During Part 2: Reconstruction

After getting all of the ripping out done, we had to decide what to build back and what to leave for later. It has been a challenge balancing what we want done with what HAS to be done so we can move in. Especially after being apart for so long (it's been almost 10 months as of today) we wanted to make sure we wouldn't be getting in over our heads and have too many complicated projects going, making the renovation last waaay too long.
So Brian and I sat down and wrote down every.single.thing. we ever wanted done to the house and then we scaled back and prioritized the most crucial and less extensive projects to be done now. We decided that painting the outside of the house, enclosing the carport, and replacing all of the panelling in the house were all things that we could do one day while insulating interior walls, changing some electrical, painting, and new flooring were all things that were more necessary right now. And so the reconstruction started.

I have to take a minute here to brag a little on my wonderful husband. He is talented in so many ways, and he has single-handedly done demo, electrical, sheetrock, insulation, cleaning, building, plumbing, painting, tiling, and probably a ton more that I don't even know about! I am so thankful for him and all of the effort he has put into this house for us! He works hard all day and then goes to the house and works until late at night every day, even sacrificing some weekends seeing us so that he can get things done. He keeps his eyes on the goal of getting our family back together as soon as possible, and works at it as hard as possible no matter what. I love him and boy I can't wait to live with him again! :) :) :)

So here's some of that talent in concrete form:


The living room in a little chaos.


The drive-through window is GONE!!! Though the trend today is to open rooms as much as possible, we decided that this opening was too odd and poorly done to keep. It looks much more complete and polished without it.


We also decided to put more of a doorway and less of an opening between the kitchen and living room so we could use two different paint colors and make it match the rest of the house. (The opening here was the only one of its kind in the whole house.)


Here it is with the paneling up.


Once the wall oven was gone we weren't sure what to do with the huge hole in the cabinetry. When we decided to get rid of the microwave that served as the vent hood, we decided to get a counter microwave and put in where the oven had been. Brian built a shelf for it, and the lower part will stay open for some display space.


Here's the kitchen side of where the drive-through was. Once it was closed we had to decide what to put below the teeny cabinet that had been over it--rip it out? leave it? build something? We finally decided to build a shelf below it to make it even with the rest of the wall cabinets. More display space for some pretties. The refrigerator will be to the right of the shelf on the way out of the kitchen.



In the laundry room we needed to enclose the water heater so that "someone" *cough-AliGrace-cough* wouldn't maybe blow up the house or something one day when she wanted to play with the water heater. Of course none of our angel children would do that. :)


So Brian built a closet.


And here is the mater bathroom with some added insulation. The other side of this back wall is the living room and there wasn't anything between there, so a little added sound insulation was a nice addition. He also insulated the other bathroom, and between the bedrooms. Being able to hear less noise is always welcome in a house with noisy babies and kids.

With the reconstruction done (this all took a few weeks) all of us were super eager to paint and see some dramatic change happening! I'll post some pictures of the painted rooms in all their glory soon.