The Beginning of the End

I'm a sucker for before and afters.  I love seeing a good, bad to fab.  From a full kitchen overhaul, to new fabric on the seat of a chair.

The Dad told me I'd never survive a remodel.  He's probably right.  I've got some serious OCD when it comes to having things in their place.  So when we decided to add on to the house, I'm sure he was cringing at the way it was playing out in his head where I was concerned.

To add to my regular crazy, I was pregnant.  I'd like to think I did pretty well, considering I had people all up in my life, five days a week for months.  He may have an entirely different opinion of the experience - if he hasn't managed to block out all memory of it.  It wasn't a full on remodel of course, so most of the house was still livable.  If you consider six inches of construction dust covering everything to be livable.

To this day, I walk through the house huffing and puffing over the things that still aren't done.  Trim that needs to be painted, a shower that needs to be tiled, all the crap that you get used to looking at and that has somehow managed to move to the bottom of the to-do list.  So in the midst of my, it's-still-not-done-crankiness, sometimes I need a reminder of just how far we've actually come.

If my memory serves me well, we started the whole process in the spring of 2007.

Here's the back of the house the summer before:

This is pretty much looking dead center.

This is the far right corner, not including the garage.

This is the far left corner.

 

The house is to the right.

So, I had a few plants to move before we started digging.  That was supposed to be funny.  I did end up giving a lot of them to new homes.  But it broke my heart to tear out that 'boardwalk'.

I LOVED it.  The Dad built it for me.  Ah well, such is life. 

Here we are at the very beginning:

Again, this is looking at the center.  That's our neighbor, The Contractor.

Far left corner again - with The Contractor and The Worker Bee.

So from there, the siding was torn off, the foundation was poured and the floor was framed in:

The entire back from a different angle.

Here's the right corner with the garage included - with The Dad and The Kid.  If you click on the picture, you can  see the crib in the window.

After that, the walls went up:

Looking toward the garage.

Looking away from the garage.

Looking away from garage again.

Looking out toward the yard through new "windows".

The Kid peeking into his new room.

The far left side looking out The Kid's bedroom "window".

Looking into the yard through the bathroom "window".

The far left corner.

Once all the walls were up, the roof went on.  Can't really do much inside when it's open to the elements.  So the roof went on and The Dad wrapped the outside with Tyvek:

It must be spring - the tree rose is blooming.  I was afraid if I attempted to dig and move it, I'd lose it, so we built around it.  :o)

As much as I love a good makeover, I also love a good cliffhanger.  I've got a crink in my neck and a sink full of dishes that I've been unsuccessfully trying to ignore.  And I think I heard the pitter patter of two little feet getting up from a nap.  The Girl is still out, so think I'll go have some Kid time.  To be continued.....