Laying It All Out

As one of the areas in our house gets prettier...

another area gets pretty ugly.

As you can see in the first picture, we got our wood flooring installed.  Last week the guys from Hoosier Hardwoods came in to patch the floors where we had taken down walls.

They did a great job.  Once the floor is all sanded and re-stained, things will really start to look seamless. 

Since I mentioned taking down walls, I realize it might be hard to visualize what walls were taken down, what walls were moved, and what were bumped out.  So let's talk layout.

Here's our house's layout Before:

1.)Living Area: The wall between the kitchen, dining, and living room came down in order to open up the spaces.  Our biggest goal for our home is to use it to host people and parties.  We hope that the new layout in our living area will allow us to do more of both.  Plus we are better able to enjoy the view of the river without those pesky 'ol walls in the way. 

2.)Master Bathroom: The bathroom has been transformed into a larger room by taking out the many closets around it.  Previously, the bathroom opened to the hallway.  But we decided it was important to us to have our master bedroom on the main floor.  So we relocated the entrance to the bathroom from the hall to the master bedroom to make it a proper master suite. Our new bathroom allows us enough room for a shower, tub, and double vanity.

3.)Master Bedroom & Closet: What was the 2nd bedroom is now becoming the new master bedroom in order for us to be able to have it connected to the new master bathroom. To make it larger, we took the old master bedroom closet and added it to our new bedroom square footage.  It still is probably a small master bedroom by today's standards, but we are sure it will suit our needs just fine.  We also took up room in the old master bedroom to establish a master walk-in closet for ourselves. 

4.)Foyer: Back out in the living space, we wanted the foyer to feel a little more open so we widened the entrance from the foyer to the living room.  Someday we plan to open up the stairway and have a nice exposed banister which will also help open up the foyer to make it feel larger. But that is down the road once we finish the 2nd floor. 

5.)Fireplace: We are removing a window the the left of the fireplace.  We decided to do this in order to create more symmetry around the fireplace.  Plus someday, I would really like to install built-in book shelves around the fireplace. 

Here's the Before again:

 After:

 As you can see in the after, the kitchen is all opened up to the living space (you might remember the beam we installed).  The bathroom is now nice and wide - 9x9ish.  The master bedroom has now grown as well and our master closet has been formed.  Which then creates a smaller office/future nursery.  (Future being the key word there.  Sorry Mom!)  Here's another view for the more technical minded reader out there:

Before:

 After:

Oh and the yellow box?  That is a future project too.  We plan to add on a larger garage and convert the old one car garage to a mudroom and half bath.  To help you visualize, I have come up with a very sophisticated rendering via Microsoft Paint!  It also includes the front porch we would like to add.  You know, just a little weekend project or two for a later date.  :-)

 At this point you are probably thinking...."Geez, why didn't they just scrap the whole house and just build?"

Yep! That question still goes through my head.  But really, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Going through this process has been so much fun.  Michael and I have enjoyed the challenge of having to work with what we got, but still dream a little bigger.  Plus, there is no way we would be able to get our hands in there as much as we have with this house.  We have so many stories, already! I can picture us someday, sitting by our fireplace, gazing out at the river and laughing about all the walnuts we found, or about how bad the basement use to smell (hopefully past tense!).  That, to me, has become so valuable, more valuable than any new foundation ever could be.  Because, lets face it, that's basically the only thing we haven't touched. 

I've learned its good to keep a good sense of humor through a renovation.  When we first set out on this journey, my Uncle Steve (who, if you remember, is doing the majority of the work on our house) told me I had to watch the movie "money pit".  I'm not sure if I completely see the similarities, but maybe I'll let you be the judge. 

"Two weeks!" (If you don't know what that means, then you haven't seen the movie)