Preface

I met with our contractor, Chris, yesterday. The plan is to start on our house remodel on Monday. I'm excited, but I'm still not sure I'm prepared to go for who-knows-how-long without indoor plumbing!

We've had this house for two years. It has an interesting history, starting out life as a tiny gas station (which we just discovered about a month ago) with various additions since then.

As best as we can tell (based on different concrete slabs and windows hidden in walls we've uncovered), it started out with a small interior, just two large glass windows, a door, and a teeny tiny bathroom.


At some point, they expanded to the side and added two new windows. We think it was still a gas station at this point.


Then, it was turned into a house. They added on at the back of the house, including a bedroom and small living room, and they added a tub, a wood burning stove, and a carport.


In the early 1990s, they added on again, converting it to a two bedroom house, expanding the living room, and enclosing the carport and turning it into a garage.


In the fall after we bought it, we started the renovations by removing the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room, and we pushed the kitchen all the way to the side of the house. It was just too weird to walk in the front door and be right at the stove, and even weirder to be cooking at the stove and looking right at the toilet.

We added a ton of cabinets, and added a window in the wall at the back of the kitchen to bring in more natural light. We closed off the pantry of the kitchen and added that space to expand the closet of the bedroom on the other side of the wall. We painted the two bedrooms and added some trim around the windows, and we removed all the (really gross) tile floors and carpet.

After that we took a break from the house for a year while we built a large outdoor workshop/barn.

A few months ago, we were back at work on the house. We replaced a sagging header in the living room (what was the old exterior of the house before the last addition) and replaced the insulation in the living room ceiling. But that's been pretty much it.

Until now.

Here's where we're going, starting on Monday.


Please join me on my adventure in the coming weeks! I'll be sharing real before and after photos (including before the kitchen remodel), as well as all the gory stories that always accompany a remodel (like how we already found out that we need a new septic system and a new 16" foundation under the perimeter of the garage). Weeeeeeee! It'll be a fun ride!