One of the first things we knew we had to do when we took possession of our house was to upgrade our wiring. A totally unglamorous job - but a matter of safety, peace of mind, and needed for insurance coverage. What wasn't knob and tube was aluminum wiring so we knew we were going to be sinking quite a bit of money into this project. That being said, we did our research and hired a very reputable company we found through Homestars.com and referrals from friends.
Friends, make no mistake, this was a messy, dirty, invasive job! J made an early promise that we would not be undertaking any renovations so when faced with the prospect of ripping up either the basement ceiling or the kitchen and hallway subfloor, we decided to go with the basement. With a teeny infant baby, it made the most sense to be able to close the door and ignore the mess. All that changed with a phone call letting me know our new appliances would not fit, setting off a spending and reno spree.
The previous owner had actually built the kitchen around appliances - like, placed the stove then wedged it with a lower cabinet. Then, installed the dishwasher and locked it into place with the counter. Seriously. It meant we would need to scratch and dent our brand new sparkling appliances to make due with a temporary kitchen. So - having just installed a kitchen 4 months prior, we were ready to tackle another. It also meant that we got to rip up the lovely harvest gold tile running from the front door to the back.
We knew we wanted to install the same kitchen as we had before, from IKEA. Once we got the layout finalized, it was time to choose flooring. When J mentioned this, I had to break it to him that I had my heart set on hardwood flooring throughout the main floor. The look I received was somewhere along the line of "after jackhammering, hauling, and disposing of 2500 lbs of tile you want me to now rip up two rooms worth of decent existing hardwood floor." To which I replied yes...
Soon our house looked like this:
The holes in the wall were everywhere. The electricians did their best to create holes where the baseboards would eventually cover, but often wasn't possible. The saving grace was that our basement was spared.
Once the wiring was complete and hardwood floors installed, J got busy installing the basics in the kitchen. We still haven't completed the finishing, but that will come in time. Hopefully soon?
Just over two weeks after starting the renovations, Audrey and I were ready to move back in. Here's what we were greeted with.
Once I take you through all of our projects we started when we moved in, I promise to take you through what we have done over the past year to finish projects and the new ones we've taken on.
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