Floor Plans

He are the floor plans of our house. Here you can see what room sizes are and it's more a reference to when you are looking at the photos. Click on the floor plan to enlarge them.

Framing it up...

As you can see this week we made a lot more progress with the framing in the main area. The kitchen now has a sub floor and the framing for the main 1/2 bath and pantry are complete. Everything is really coming together. Can you believe just one week ago we had no floor in this area and could see down into our basement?

Power to the Tools

We now have started on another stage of the house...electrical. In these photos you can see the older smaller electrical panel and now you can see the larger new electrical panel that just got installed. Small things like this are getting us closer to our goal. Thanks Warren (my brother Jon's good friend) for all your help thus far. We are very thankful that you decided to take on this project with us.

A New Favorite....

I think one great thing about an having a carpenter/architect friend help you with your actual build out is that they have these ah ha moments while they are working. Here is one of them..... We really wanted to open up the space a bit more from the kitchen to the main living area, but were struggling with existing things like HVAC and supporting walls, but when your friend knows all the rules he can figure it out quickly. Here we opened up the existing small 4 foot opening to quite an expanse. Now the entire kitchen will open up to our large dining table below. Just how we imagined...Thanks Dave!
Photos 1. pre-demo of the stairs 2. Bryce & Neil doing demo in the kitchen and bath area, notice how small the opening is 3. The new opening not only is wider, but also got taller

Upstairs is all framed

Looking down the main hallway from the master bedroom to the stairs you can see that the upstairs has been all framed out. The bathrooms are in their new spots. New closets and office areas are also complete. I can't believe how much better the flow of the upstairs has changed after taking out some wasted space for hallways, doorways and linen closets. Now the second bedroom not only gets a walk in closet it also get a 3/4 bath across the hall. What an improvement!

New Loft Office/Studio Space

Now when you come up the stairs light fills the opened up staircase and light now also fills the new loft office/studio space. As you can see we created a half wall so light from the window can fill this area. What a great space to do some sewing and painting!

Master Bedroom Closet

I feel like we are cruising the last few weeks compared to the last few months. As you can see in this photo we have re-supported the entire roof (with a new beam) and also increased the opening to our master closet. Quite a change

We have an upstairs again...

In one day we have gone from no upstairs in the home to almost all the sub floor laid. Oh, what a difference a day makes. Here you can see Dave laying down new plywood. We now have a solid and straight upstairs floor, no more 4" in gaps and height differences in the floor.

One week later

One week into the heavy building we are really making progress. As you can see temporary walls are coming down on the main floor. New thick beams have been put into place to create large openings and straighten out walls and floors. Things seem to be moving forward. Yeah! I am in love with the large opening from the kitchen to the living space that is going to be a great kitchen that friends and family will want to gather in. Here is to a productive second week! Do you think that we can finish the floor upstairs and the rest of the framing? I think it will be close!

Not exactly as Planned

Not exactly as planned...I guess that should be the theme for this week. Started off the beginning of the week with building temporary walls, so that we could re-build and support existing walls. All seemed to be going well till we started to put in the new wood. That is where the unexpected happened. Old wood just couldn't match the new wood and it's strength. So after fighting with the old wood and watching it pop and break we decided to go a different route. That route meant the loss of the old wood floor upstairs. At this point it was hard to see that character go, however getting our supporting walls and framing solid was just more important. In the top photo you can see the once upstairs wood floor that Bryce and Neil ripped out. I was very sad to see it go, however if you look at the last photo you will see the opening to the kitchen of which is better and bigger than before. It is a constant game of give and take at this point!

Bye, Bye Crooked Walls

Well today is day 2 and as you can see a lot of progress has been made. Yesterday Bryce, Neil, Dave and the crew got equipment and tools in and made sure everyone was on the same page as far as what the process was. In these photos from today you can see that a few extra temporary walls had to be constructed to support the house while new walls were put into place. In the top photo you can see Dave working on the main supporting wall in the middle of the house. Look how straight it is. For those of you who saw the wall before it was bit of a concern and eye sore, but no more. All that you see is straightness!

Monday...Funday!

Monday January 11th is when the real fun begins. Tomorrow Bryce, Neil, Dave (friend that is an architect/carpenter), Roger (Dave's brother) and one more crew member will start to literally put the house back together. As you can see the garage once housed rolls of dirty gross carpet, but now houses 2X4 after 2X4. These are the materials that will at strengthen and reinforce our roof, support our walls and even straighten out some walls. We are thankful to finally have heat in the house after months of freezing cold and hope that tomorrow brings much productivity and optimism as this has been a very dirty job thus far. After 3 and half months of hard plaster demo and filling 4 dumpsters it is finally time to start adding back the layers.

Second Bedroom

Not much will change in this second bedroom. The size will remain the same, however the closet will get bigger. It will get two new windows, one of which has the most amazing view of the downtown Minneapolis skyline. What a treat for anyone that will wake up in this room!

Master Closet

All I can say is master closet here we go! In the old master bedroom there was a tiny closet. That has been removed and that space is now part of our master bathroom. We have taken the large room that faces North divided it up into a studio/office, 2nd bathroom and a 8'X10' master closet.

Master Bedroom

Another positive thing to this house were the beautiful oak wood floors that were upstairs in the bedrooms. These oak floors got exposed for the first time in many years when we looked at the house. As you can see the dust was captured in the photo when we peeled back the old carpet. The floors will stay as they were one thing that was is in good shape. As you can see from the photos I thought we were going to keep the walls so I tried to remove the 3 layers of wall paper that were on the walls. That proved to be the biggest waste of time ever as I spent one day doing it and only got about a 5'X5' area cleared. As you can see those walls have now been removed. The bedroom will remain the same size 12X16. Along with all the other spaces in the house this room will have new windows that actually will open and let some fresh air in.

Best room in the house

A couple days before we were to close on the house my dad and Nora came through to see our new home. As my dad and Nora walked through the space I could tell that the house was not exactly speaking to them as it did to Bryce and I. The smell of old smoke in the air from over 35 years of smoking in the house still lingered and I know that my dad thought we were over our heads. We made our way upstairs to where the bedrooms are and one bathroom used to be. My dad looked at the very rough bathroom and said with a bit of hope, "this is the best room in the house". I'm not sure if it was the blue tile that connected with my dad as it was the same blue tile we had in my bathroom growing up, but it seemed like there was at least a bit of optimism. This bathroom as you can see has totally been ripped out and will become our master bath. We have really opened up the space and got rid of useless hallways. The new master bathroom will have a double vanity along with a separate shower and tub. I am so excited to have a window in the bathroom to let in sunlight while I bath in the tub or get ready in the morning. It has been since I was living in my house growing up that I have had a window in my bathroom to let in natural light!

Say bye bye to the steep stairs

Well let's just say the house was not really up to code in all areas. One area in particular that it was not was with the door and small stair case to our garage. Not only were the stairs very steep and protruding into our parking area the door was only 30". As you can see the stairs have been removed and actually moved back a bit so that the stairs do not protrude into the garage. The door has been opened up to standard door size. Boy does 6" make a difference. This space used to house the furnace water heater, washer & dryer and utility sink. The furnace and water heater have been moved to another area of the basement. The washer and dryer will be moved upstairs. This space right off the garage will also get a new cement floor like the entry way and become a great mud room with cubbies, a coat closet and utility sink. This once grungy space will become a functional mud room for boots filled with snow and muddy gardening tools.

Won't you please come in...our front door & entry way.

Welcome to our front door. Currently you walk up the sweet little staircase to our red front door. This door will soon be replaced with a new door that should arrive mid February. The new door will have glass to let the sunlight in. As you can see this entry way was very divided with walls and HVAC duct work. This space has now been totally opened up so that it is one large space and shows off the 2 east facing windows. We are currently in the process of having the cement all relaid in our basement. In this last photo the entry way looks more like a sand box as the floor has been jack hammered out and is ready for a smooth & even new floor to be poured. Can you see the how the space will be transformed into an inviting entry way with new windows, large charcoal rectangular tiles, hooks on the wall the wall and a credenza with some great art above it?

Sunroom just keeps getting brighter

This sunroom has one of the best views in the house and also incredible sunlight with 3 full walls of windows. This room was originally a medieval looking room with shields, swords and it even had a light that was made from a suit of armor. As we peel back the layers of old wood paneling, shaggy green carpet and gypcrete over the original terracotta tiles we see this now sunroom was once a patio. Our guess is that the walls, windows, wood beams are things that were added in the late 50's or 60's. We look forward to the new windows and door that will grace this space mid February and the many hours of lounging while soaking up the sun. It is sure to be the hotspot of the house!