inside the construction

I'm warning you now, this post is lengthy and photo-heavy.

A view from the foyer looking out my new front door. I already love it so much and it's not even stained yet. It lets so much more light in than the previous door. I'm picturing lots of baby handprints on it in my future.....and lots of wiping it down with Windex and wondering why I chose a glass door :)

Right inside the front door is the dining room. When G and I left our previous house, we hadn't intended on having a house with a dining room again. Not that we didn't use the dining room, but it just seemed too formal for us. But, this house came with one and there was no avoiding using it, but it was so closed off. To the right, of that post, there was a solid wall and to the left there was a wall with a doorway. We took care of that. Simple fix of knocking it down and adding a support beam.

Another view of the Dining room from across the foyer in the scrapbook room/office.

This is down the hallway next to the dining room. I love the openness now. It just makes me smile.

At the end of that hallway is the laundry room (straight ahead) and the kitchen (to the right).

Now we're at the opposite side of the house in the master bath. This is the one area that just HAD TO CHANGE!!! It was such an odd arrangement before and even though we're acres away from our neighbors, I couldn't stand the thought of the toilet being next to the window in the front of the house. Now, the window is in the master closet, so we have to walk through the bathroom to get to our clothes. We had this arrangement in our last house and I was thrilled with it. It was perfect for mine and G's schedules because we woke up at different times, so other than the alarm going off, once I was in the bathroom getting ready, he couldn't hear me until I was completely finished and walking out the door.

I digress. So, when you walk into the bathroom, there's 2 vanities on the right (his and her's), and a toilet BEHIND A POCKET DOOR!!!! Can you tell I'm excited about that? There's nothing worse than getting ready in the morning and having your husband walk in and taking care of business right next to you. You just need a barrier. Sorry to be graphic, but you do.

Inside the door to the left, by the windows there will be a clawfoot tub. Then, to the right of that, a shower, which will be larger than the 2x2" shower that was there previously. I exaggerated a bit on the small size, but I'm 5'4" and 120lbs pregnant and I still don't think I could fit into that thing. I certainly couldn't shave my legs.

Here's the photos of what I just described:

Where the vanities will sit and the door leading into the potty room.

Where the tub will sit and overlooking the pasture to the right of the house. There were no windows on either of these walls before and I'm already relishing in our decision to add them. Can you see why?

Now to the laundry room - back to the dining room side of the house:

I need a super-wide-angle lens to photograph this room, which I don't have, so you'l have to use your imagination. Everything you see in this photo was an addition to the laundry room, so you can imagine how tiny it was before. Originally, the washer/dryer, fold-away ironing board, small fridge, and hot-water heater sat in about 6x6'. We basically just took the wall out under the front porch and expanded it to 12x6' so now the laundry room front window (the window all the way to the left) lines up with the rest of the windows on the front of the house instead of being offset. Our plans are to put a row of cabinets and a utility sink in front of the window and the washer and dryer will sit to the left of the window in the area next to the hot-water heater (out of view).

This is a view from the living room into the kitchen. Nothing about this room has changed except we knocked out the wall to the left of the fireplace. Best decision ever.

And the backside of the fireplace that revealed the mold I mentioned in a previous post. This is where the stove will sit.

The only change in this photo was to take the closet you see on the right and make it a pantry instead of a hall closet. This closet runs underneath the stairs and was originally made to open into the hallway. We thought it would be more useful to sacrifice the coat closet to get a pantry.

This wall wasn't changed much except to add a set of windows.

This is the biggest change to me. Where that light fixture is, sat the old breakfast table. Beyond that was the back porch, so you had to walk outside to go back inside to the garage. We just enclosed the porch in that small section which was already under roof. We're going to have a banquette in the corner where the windows are. To the left of the windows, there's a step down into the mud room and the door into the garage is there. Past the mudroom is going to be a bathroom more easily accessible to the outside.

This is a view looking from the mud room into the kitchen.

Now, let's go upstairs:
This area housed 2 bathrooms before and it will house 2 bathrooms now. The main difference is that both will be a bit larger due to the merging of the three dormers into one on the front of the house.

This is the landing at the top of the stairs. It used to be closed off where you see that ridge line. Originally, I wanted it opened with no column, but because of having to have such a large support beam to reach across the space, we made a budgetary decision to have two smaller support beams and a column in the middle. Not ideal, but budgetary. On the left of the chimney will be a bookshelf and to the right a workstation built for 2.

This was another major change. Originally this room had 2 dormers with a set of closets in the middle. Now, it's completely open and oh so nice! This will be our TV/playroom.

The rest of the rooms have such minor changes, I'll wait to post those when more progress is made. Until then...