I know that sounds crazy, but if you have ever done remodeling, you know what I am talking about! In some things with life, it gets worse before it gets better. (like when I clean!) In our case, it has gotten a LOT worse but I kind of feel like it is starting to get better at the same time now. After much discussion we have decided to really officially gut the house down to the studs. Now, I feel like a lot of people are not completely understanding the scope of this renovation even though I have tried to be very clear. But before when I said we were going down to the studs I meant the following:

sheetrock out
plumbing out
electrical out
flooring out
ceiling out
insulation out

So as far as the interior was concerned, we were down to the studs.

But as of yesterday, I mean down to the studs in a whole new way.

I mean it in the way that means that we took off the siding and will be taking off the buffalo board sheathing and replacing it with plywood. Down to the sticks down to the studs is what I mean now.

Which is quite the undertaking, but as I see this going on – moving backwards in order to move forward, I get really excited. No more stinky stanky anything anywhere (hopefully!) no more worrying about if everything is sealed up and if critters can get in. NO MORE FREAKING OUT AT POOR HUSBAND because I am worried about sealing this or that or plugging a hole or replacing rotting siding and blah blah blah.

Is it going to cost more and take more time? Yes, of course. Is is going to save our marriage? Probably.

I am just dying to get out there and watch the progress being made – things are going to start happening fast and it is so exciting. Here is what the house looked like Tuesday night after work.

Wow, are you impressed? Because if I drove up to this house I would definitely be interested in living there. It’s really shabby chic, no? I would also like to point out the fact that the very full dumpster shown is our FOURTH one. I wish the sanitation company had a punch card or something – but 5 get the 6th free! Don’t you think that is a great idea?!

Hmm, what else? A lot has been happening since the last post. Hubs got the entry way re-sheathed as well. Along with framing up a new closet to go in there and putting in one of the new doors – from the garage to the house.
Then entry way used to end at the right side of the door – hubby framed in the new space and that will be the closet now…I think the entry space will be much more functional now!

Here is the closet from inside the entry
So, the closet used to be to the right of the door shown in the picture. Kind of hard to explain, but if you came in the front door (not the one shown in this pic) the closet would be to the right and there wasn’t anyplace to sit down and take off your shoes or set stuff or anything – well other than the steps. So now where the closet used to be will be a little entry area – room for someplace to sitdown, stash a few things, etc.

And lastly I will give a little sneak peak of the new sheathing going up and the framing for the new windows. This is the north side of the house…prepare yourselves….

 

it’s quite dramatic

 

and exciting

 

here it is!

 

BLAMMO! And the world makes sense again. Isn’t that window on the right going to be HUGE?! The dimensions are 10′x6″. Holy molars I can’t contain my excitement!!!! So you can also see the window to the left of where hubby is standing -that will possibly have a window seat under it. Hmmm, what else can you see…the wall on the right you can see where it has been framed in for the fireplace (YAY!) and also the recess lights are installed.

The backyard is a mess right now from installing a new septic, but it will be AMAZING once we get time to work on it….AMAZINGLY AWESOME!

Well do you understand now, the whole moving backwards to make progress? Ok, good.

Plan to see more progress pics this week, but no promises as things are generally still crazy as ever…and we are loving every minute of it!