From House to Home

I ❤️ Big Windows

Today was a huge epic milestone day in the project. I feel like a teenager who’s long time unrequited love finally sent a signal that they might like me back. Yes that kind of giddy. And all because 90% of our new windows were installed! Tomorrow the entry way giant windows go in (equivalent to anticipating a first kiss! Eek!). Suffice to say.. we love love love big windows. For everything that we can’t quite express about our love for big windows, we will let the images speak for us:

Still having fun doing this

I may be a little behind on posting. But hey life seems to perpetually devour time and energy for this busy family of 4! Today was a very exciting day where we experienced the first feelings of retail therapy related to a renovation project.

We got big deliveries!! I’m talking bathroom fixtures like faucets, toilets, shower heads, medicine cabinets, and bathtubs- woot!! No seriously this is super exciting! We also got in our kitchen chimney extractor hood which we need to ensure … basically that it fits. If it doesn’t… well there goes a few grand…

On the construction side, the rough framing work is progressing and the mechanical/plumbing stuff is all done. New windows have arrived and are ready to be picked up but the prep for windows still needs work. But it’s absolutely fantastic to see the new spaces begin to form. I never had a sense of this before, but construction can be such an art form.

One of the absolute most exciting things over the past few weeks was seeing the kitchen window change from one small measly natural light source in an otherwise large but perpetually dark kitchen, to this lovely splendor:

2 Befores and 2 Afters.

The windows will bring in so much light. We love it.

Last week we came home to quite a surprise when we drove into the garage and found that the wall between our garage and entry space was, well, gone! The entry room will be expanded by a few feet into the garage so our GC decided to just take it down. Honestly do we really need a wall there? Going straight from home to car without opening a door is rather efficient!

This morning we had an on-site meeting with our GC and architect. We went over a variety of items but spent most of the time determining the ergonomics and preferred height of our toilets, shower heads, vanities, where toilet roll holder and hand towel holders would go. In a family where dad is 6’3″, mom is 5’2″, and a few munchkins are running around, its hard to achieve the Goldilocks effect of toilet height but I think we were able to compromise and come to a hopefully comfortable solution for all.

A photo of the dream team! Guess who’s architect and who’s GC?

We’ve been busy picking out other critical elements like tile, kitchen cabinet hardware, lighting, etc. I have a lot to say about these things but think I’ll save it for another day. Suffice to say for now… o.m.g there’s a lot to choose. I’ve been equating the process of selecting tile to be akin to choosing multiple tattoos to have permanently etched into my body. Once we select and place those tiles, there’s no going back without a lot of blood sweat tears and dollar signs $$$$$$. Talk about pressure!

Mutant rats

I lost a little momentum posting updates but luckily the project has not lost momentum as a result.

Over the past two weeks, the big and dramatic demo work was completed and what followed seemed to be a continuation of deconstruction and clearing up of the undesired remnants of the past to pave the way for a better future (wow, that was rather poetic for the subject matter at hand).

When you watch HGTV/home renovation shows, 9.9/10 times during the demolition process something horribly shocking is uncovered – like a wonky foundation that will imminently eat up the house, mold infested attic that will cause life threatening disease, a nest of mutant rats, termite destruction – you get the gist. (And yes I titled this entire post based on this paragraph for maximum dramatic effect to entice the reader even though it’s a wee bit misleading).

Well we had some surprises as well but luckily not remotely as terrifying. Ours included:

the previously mentioned monolith concrete slab under the stairs which needed to be jack hammered apart – our GC believes was actually a safe of some kind;
another large piece of concrete under the front door that needed to be jack hammered apart;
electrical wires that were tucked into the insulation (unsafe) and would require unanticipated cost relating to the removal of attic insulation;
and last but not least…
discovered in the attic was a life sized puzzle of a nude woman posing with intellectual reading materials (thanks to our GC for the photo and modesty).

On a separate note, U has been very fascinated with a structural beam that has been placed into the ceiling that will bridge the office and the kitchen. The ceiling was beginning to sag and instead of posts and columns, our GC has put in a beam that will not be visible. The simple and effective engineering that immediately straightened out the ceiling, was really cool, according to my husband. Just look at the joy on his face!

Temporary support to prep for the beam
Beam = Happiness

In the background (i.e. in our nonexistent spare time), we have been working hard to make selections and decisions on other key components. Right now we are struggling with what type of garage and front door we want and what materials and colors would produce the exterior facade we want. While we know that we want our interior to be a warm comfortable modern, the exterior we are not sure about since we’re not really modifying the shape and structure of the house. We could go a little more traditional and save some money or splurge a little on some more modern products. Decisions are hard! Yea yea I know.. first world luxury problems..

Demolition Derby

Day 5 of Demolition and progress continues to be made. We came home to the lower level stairway and general area taken apart. I was so excited to see this progress as the new entry and stairway are one of my favorite aspects of the new design and seeing the current space opened up really helped me to experience what the new space might feel like.

So far, the demolition work has not turned up anything significantly worrying (knock on wood). The one rather weird thing is that the stair demo uncovered a huge monolithic slab of concrete that had “1978” – the year the house was built – engraved into it. Its kinda cool as a sort of time capsule discovery. But really its just a rather bizarre structure that is neither structural nor in any way needed and now we have to find a way to get rid of it. Our GC has suggested that it needs to be removed and would take a little extra effort today and possibly some extra cost with unanticipated jack-hammering work.

This morning we let the boys (and ourselves) participate in some hands-on demo work. It was cute and a fun photo opp. Today and tomorrow the Demolition continues with the portico (i.e. the hideous giant columns the masonry around our existing exterior entry). Can’t wait to see how that goes.

The real D-Day.

Turns out yesterday was the real D-Day – the beginning of demolition work which will continue through this week. They tackled the two bathrooms that will turn into 2 baths and 1 powder room and also started to carefully take down the kitchen cabinets which will be salvaged. A friend warned me that I might feel quite upset and shocked when I see what the demolition does to my house. Both U and I agree that our reaction is actually closer to pure excitement and glee. We are glad to see the past go and it actually helps me to better visualize our plans. Here are some photos of the demo’d spaces, plus a near dumpster dive by our kids.

And here’s an updated view from work done today..eek!

D-Day

Happy D-Day!

And by D-Day I am referring to the lesser known/completely-made-up-by-me-just-now occasion called Dumpster-Day. This marks the milestone day in a renovation project when the Dumpster is delivered and placed on one’s driveway in preparation for demolition. Very exciting as this is a clear signal that some action is finally about to occur.

This past weekend we invited friends over to help us prepare for the upcoming week’s activities. Our friends helped us graffiti our walls before they go into the Dumpster. Some true artistic talent was discovered and we all had a blast fulfilling a childhood delinquent fantasy of drawing on the walls!

Creating, Home.

house/hous/noun
* a building for human habitation, especially one that is lived in by a family or small group of people.
home/hōm/noun
* the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.
aes·thet·ics/esˈTHediks/noun
* a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in art.
* the branch of philosophy that deals with the principles of beauty and artistic taste.

Be that this is blog post #3, and things are getting real between us, I thought we’d get deeper with some definitions. Take a quick study of the above.

My first observation based on the definitions – a house is pretty much the same as a home except apparently a home is somewhere you’re supposed to live permanently and forever. That seems kinda fascist, but anyways, I digress. I also read the definitions to differ in that a house is a building that happens to be fit for habitation by humans. Whereas home is a place where one lives – it conveys a sense of choice (although apparently there’s no choice except.. FOREVER).

For a special place where one chooses to live and lets just say, where one is ready to commit a very long period of time to, it’s nice to embed one’s own aesthetics. A personal principle of beauty that allows you and those who live with you to maximally enjoy this place called Home.

So what will be the chosen aesthetics for our home? I’d say it leans to Modern. Think clean lines, neutral color palettes. We are focused on a modern Northern European and less say, Italian, French, or Mid-century American modern (all very nice as well). We think of the Northern European style of modern as family friendly and comfortable. It presents as a canvas for personal items like furniture, art, family photos, travel memorabilia. It’s also rather utilitarian and practical which is important for life with kids, and space is rarely wasted or misused.

Some of the major features we focused on architecturally were enlarging windows, moving the entry to create more of a landing space, shifting some walls to allow for a more practical use of space, updating kitchen and bathrooms, and changing the overall trim and color palette of the house inside and out to fit this style preference. Our house gets a lovely amount of sun on the second level, and as it overlooks conservation land in the back, we want to maximize light and views with big picture windows. Check out some of our aesthetic inspirations:

Day 1 – The reality

For those anxiously anticipating an update from Day 1, I am here to satisfy your wishes! Drum roll please…….

In summary:

Our GC came and put our Permit on the window.
He also left some random bits of stuff.

So here we are, friends. Day 1 of our renovation project was as climactic as one should probably have expected – I was just too naive to have known better! Our GC explained that he is working on a detailed plan for the demolition including what to salvage (we are trying to sell or donate the more or less mint condition kitchen and bathroom vanity).

Oh, and I think I forgot to mention that our renovation is to pretty much the whole of the upper level of the split. The four of us have moved to the lower level which has proven to be rather cozy and reminiscent of pre-kid apartment living (except now with two kids). We will lose the “kids bedroom” at some point during the project as it will turn into our new mud room. But having a kitchen and bathroom to work with is fab. We managed to cram much of our furniture into the space which was a small miracle. Eventually, the plan is to “DIY” (in quotes because I’ll believe it when I see it..) the entire lower level as well. But for now its a bonus that during a major renovation project, we don’t have to move house and pay rent elsewhere for the next half a year+. So another part of the GC’s work this week is to figure out how to minimize the dust and debris from impacting us downstairs. Next week the demolition and real action should start – so stay tuned. I’m hopeful we will get a chance to capture a photo of the boys with sledgehammers knocking into a wall of some sort. In the meantime, here are some photos of our “apartment” space.

Day 1 of ??

Last night I woke up at 2am. Unable to sleep, I checked my email and was surprised to see that our General Contractor had written to say something to the effect of “Look forward to starting tomorrow!” Now, being busy working parents, I know we can be a little less than completely together at times. But we’ve been waiting for seemingly a lifetime to redesign our own home… you think we’d remember Day 1 or THE DAY our project kicked off! Anyway, be it mushy sleep deprived parent brain or just a lucky surprise, I’m excited to document Day 1 of (hopefully) a 6 month renovation project. I’ve intentionally titled this post with a superstitious frame of mind so as not to jinx us.

Since this is Day 1 and blog post 1, some background seems necessary. The origins of this project all started with a British TV show airing circa 2004 called Grand Designs. U and I saw one show and were both hooked. We are not architects. We are not designers. We are not handy. We have rather un-creative DNA actually. But for the last 15 years, we’ve dreamed about our own grand design.

We bought our first house when we moved to the Boston area. It was adorable, already renovated and it felt like home but it was on a postage stamp lot and there was really no opportunity to re-design or redo much. Fast forward 6 years and 2 kiddos later, it was time for more space and we kept an eye out for the right house where we could implement a vision for OUR home. A place and space that we put our own stamp on and that feels good to us, and will be a place to make happy memories together with our children, family and friends.

We embarked on a two year house hunt; dragging the kids to open houses and turned up nothing that we could work with. The Boston ‘burbs are expensive, really old houses are a scary prospect, new houses don’t make sense for a remodel, and undeveloped land is rare (if available, quickly snatched up by developers/cash carrying folks). At that point we basically gave up on our search. U and I had a heart to heart and decided that we were happy with our little house, loved our neighbors, space was tight but everything else was great – we would make do, the dream would have to wait. That was, of course, the exact weekend when I saw a blue, overly ornate, bottom of cul-de-sac, backing onto conservation land, 1978 split level, for sale in our neighboring town. It ticked a lot of boxes so I dragged everyone to the open house on a wet Autumn Saturday. We put in an offer on Sunday, and we moved in close to Christmas. That was about 1.5 years ago.

For many nights over the last 1.5 years, U and I have laid in our very dated bedroom staring at the very hideous light fixture, wondering if this was THE house we were going to invest blood, sweat, tears, time, and plenty of moolah, to create our very own a-little-less-than-grand-but-still-lovely, design.

Well, the answer is quite obvious. We’re doing it! We have Faith our architect, Dave our GC, Lisa our kitchen designer, and friends and family to help us (emotionally, psychologically) through it. And today, is the day. Day 1 of fulfilling a little dream for two silly people and their little family.

Last but not least, here is a collection of the “before” photos: