Day 34 | New Laundry Idea

November 2, 2013January 25, 2015Leave a comment

Day 34

Mitchell, our electrician, began mapping out where we wanted light switches and outlets. We purchased the cans for the recessed lighting in the dining room and kitchen and the pendants for over the island. Our friend and plumber, Kenny Esquivel, helped us think through plumbing issues in the kitchen.

We removed the mudroom/laundry room during the demolition to make way for a larger kitchen. However that left us with the problem of figuring out where to put our washer and dryer. We did not want to move it to our detached garage because it’s too far away, we did not want to build a laundry room and sacrifice space in our family room, we couldn’t move it to our master closet because that would require moving a water line there, there is no room in our bathrooms, SO we decided to… drum roll please… put it underneath our kitchen island! I loved this idea because it offers a great surface for folding clothes, it is in the central location of our house and easy to get to, and it is very close to a sink for any kind of special washing instructions. Done and done.

Kevin imagining what we can do with all of this open space.

No ceiling, no walls… brrrr

VISITORS: Grandma, Aunt Kathy, Bethany, and Suzy & Kenny Esquivel

Day 33 | Leveling the Floor

November 1, 2013January 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 33

A common problem that many old homes have is settling foundation. Ours had settled in numerous locations making the floors very uneven and sloping. The construction workers began jacking the floors up and replacing the underfloor columns to try and level the house. My dad’s guys removed the bushes in front of the porch.

Day 32 | Framing Finished

October 31, 2013January 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 32

The rest of the ceiling framing was finished today in the dining room and kitchen. The new electrical in these two rooms has now been started.

HELPERS: Uncle John’s Crew, Mitchell Brown (electrical)

Day 31 | Starting the Kitchen

October 30, 2013January 26, 2015Leave a comment

Day 31

John and his guys accomplished a lot today. They moved the original hutch from it’s current location to the wall being shared with the bedroom. They added new framing and a new beam that spans across the dining room and the kitchen (because we removed a load bearing wall), and removed most of the framing separating the kitchen and dining room. Kevin is working on creating blue prints that will be used to obtain our building permits.

Framing the small pony wall that will eventually be a small bar eating area.

Framing this small wall that will hide the side of the cabinets and fridge.

Closing up the old door way between the family room and mudroom.

Moved the hutch to the other side of the dining room. The back of it now sticks into the second bedroom.

HELPERS: Uncle John + Crew

DAY 30 | Reimagining the Kitchen

October 29, 2013January 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 30

Uncle John and his guys began figuring out what we should do with the kitchen/dining room. We met with him this evening to discuss kitchen layout ideas. Kevin then worked on rearranging the cabinet layout. We have decided to purchase all of the kitchen cabinets from Ikea, they are the most affordable option out there. Although you lose the custom appeal, they offer an online program that allows you to arrange your cabinetry to scale inside your space (check it out HERE).

We have landed on the idea of removing the wall between the kitchen and the dinning room and adding an island to separate the two spaces.

HELPER: Uncle John

Day 27 | Beginning the Family Room

October 26, 2013January 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 27

We primed the family room walls and ceiling, Kevin began rewiring the lights in our master bathroom (because the lights, nor the mirror for that matter, are centered above the sink…grrr), repainted the bedroom door because it was a bit splotchy, and added a trim piece around the pocket door to hide the gap.

Priming purple walls and ceiling

Thanks Claire!

HELPERS: Claire Hillis and Mom U.

Day 25 | New Carpet

October 24, 2013January 26, 2015Leave a comment

Day 25

Carpet was installed in our bedroom today! We love the color.

So glad we went with gray!

No furniture in the house means naps must be taken on the new carpet. Ok by us! Plastic is still laid that’s why it’s so shiny.

Kevin also picked up the crown molding at Hacienda Plywood (the kind that matches the Craftsman feel of our house could not be purchased at Lowes) and then installed it in our bedroom and closet and then painted it.

I found this simple guide online for picking moldings that match your historical home:

EXAMPLE

Day 24 | New Lighting

October 23, 2013February 24, 2017Leave a comment

Day 24

Kevin was at home again today studying for his test. At lunch we went to Lamps Plus in Upland and picked out the lights for our front porch (HERE) and our bedroom (HERE). Kevin installed our bedroom light when he got home. I realized I have a thing for edison bulbs…

PRODUCTS USED

Bedroom Light

Porch Light

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Edison Bulbs

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Day 23 | New Ideas

October 23, 2013January 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 23

Kevin took off work today and worked on the house and studied for his P.E. exam. He cleaned up all of the debris in and out of the house, removed the brick on the floor in front of the fireplace, and ripped out the flooring in the second bedroom. His Uncle John came and looked at the house and gave us some good ideas. We are now thinking of removing the wall that separates the dining room from the kitchen and making it an open concept. We shall see…

HELPERS: Jason, Uncle John, Timmy’s trash dumpster

Day 21 | Pocket Door

October 20, 2013January 24, 2015Leave a comment

Day 21

Today Kevin hung the pocket door and main door in our bedroom. He also laid the black subway tile transition between the bedroom and bathroom. Looks like he is going to need to add an inch of trim around the pocket door frame because it is a hair too small. My mom continued to strip off the paint on door #1.

Black subway tiled used to transition between the existing bathroom tile and new carpet.

Black subway tiled used to transition between the existing bathroom tile and eventual carpet.

HELPERS: Mom U. and Jason

Day 20 | It continues…

October 19, 2013January 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 20

Today we finally finished removing the insulation in the walls and ceiling, painted four doors, continued stripping the paint off original door #1, and painted the trim in our bedroom and installed the beadboard and base boards in our bathroom. Kevin’s parents, Steve and Jill, brought over lunch and snacks.

HELPERS: Jason, James, Timmy, Mom U., Mom & Dad R.

VISITORS: Havilah and Rebecca Bishop

Day 19 | New Doors

October 18, 2013January 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 19

Today we painted the three new doors we purchased from Lowes with our new paint sprayer. Part of the house was added on in the 90s and the doors that the owners chose did not match the original doors from the front of the house. We also cleaned up insulation (side note: loose insulation is a PAIN to deal with), removed various other wall and ceiling pieces still attached, and removed the original water heater that was still behind the wall in the kitchen.

HELPERS: Timmy

VISITORS: Don & Tracy Vallette, Mom & Dad R., Whitney

Day 18 | Tree Uprooting

October 17, 2013January 25, 2015Leave a comment

Day 18

My dad’s workers spent many hours uprooting the trunk of the tree in our front yard. We changed our carpet choice in the the bedroom from tan to gray, to better match our color scheme. It will be installed next week!

Goodbye tree trunk!

Gray is SO much better!

HELPERS: Dad U.

Day 17 | Cleaning

October 16, 2013January 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 17

Caleb removed tack strip around the house, Mom U. continued stripping the paint off door #1, and Kevin returned after Impact to clean up the demolition debris.

HELPERS: Caleb and Mom U.

Day 15 | What a Mess

October 14, 2013November 12, 2016Leave a comment

Day 15

Today while we were at work my dad spent three hours cleaning debris out of our house. With so much demolition over the past two weeks we had wood, dust, plaster, drywall and other various materials everywhere. It was hard to walk anywhere, let alone, breathe!

Yay clean floors! Thanks dad!

He also had his workers cut down the tree in our front yard. Although it offered a good amount of shade, it blocked the house and made it look smaller than it needed to. With the tree gone the house and yard look so much bigger.

Goodbye tree!

Later this evening, Kevin, Jason, and James York (Jason’s friend) knocked down the plaster ceiling in the dining room and the old mudroom so that it could eventually be drywalled. Back to a mess it goes…

The boys removed the plaster ceiling and down came piles of insulation and debris…

HELPERS: Dad U., Jason, & James York

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Day 14 | THE Move

October 13, 2013November 12, 2016Leave a comment

Day 14

Kevin picked up a U-Haul this morning and began getting the apartment ready for THE move. We couldn’t be more grateful for such great friends who gave up their afternoons to help us. We got everything in the apartment packed and into the U-Haul in about 1.5 hours and everything unloaded into the garage of the house in about 15 minutes! Until the house is liveable we will be house-hopping between our parents. We dropped off the truck and cleaned up our apartment for the last time.

We came back to the house and Kevin patched holes in the bathroom and fixed drywall, I removed the tack strip in the bedroom, and he put the handles onto our closet drawers.

Loading up the truck…

The loading crew!

Unloading the piano…

The unloading crew!

HELPERS: Ali, Whitney, Matt & Nicole Baker, Sallie & Brandon Burroughs, Jake, Timmy, Rob Macleod, Mike Vogt, Matt Milburn, Steven Albano, Kelsey, Josh, Claire Hillis, and Mom. U

VISITORS: Blake and Gina Eden

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Day 13 | Closet Completion and Painting

October 12, 2013November 12, 2016Leave a comment

Day 13 – The Second Saturday (a.k.a. the second full work day)

Today Ali and Whitney helped me pack up our apartment while Jason helped Kevin move all of the loose insulation (ick!) in the attic that lies above the dining room into other parts of the attic so that the ceiling plaster in the dining room can be removed.

The girls moved all of our clothes from our apartment into our new closet at the house. Timmy and Kevin did a second coat of primer in the bedroom and then began painting the room with my favored paint, Coventry Gray from Benjamin Moore. They also painted the trim, the pocket door, and moved the outlet in the bathroom.

Closet Solution from IKEA

Thanks to Ali and Whitney for helping me put the clothes away!

Isn’t this color the best?

Thanks Whitney!

HELPERS: Ali, Whitney, Timmy, Jason, Steven Albano

VISITORS: Lenny Celaya, Kelsey, Elissa

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Day 12 | It Continues…

October 11, 2013February 25, 2017Leave a comment

Day 12

NOTE: ALL of our work takes place after our 9-5 jobs… which means LATE nights and little sleep. Thank you to my mom and dad for coming over during the day and getting things done while we are at work!

Today we caulked all of the moldings and windows in our bedroom, primed all of the walls and ceilings (because the wild colors didn’t stop at the walls), framed the doors with new molding to match the rest of the house, and ripped up more sub floor in the living room.

HELPERS: Mom & Dad U., Caleb

Day 11 | Choices, Choices

October 10, 2013January 25, 2015Leave a comment

Day 11

Kevin didn’t go into work today and I worked a half-day so that we could get more work done on the house. It’s hard having a full time job while doing a home renovation! Who would have guessed? Haha!

Kevin finished mudding the walls in our bedroom, we picked out the carpet for the bedrooms, we picked out and installed the closet storage pieces from Ikea (check them out HERE), Timmy began priming all of the walls that needed painting, AND my mom continued stripping door #1.

Master closet with removed plywood shelving, new paint, and new light fixture.

Jake and Kevin assembling closet shelving.

Timmy priming our bedroom walls. Goodbye blue!

Walls and ceiling primed!

HELPERS: Timmy, Jake, Mom U.

Day 10 | Finishing Bedroom

October 9, 2013January 19, 2015Leave a comment

Day 10

After work, Kevin missed Impact, our church’s high school ministry that we help at (Sorry Steve!), to get more work done. He mudded the pocket door wall and started to move the light switch in the bathroom from one wall to the other. He also caulked the crown moldings in the closet.

Day 9 | Finishing Drywall

October 8, 2013August 20, 2015Leave a comment

Day 9

Today we finished the dry wall between the master bathroom/bedroom, Kevin began mudding the bathroom walls and seams, we painted the master closet, began removing plaster from the dining room walls, AND continued stripping paint off door #1. Thanks Mom U. for bringing us dinner while we worked away 🙂

HELPERS: Mom U. and Chris Gannon

VISITOR: Havilah Abrego

Day 8 | Hauling Trash

October 7, 2013January 19, 2015Leave a comment

Day 8

Today Dad U. brought his truck and trailer and hauled away ALL of the trash in the garage to the dump. He also began cleaning up the front yard.

THANK YOU Dad!

HELPER: Dad U.

Day 7 | Continuing Demo

October 6, 2013January 24, 2015Leave a comment

Day 7

Today we moved the first load of trash to the dumpster at Contractor’s Carpet Center (Kevin’s Grandpa’s business in Monrovia). We started dry walling the pocket door between the master bedroom and bathroom, we finished the electrical to the light switch in the master bedroom, cleaned up debris throughout the house, AND continued stripping the paint off door #1. We moved all of the demolition trash into the garage for the time being, we are planning to dump one load at a time. Trash dumping is expensive!

Thanks Tim & Whit for your help!

Cleaning up the mess from yesterday…

Remember that stressful pile of construction mess? It’s been removed!

Starting to drywall the pocket door frame.

Getting ready to dry wall over the previous bathroom entrance.

Goodbye old bathroom entrance!

Check out the new way to enter our master bath!

Yay! We can see the floor!

My mom working into the night, stripping the paint off that door.

HELPERS: Jason, Dad R., Mom U., Caleb, Whitney, Timmy

VISITORS: Kelly & Stephen Chakerian, Brian & Kristine, Tim & Melissa Balog, Jake

Day 6 | Demo Day

October 5, 2013January 24, 2015Leave a comment

Day 6

Our first Saturday as home owners proved to be a VERY busy work day. We had many friends and family members join us for the festivities. The boys ripped out the subfloor in the dining room, they continued removing the plaster on the kitchen walls to get to the frame, they removed the master bathroom door and frame, they started framing a pocket door in between the master bathroom and our bedroom, they patched holes in the master closet, hung a new light fixture. The girls cleaned the garage and continued stripping the paint off door #1. Whitney and I also picked out the paint for the master bedroom, bathroom, closet, and trim… Benjamin Moore, the Bentley of paint 🙂

I am on the quest for the perfect gray paint. So far, my favorite has been Coventry Gray by Benjamin Moore. Not too blue, not too green… just right, ahhhh! This color actually belongs to their historic color collection, which includes 174 time-honored hues of their most popular palette.

Goodbye floor!

Goodbye kitchen cabinets!

Does this stress you out like it did me?

Goodbye kitchen walls!

Thanks Dan and Jason!

No more kitchen or mudroom

Soon to be a pocket door in between the master bedroom and bathroom.

No more walls! Looking from the dining room into master bedroom.

Nice open concept eh?

In just one day, Kevin and the guys ripped out the wall and put in the pocket door frame!

Removed the plywood shelving in the master closet and installed this beautiful light!

HELPERS: Jason, Dan, Matt Baker, Steve DuBransky, Monica, Whitney, Mom U., Dad R., Caleb, and Jake

VISITORS: Heidi, Grandpa & Loretta, Dad U., Dayna Rychen, Chris Ostos, and Josh & Kelsey

Day 5 | Goodbye Kitchen Walls

October 4, 2013February 24, 2017Leave a comment

Day 5

Say goodbye to the rest of the kitchen cabinets and the walls between the kitchen and dining room and mudroom. We are going for an open concept. The boys found an old water softener hidden behind the walls!

Get rid of those checkered counter tops!

Thanks Rob for the help!

No more cabinets!

The full view!

Getting rid of the wall that separates the kitchen and mudroom.

An old water softener hidden behind the walls.

HELPER: Rob Macleod

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Day 4 | Kitchen Prep

October 3, 2013January 19, 2015Leave a comment

Day 4

Today Kevin and our good friend Jake Balog ripped out the rest of the wood floor in the kitchen and removed the cabinets and appliances in preparation for this weekend’s demolition crew.

HELPERS: Jake Balog

VISITORS: Stephen & Kelly Chakerian, Katie Skutvik

Day 3 | Stripping Paint

October 2, 2013February 24, 2017Leave a comment

Day 3

Today Mom U. began stripping the layers upon layers (I’m talking at least 10 layers!) of paint off bedroom door #1. This house was built in 1912, and although I want to make massive upgrades, I want to keep as much of the original features as possible, the doors being one of these things. I love these 5 panel craftsman doors!

We had home group tonight and a brought a bunch of our friends over to scope out the place late into the evening.

VISITORS: Ali Wigington, Whitney Rodriguez, Jacob Balog, Steven Albano

DAY 2 | No Time Wasted

October 1, 2013November 12, 2016Leave a comment

DAY 2

We didn’t waste any time. Right after work we headed over to the house to begin planning for this massive renovation project that we just took on. The first thing Kevin did was pull out his knife and begin ripping out the old green carpet in the living room and the uneven, sloping wood floors in the dining room. Our mom’s began cleaning the dirty shutters… but how cool that the house came with new windows and plantation shutters? Can’t complain about that!

We didn’t even have the electricity turned on yet, so our neighbor kindly ran an extension cord from his house to ours so that we could at least power some overhead lights.

Jason removing the subfloor in the living room.

Caleb removing the carpet from the master bedroom.

Our makeshift lighting, thanks to our neighbors for the power.

Kevin removing the wood floor.

Cleaning Shutters

HELPERS: Jason, Caleb, the Moms

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We got the keys!

September 30, 2013March 12, 2017Leave a comment

Day 1

After a 45 day escrow, we finally got the keys! Thanks to our realtor and friend, Elissa Gannon for all of her hard work to get this thing to close.

We endured a lot of back-and-forth with the bank but we were ultimately able to get a special construction loan (FHA 203K) that allowed us to pick and choose projects around the house that we wanted to accomplish within a set amount of time. This 100 year old craftsman is going to get a face lift. But the clock is ticking and we need to get started right away!

Join us on our journey of home renovation. Check out all of these BEFORE photos… we hope to have good AFTER photos for you eventually.