Our Longest Renovation Project EVER!

Have you ever had a renovation that you just can’t seem to get to the finish line?  We have attempted many renovations before in previous homes, but so far this is the longest renovation project we have ever had for one room.

We have been renovating the front room and closets of our home for fourteen months so far.  Of course I have heard worst stories.  A friend of mine actually lived through a kitchen renovation for over a year.   That was at least twelve months without a working kitchen! Can you imagine?  At least our front room renovation is a space we don’t NEED to live in every day.

14 Months and Counting…

 

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Last April I posted about my vision for our family room, you can read the entire post here.  After having a tree fall on our house in 2015, we later found extensive water damage in the walls and floors of our family den where water leaks had gone undetected from the old roof since the walls of this room were a dark black rough sawn paneling.  You just couldn’t see the water damage on the black walls.  It wasn’t until we pulled up the damaged carpet underneath the leaking skylights that we found the other, more extensive damage.

 

After living through 8 months of repairs from the tree damage to our home, then immediately tackling a long to-do list for our son’s wedding, we halfheartedly started the repairs and planned renovations to the front room.  Our planned renovation included converting a walk-in closet to my craft room, installing laminate flooring and painting the paneled walls and ceilings in white.  The vision for this room was a combined traditional and mid-century modern vibe with rustic architectural details.

 

 

To make a long story short, after installing the laminate floors and having the new custom made windows installed, we decided to take a break over the holidays and continue the renovations at a later time.  Not only were we just mentally and physically over a very busy year, but we were also out of money and motivation to continue.

 

That “small break” turned in to nearly 6 months.  Six long months of the cabinets and furniture pushed to the center of the room, the light fixture still sitting in a box, and the dog kennels sitting in various places around the room.  I also came home one day to find that the dogs had chewed holes in the chair and ottoman down to the wood frames because they were bored while I was at work.

The only thing we did complete was the painting and setup of my converted closet craft room.

 

 

We are not lazy and unmotivated.

In our defense I will say that we are not lazy people who just don’t get around to doing anything.  The opposite is more that we are very busy people and just haven’t had time. My husband works at least two weekends a month on call at the hospital and during that time I took a part time job (to pay off stuff and to afford this renovation of course).   I am also volunteering my time and design services to our church renovations.

I spent much of April and May of this year refinishing some office furniture and a small kitchenette for a open house to reveal what the continued renovations will look like over the next three years.  Just being too busy, not lazy, is our biggest problem in completing this renovation.

Not all of this is a depressing story though.  In the last six months, we have been able to rethink and re-evaluate our original plans for the room and how it really needs to function for our family. Our current motivation to finally finish this room,to be honest with you, comes from the need to finish this project to clear up our free time to tackle a new and exciting project we are developing right now.  But more on that later.

Back to our never ending renovation.

So, I have decided to show you some of the in-progress areas of our renovation before the big reveal (hopefully soon) and the new inspiration board I have created for the room.  I am being brutally honest in these photos as they show the real mess you live through with a renovation project.

Just to give you a flashback, this is what the room has looked like for nearly 40 years. Say hello to the 1970’s all over again.

 

 

 

To date we have completed the following updates:

• The large 80 inch custom windows were installed.
• The damaged floor joists were repaired and the new laminate flooring installed.
• The open area around the new skylights have been boxed in and trim added.

 

 

• The walls have been primed and painted a nice bright shade of white.

 

 

• The old light fixture has been removed and a new conversion kit purchased to be able to hang the new light fixture on the sloped ceiling.
• New baseboards and trim have been installed.
• A new light box has been built and installed over the stone fire place.

 

• The closet to craft room conversion was completed with new flooring, half of the shelving removed, and the walls repaired and painted.

 

I’m so excited to show you the new inspiration board for the room.

 

New inspiration board for the room:

 

 

Items still to be completed for this room are:

• Finish the final painting of the ceiling and beams and the box over the fireplace.
• Install the new light fixture.
• Install the cabinets/built-ins against the side wall (that will be another post all together)
• Finish installing the baseboard trim in the craft room closet and around the fireplace.
• Purchase new chairs for the room.
• Find a way to hide the dog kennels or give them their own space.
• Refurbish some of the old furniture from this room for an updated look.
• Make leather floor poufs for the room.
• Treatment for the dry wood on the antique barn wood mantel.
• Hang art and accessorize.
• Install TV and media equipment.

The end is in sight though.

Now that the room is so much brighter and functional, I will be using this room as an extension of my work space from the craft room closet.  It will no longer have a large sofa but instead several mid-century style chairs that are great for casual conversation and easy to move out of the way for a blogging project.

I will also be working in some unique, one of a kind design elements in to this room that I can’t wait to show you.

 

“I always let the Lord guide me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”  Psalm 16:8