It’s been quite some time since I updated you all on our journey with bringing new life to this house we purchased in spring of 2015.
It was a bit different from what we were used to.
Just a teensy bit!
This was our custom built home in Eagle, WI that we moved from. It started as a boring flat lot in a cornfield. With my vision and design ideas and my father-in-law’s drafting genius and incomparable insight for function, we created this house. Steve, with help from his dad, general contracted the build and we all pitched in where we could. After landscaping and 15 years of maturity, it was a beautiful home.
From day one I had a vision for this house as well! We are well on our way to realizing it.
You can see where we are in the remodel by the exterior windows. The windows on the left are new and that third of the house is all gutted and under construction (we are living out of the other 2/3), but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let me update you on what we’ve done in the addition.
Rough plumbing and electric finished in February of 2017 and then everything went on hold while Steve’s right shoulder healed. By late spring we were back working and sided the exterior of the addition, insulated the interior and were ready for walls and flooring.
You all know I love shiplap! I really can’t get enough of it. It’s just a perfect fit for this house.
Remember, we did the entire second floor, including the ceiling.
Aren’t those clean lines amazing!
On the first floor I have decided to do things a little different, but of course it will include some shiplap. For the hallway walls of the addition, I’m going to shiplap only a portion of them so I can add color with paint or even wallpaper. This is my inspiration photo from Houzz:
Photo credit: Victorian Entry
by Farmington Architects & Building Designers
Michael Smith Architects
Here is the first piece!
(In case you’re wondering why we have Tyvek house wrap on the inside, it’s because we used Roxul insulation (Rockwool) which is not paper backed and we had to have a vapor retarder facing the inside. I’m amazed how much we have learned through this whole process!)
It was a bit tricky deciding how far to take the shiplap up the wall. There are 4 sconces spaced out along the ~25 foot long hallway and they hang down, so the finish trim of the shiplap had to stop before the edge of the light. I also didn’t want any horizontal parts of the windows to line up with the top edge of the shiplap. It was also important to have clean lines down this very long hallway, so I didn’t want any narrow ripped boards, only full 7 inch wide pieces.
Here’s what we did! It’s about 2/3 the way up the wall.
We’ll trim out the top when we do finish trim work.
Next project for the addition was flooring. The bathrooms will be tiled but the hallway needed to match the flooring throughout the entire house as it’s all connected.
The winter before we bought the house, a pipe burst and ruined the original pine floors in the kitchen. The owner, at the time, chose to rip out all the hardwoods on the first floor and had them replaced with brand spanking new solid oak floors.
I’m certainly glad they’re solid wood, but oh how I would have loved the original 75 year old pine floors. I would have torn out the kitchen and brought in some reclaimed wood to match and if it didn’t match all the better, it would have added to the character/history/story of the house.
We have gone back and forth about tearing out all of the new oak flooring and finding some reclaimed pine flooring, but the cost is obnoxious and tearing out perfectly good solid oak flooring would be environmentally irresponsible, so I will make them work.
(I’ve told Steve that in our next house I want to have original/reclaimed pine floors and he rolls his eyes and tells me I will need to find another husband because he has no plans of moving again!)
Needless to say, we purchased some brand spanking new solid oak hardwood flooring and Steve installed it. We will eventually sand and refinish all of it!
Time for sheet rock and that means time for a sub-contractor! There are some projects we know can be done more efficiently with a crew and sheet rock is one of them.
This is the entry area from the garage.
The hallway leads to the existing part of the house.
Bath #1 right off the garage with walk-in shower that’s behind the wall on the left.
Entrance to Bath #2 with shower/tub combo.
Tub to the left, vanity straight ahead and toilet on right.
The sheetrock was then mud and taped, drying times were slow due to humid conditions but eventually it was complete.
Can’t believe it but I have no pictures!
Not too exciting anyways.
Next up: bathroom finishes including tile, cabinets and lighting. I’ve got my eye on a gaudy and glitzy chandelier to hang in the first bath that Steve’s not too keen on. Check back to see who gets their way!
As always keep it simple and always do it with sass!
Kim
So nice to hear from you again on your wonderful adventure. Enjoying every minute of it with ya’ll.
Love the upstairs! It’s fun to remember how we saw it and see what it looks like today!
You’re all doing an awesome job, cannot wait to come see it again in person!