The house renovation, so far

Okay, friends. I am going to post details and photos of the house renovation here, on this blog, instead of clogging up your emails and Facebook with messages and photos. So, you can chose to view -- or not!

Everyone has been supportive and encouraging and helpful as I have jumped, head-on, into this huge project. Thank you thank you thank you. And you are most welcome to come and see what's happening.

The basics are -- I bought a 2200 square foot ranch house, built in 1964, I think. When I took possession it had four bedrooms and two baths (more on that later). It has good "bones" and is well constructed, if a bit dated and has some "issues" since it is an older home. (No insulation, for example.) Hardwood floors all over. (Oak, I think.) A nice, screened-in back porch. A typical kitchen with ugly cabinets and a fruit-basket (!) motif backsplash. A wooded lot with mature trees -- even though some of those creaky old pine trees will have to be removed. Along with a bunch of stumps and some sheared off stumps that are sticking out of the ground two or three feet.

The plan is to (1) renovate the kitchen completely (including adding a new back entrance and re-working a utility room and pantry); (2) rework the two existing (ugly) bathrooms into a powder room and a jack-and-jill bathroom that serves two guest rooms. One of the guest rooms was the original master bedroom. (3) Across the hall, I am reworking two bedrooms into a master suite - a new bathroom, a nice walk-in closet, and a good-sized bedroom for me. (4) In the den, where I will hang out the most, I have removed tacky fake wood paneling. When wiring is updated and insulation work completed, the walls will be covered with sheetrock and painted some nice color. As will the rest of the house.

Other work is sort of hidden -- I mentioned the insulation; the completely inadequate electrical supply had to be upgraded, and of course plumbing re-worked and moved around to accommodate new things. Right now the water cutoff valve for the house is located right in the master bathroom shower! Um, no -- that would NOT be convenient! In the kitchen and the new master suite, new beams had to be installed to support the new construction configurations.

On the plus side, the roof is new, as is the air conditioning and the water heater. The fireplace in the den has nice gas logs, and they put out a lot of heat!

My contractor is Jerry Snow. For Greensboro friends, this is the fellow that renovated Pam Murphy's house so fabulously. I am hoping for nothing less! Plus I have selected The Kitchen Store here in Greensboro to rework the space (sans fruit basket motif backsplash, of course!) into a wonderful and workable open space with lots of storage and an "open concept" that flows into the den. I have also hired a landscaper to make a good plan for the yard so I have some idea of where I'm going.

Okay. Enough of this. I will post some photos on the next installment. Thanks for following along with me!