Friday, November 4, 2011

Home Improvement from Hell

Six years ago in October, we started a major home improvement project. We loved our neighborhood, but were convinced we needed more space. So, we decided to put an addition on our nearly 100 year-old house.

Oct 2005: The back entry comes down.



Nov 2005: The addition starts to take shape. My daughter wants to leave the big floor area open so she can have her own personal stage!



Nov 2005: I'm convinced our ancient kitchen is covered in lead paint! Did I go overboard with my clean-up outfit?



Dec 2005: I'm now convinced no amount of cleaning will make our old kitchen nice. It all comes down. Our kitchen now looks like a Crack House!

We find interesting things in the wall. A newspaper prior to WWII with Hitler in the headlines, a beauty salon appointment card, and a Betty Crocker recipe pamphlet.




Jan 2006: Things start to look up. Dry wall makes me happy! More performance area for my daughter.



Feb 2006: Ahhhh. The new kitchen cabinets arrive.



April 2006: My amazing father-in-law comes to build all the woodwork for our addition for FREE! My daughter helps paint and supervise.



Oct 2006: We are finally, really, almost done! The IKEA shelves are up and the books are moving in.



Nov 2011: Thank God, Thank God we don't have to do that ever again!
How did I forget that it took an entire YEAR to finish? My neighbors are adding onto their house right now. I feel their pain!

Have you ever done a major home improvement project? How did it go?

5 comments:

  1. We redid our kitchen ourselves, other than the guys who installed our countertops. Thank you Ikea, for making amazing cabinets. It was a few months of eating lots of sandwiches or grilling or microwaving something in the dining room....but we love it and are so glad we did it.

    We also just finished painting the exterior of our house, I am not quite over that project yet....

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  2. Are you doing your own painting? Our house needs a paint job, but it's so tall (and on a hill), that I'm not sure we could do it ourselves.

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  3. We have never done a major home improvement. I want to see after kitchen pics - those cabinets look awesome!

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  4. your all post really nice. I know that all information about the home improvement Construction Companies

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  5. It is good work for your home improvement. Your hard work make your home more beautiful.

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