Keeping Tabs On Home Renovation

Here are some updates from this last week of renovation.

1. James & I worked for 2 hours one night this week laying out the complete lighting plan for the new house. I had never thought about having to do this! Deciding where you want all your light switches, outlets, lighting, ceiling fans to go. What do you want this switch to go to? Do you want it to be on a dimmer? You think of yourself walking through the house…when I walk into this room, I am going to want to turn on this and this light from here. This wall is where our TV will go, so need to make sure cable, outlets, and phone lines are here…etc. Very tedious!


2. We had found a good sale at Menards on doors and windows for the house. However the French doors for the front of the house…on sale…were $2300! Somehow my husband found out about someplace 2 hours away that he should go to check on doors and windows. He wasn’t able to get ALL of our stuff there, but he did get the door for the front entry, patio doors for back of house, window for boys’ room…and I think one other door...ALL for $2600. For $300 more he got 4 things instead of 1! Yeah for saving money!

3. To give you an idea of the huge renovation we are doing. Right now we live in a house where the square feet of our main floor are 962. The square feet of the main floor of the new house are 2900! We are tripling our living space! Total square feet with the basement are approximately 3500! It is quite the change for us; we would have never been able to do it without the deal we got on the home sale price due to the homes deplorable conditions. This truly is our dream home, and we plan to live here for a very long time!

4. Shopping for the home. Although we got a good price on the sale of the home, when you combine that good price with the 10’s of thousands of dollars we have to put into the home to make it livable, it isn’t quite the deal that it appeared to be before. Because of this, I am trying very hard to restrain myself and going out to buy all new furniture and knick-knacks for the house. I am counting my pennies…literally! I cashed in all my coin jars this week. Plus the rebate we got from our new cell phones, plus a refund from the eye doctor. Those 3 things have a goal. An entertainment center for the great room & a bench for the front entryway. Our current entertainment centers have faux fireplaces in them with real heaters. Being that we will have an actual fireplace in the great room now…we won’t be needing faux anymore. I don’t want to go out and buy a traditional entertainment center. I would love to find something fun & unique from a thrift or antique shop that I can refinish. The sizes of antique buffet tables are about perfect for what I am wanting. I went to an antique shop last night that was way too pricey. I need to go to some in the smaller towns around me to get a better price. This is a fun project!

5. Back to the front door. On Saturday the door went in! Here are a few photos from the process.

To the right you can see where the old entry is boarded up, and of course the big gaping whole is for the new door. My husband and my brother are pictured carrying the large windows out of the new entry. It was heavy...they were definitely huffing and puffing. ;o)

Another viewof the new entry. You can see a closet framed in right inside the door.

My brother chip. He has been a HUGE asset to our renovation!

Looking in from the new entry. To the far left is the opening to the kitchen & dining area. Then a doorway to the basement. The next doorway is to the guest bathroom. Then to the right is a hall way to the bedrooms. And then also to the right are the 2 new closets framed in for the entry room. One closet it just for aprons!

Looking out from inside to the entry.

The new front door!

James picked it out all on his own! I think he did a great job! I haven't decided yet what color we will paint the door. It will either be red or blue.

*On the Navigation bar of my blog you will now see "Home Renovation 2011". I will be keeping links to all of my posts about our home renovation here. Thanks for following our journey!