May 14, 2009

• Renovations: Rapid Progress!

  After only one week of renovations, our house looks pretty darn close to finished on the inside. In fact, our (awesome, awesome) builder is telling us that he thinks he'll be done in eight days ... ahead of schedule! I'm amazed because some issues have come up in the gutting of the house, and he's managed to fix them, and fix them well, and move on.

  Some of you may have seen the pictures on Facebook already, but I'm posting them here for my parents and also those of you who aren't on FB. Enjoy!

  Here's the outside of the house. I realize that since most of you haven't seen the "before" pics, this probably looks unexciting (and no, none of those cars are ours). However, you have to believe me when I say that the old windows were UGLY -- they were, first of all, decades old, and second of all, had brown wooden criss-cross bars all over them. We're going to repaint the outside and do more stuff to it in a few years (concentrating on inside for now), but this is a major improvement.

  No longer looking like some sort of weird Snow White house with the criss-cross windows

  A week into the project, the entry hallway is complete. It used to be this plain, dingy white-gray tile, but it's now the same peach-y tile that's in our kitchen and bathrooms (rest of the house will be hardwood floor). The part of the hallway that's close to the camera is covered up in paper to protect it from the heavy foot traffic of the crew, but you get the idea. There's a 3x5 patch right next to the door that's made of granite, in the same color as our kitchen countertop, with a darker granite border around it, because granite is easier to clean and that's where people will be stepping in and taking off their shoes when they enter. The doorway to the left leads to the den.

  You'll also see that in the center of the entry hallway is a diamond-shaped decoration. It's made of hand-cut pieces of different-colored granite. The green of the center piece is the same green that we're using for the accent wall -- it's the wall at the end of the hallway, directly across from the front door. I took this picture from the entryway into the "great room."

  Entry hallway work
   

  Close-up of entry hallway work
  

  And now, shots of the brand-new kitchen! It's changed so much from when there was a huge, useless island taking up more than a third of the great room, and a washer and dryer in the corner. Now it's totally open and modernized. The first picture is looking at the kitchen from the living area of the great room. One week after work started, the new cabinets, granite countertops and windows are in. We're just waiting for the appliances now. There's a pull-out trash can, a cabinet with a glass door, a lazy susan cabinet in the corner, a pantry with pull-out shelves, and even the area under the sink is outfitted with a pull-out tray, so I no longer have to crawl into the space to look for cleaning supplies.

  New kitchen
  

  Close-up of the cabinet with glass door
  

  I also love the decorative round shelves to either side of the window above the sink, and at the end of the cabinets that are closest to the great room.

  Here is the fireplace that's on the wall to the right of the kitchen. Before, it was just the brick part ... without any mantel or any stone work in front. It literally looked like someone painted bricks onto the wall! Now we have a nice wood mantelpiece, plus stone work in front. Our builder happened to have the stone that matched our granite countertops in color, so he gave them to us for free and only charged for the labor. Sweet! And, this portion of the great room is painted in a soft, sunny yellow. The other portion is painted in a soft, sage green. I'll take pics of the whole effect when everything is done. The different colors help to separate the room into its various areas. It was my mom's suggestion, and it worked out great! (Johnny and I really don't have an eye for these things.)

  Lovely fireplace
  

  I am really excited about the master bedroom, which you'll see next. The previous owners had these frosted glass windows in the already-narrow frames. They were the kind of windows you use in bathrooms, where they let in a tiny bit of light but are mostly opaque. Now, we have clear windows, and the room is 100 times brighter. We've also had the room painted in a seafoam green that's really refreshing (in case it's not abundantly clear , yellow and green is the color scheme. Come to think of it, those were also our wedding colors!). The room will look even nicer when the wood floor and white molding are done.

  Brightened-up master bedroom
  

  Here is our new wall of closets. My half is the one with shelves, since I have lots more use for shelves than hanging clothes (I fold most of my clothes, not to mention, a girl has bags and shoes, right?). Johnny, with all his dress pants and shirts, could really use the double rods on his half. Really, though, I'm thinking he could live out of the dresser, and I could just take the closet. Just kidding. Kind of. Not really.

  The seafoam green color is also in the inside walls of the closet!

  Here is Jack's room, with new windows and a cheery yellow color on the walls.

  

  Jack's new closet, and the doorway leading into the hall bathroom.

  The transformation in the hall bath is also awesome. We have a five-foot counter that will hold two sinks, a new mirror, new cabinets, new medicine cabinet to be installed. And, the new tub and tile work are also done. There is also a closet for towels, toilet paper and other such items in this bathroom. You can see it in the mirror.

  New sink counter, cabinets and mirror
  

  New tub (covered in a sheet for protection as they work on the walls). There's also a space on the wall for bottles.
  

  Here are pictures of the third bedroom, which will be my mom's for the first year, then belong to Baby Surprise. It has new windows and a color called "celery stick" on the walls.

  Third bedroom
  

  Closet in third bedroom. This one's a little bigger, so it has shelves on the right. The interior is also being painted in "celery stick."
  

  Speaking of paint, we lucked out ... there was a promotion going on where we could get the special kind of paint that allows you to just wipe off smudges with a damp cloth (without damaging the paint) for the same price as regular paint. So, now we don't have to stress out as much about grubby little hands on our walls!

  Anyway, thank you all for looking. Johnny and I are really so excited about seeing our dreams come true. I can't believe it's only been a week since they started. Once I post the "before" pictures, it'll become obvious just how much they've done in seven days. Even the electrical panel has been replaced -- I have no idea how our builder managed to get the permit from the city and get it replaced in this amount of time, but he did.

  Over the weekend, they're putting down some sort of waterproof material on the bare floors, and then it has to sit until Monday, and when it's dry, then the wood floors can be put on. Next week, once the floors are in, it will look that much more complete. Today, my mom and I also purchased ceiling light fixtures. Where we can, we're going to use those CFL bulbs. Johnny and I are stopping by the house again tomorrow morning because we can't set foot in it over the weekend while the waterproof seal dries -- we just can't stay away for that many days!

  After stopping by the house tomorrow morning, we're going to take Jack on a preschool tour (at the same preschool that June went to in 1989!). It's a great school, they have openings for fall 2010, and the prices are so reasonable. Here in West LA, I could probably expect to pay at least $1,000 a month for three half-days a week, and have to get on a wait list while I was pregnant. In the 'burbs, it's much easier to get in, and the price is right. The school Jack will attend next fall charges something like $350 for three half-days a week. That, we can manage. A thousand bucks a month? Hmm, we'd have to dig into his college fund for that!  And, give me a break, it's preschool. Anyway, the tour should be fun.

  Have a great weekend, everyone! I'm off to make dinner (quesadillas with chicken, mushrooms and green peppers, with a side of yellow rice; blood orange sorbet for dessert) and watch the season finale of Grey's! Plus The Office and 30 Rock. Yay!

  • 10:50 pm
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