Ever since I realized that I couldn’t excavate the whole basement and that I’d have to cut the family room off right at the back of the stairs, I’d been struggling with unsatisfaction with the resulting size of the room. But I hadn’t wanted to move the bedroom wall to enlarge it because I still […]
The first thing I had to do, if we were going to take the basement from Dank Cave Hole to Welcoming Family Room, was make sure it enjoyed as much natural light and air as possible. Begone, door! After I took off the door, I ripped out most of the framing. I moved it farther over […]
First project in the new house was one of those with the most dramatic impact. As shown in last post’s plans, the basement staircase led directly to a cramped corridor barely 24″ wide. That corridor extended several feet into the rec room (this photo foreshortens it a lot). It made sense that the staircase would be […]
We chose this house because we thought the basement could easily be converted to hold another bedroom and a bathroom. At first I had wanted to extend the family room all the way to the back of the basement, but then I learned that excavating that might entail new footers, underpinnings, drain fields, sump pump, […]
Goodness, all these months and I never followed up on the Beach House posts! In the end, couldn’t have had a happier ending. We found some absolutely wonderful renters within a month. When we refinanced, the house had literally doubled in value. If you count equity, I actually ended up earning myself a respectable annual […]
I did it! I made it to the end (almost) of the Beach House chronicles before post 100!! Of course, I mostly did it by being so busy that I forgot to write blog posts altogether…. whoops. Anyway, long story short: I finished! (Mostly. Except for a few details.) Josh took a bunch of gorgeous photos. […]
I got around to putting up the kitchen backsplash this past week. This project was fun because it was all from leftover mosaic and repurposed materials, plus the marble tiles from Habitat for Humanity that I got for $10. Recognize that herringbone? I was mad at myself – I accidentally cut the herringbone inset a whole inch shorter […]
The trim is on, the nail holes are puttied, the joints are caulked, we are ready to paint!!! And somehow, this baby seems so much closer to finished. So close. The windows actually look like windows! Apparently I accidentally set the bathroom window back too far when I installed it, but that ends up being […]
I know the last few posts were gloom and doom, but not everything is awful. Progress is being made, to the point where I’m now down to dealing with only the millions of small detail-loose-ends type of things. Doorknobs. Trim. Shelves. Coat hooks. Screwing in the dishwasher. The biggest change lately: new countertops! Suddenly the […]
Got another day’s worth of work done on the back porch today, in between putting coats of poly on the disappointing, despised Devil Floors. Got two out of three walls insulated and drywalled – put in a couple of electrical outlets while I was at it, too, that’ll be hooked up after the electricians come for […]