layout that forced this room to be smaller than planned. It's going to end up being a huge closet.

Workout Room photos

Home of my future workout room where my bike trainer will live, along with my Coach Troy Spinervals DVD and fitness ball. The doorway to the bathroom will be walled up. Right now this room is storage for everything being used to redo the bathroom.

Lower Bathroom & Laundry Room photos

Lower Bathroom

View of the lower bathroom on the first story. This was a passthrough bathroom with 3 doors (2 on either side and one in between). Of course, all 3 doors hit each other when opened at the same time. The door at the opposite end is from the hallway. The doorway in the foreground is in the lower bedroom (future workout room).



And the bar of lights across the front:

Shower:


Toilet closet

Currently this bathroom is not functional. We've taken out both sinks and mirrors. The wall dividing the rooms up by the sinks was removed. The shower tile and tub have been removed. All door framing has been removed. The entrance from the workout room will be walled up to allow entry through only 1 door. The tub and wall tile is being replaced with a fiberglass tub & shower combo. The mirrors will be replaced with a single mirror, and there will be only one sink which will be a vanity sink.

Laundry Room

The large gap along the wall is where the washer and dryer belong. The long cylindrical tubes are vents for the dryer to replace the flex hose that was in the wall.

Kitchen photos

Stepping into the kitchen, this is the view of the living room area. Below the passthrough was a cabinet, which has been removed. Next to the doorway is the pantry, which is being used as tool storage in this photo.

View of the kitchen with some of the cabinets and the kitchen sink removed. Below the sink was water damage and mold, as well as holes in the walls to the outside where rats were coming in. The tile grout, which is easily seen and appears black (it is black closer up) used to be light pink.

View of the future dining room. The door to the left is the door to the hobby room.

View of the kitchen from the dining area.

Living Room photos

This is the living room when viewed from the front entrance. The wood on the floor is from the door and passthrough frames. The passthrough used to have a stained glass window, which was removed. The door frames were removed to make an archway.

The dying houseplants were left by the previous owners.

View of the living room from the upper level/stairway:

View of the upper level/stairway from the living room:

Garage photos

The garage is a 6-car garage, and measures 36 x 36 ft. Plumbing was roughed in by the previous owner, but other than that it's unfinished. That's a good thing because it allows us to set it up the way we want with electrical, shop air, etc. The plan is to turn this into a workshop, and build another detached 3-car garage across from this one. Yes, we are crazy. ;-) But this allows the shop for woring on vehicles, like when I start to build my Cobra replica car, and the 3-car garage will be for storage of vehicles and bicycles.

The upper area of the ceiling will be floored in in areas to create a mezzanine for storage. We'll also build a stairway for access to the upper level. Othe plans are for a motorcyle lift (which we have) and a car lift (which we need to buy). Zac is also planning to put in a bathroom, mini-fridge, and small office area.

There were pack rats living in the garage, so we have cleared the brush on the backside of the building and an extermination service set up bait boxes with poison. Zac also filled in all gaps between the walls and floors where the rats were getting in with spray foam.