Our Longest Renovation Project EVER!

Have you ever had a renovation that you just can’t seem to finish? We have attempted many renovations in previous homes, but 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 the 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 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 and 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 installing the new custom-made windows, we decided to take a break over the holidays and continue the renovations later.  Not only were we mentally and physically over a hectic year, but we were also out of money and motivation to continue.

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 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 designing services for our church renovations.

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

Not all of this is a depressing story, though. In the last six months, we have been able to rethink and reevaluate our original plans for the room and how it really needs to function for our family. To be honest with you, our current motivation to finally finish this room 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 areas in progress 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.

To give you a flashback, this is what the room has looked like for nearly 40 years. Say hello to the 1970s 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 was installed.
• The open area around the new skylights has been boxed in, and trim has been added.

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

• The old light fixture has been removed, and a new conversion kit has been purchased so that the new light fixture can be hung on the sloped ceiling.
• New baseboards and trim have been installed.
• A new light box has been built and installed over the stone fireplace.

• The closet-to-craft room conversion was completed with new flooring, half of the shelving was removed, and the walls were 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, 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 altogether)
• Finish installing the baseboard trim in the craft room closet and around the fireplace.
• Purchase new chairs for the room.
• Try to 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 it as an extension of my workspace 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 on some unique, one-of-a-kind design elements for this room, which 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