Decisions

As far as I can tell...

Still deciding on:
Front door
Front door hardware
Interior paint colors in all rooms
Porch colors
Staircase spindles
Porch spindles
Porch columns
Porch floor material
New path material
Exterior lighting
Interior lighting (it's a lot, but 'interior lighting' makes me feel better)
Door knobs
Bath vanities
Bath sinks
Bath countertops
Bath mirrors
Bath fixtures like towel bars, et al.
Door hinges
Stair risers stained or painted
Stair rail
Carpeting
Hardwood floor stain
Master tub
Master tub faucet
Closet organization
Toilets

Already chosen:
Shingles
Bathroom tile
Laundry room tile
Sink faucets
Tub and shower faucets
Exterior paint color (we're 99.9125% sure, so this goes down as chosen)

One of these lists is not like the other.

We have stairs, and more

Over the past few days, our house has received her shingles, and workers have been swaddling her in the construction-equivalent of Saran Wrap. While Chris has braved the ladder in the never-ending rain to check progress on the second floor, the girls and I have been waiting on the stairs. Yesterday afternoon, our wait was over:

So up we went. We were able to see where the rooms would be, and point out what was going where. We could also see what would be our new attic space (amazing storage space). Our new staircase going up is so roomy that our (existing) staircase going downstairs feels like a drive-through banking chute. Hmmm.

Because I don't want us to be the reason work on the house is delayed, we stay pretty busy researching and selecting all the remaining purchases. Stay tuned for posts on:

• Tile: earlier this week we visited a tile showroom, and quite the unexpected happened.
• Something we all use every single day: it has become my new online hunting prey. You may even be asked for your opinion.
• Carpet: more commonly known around here as someone's obsession (hint: not mine).
• Why I love gray: and how it will be a part of every single room in this house if I get my way.

And if there's anything in particular you want to hear about, just let me know in the comments. 

Eight days later, we have this

Construction started with a roof demolition just eight days ago y'all. Eight. Days.  Amazing!

Introducing Saxton, our faucet

I thought I wanted oil-rubbed bronze finishes. They're beautiful, and stately, and all sorts of gaze-upon-me, for-I-am-worthy-of-your-lingering-glance. So I dutifully looked online and in stores; I dog-eared magazine pages and bookmarked a couple of websites. Then I noticed something: few of my online pins featured this finish. And when I looked at those pictures I'd pinned, I couldn't imagine oil-rubbed bronze in them. So after noticing what they did feature, I asked the Mr. if he had an opinion. And when he spoke these words, I knew what we would choose:

Farewell roof...

Thursday was our scheduled demolition day, but our builder decided Wednesday afternoon the rain had stopped for good, so roof demolition began. By the time we got home from work today, the entire roof was gone! Chris observed the house now looks remarkably like a double-wide trailer.

What's on tap for the next few days:
- Friday the second-floor floor joists are installed.
- Saturday the plumber comes and does...something...plumber-y.
- Monday we visit our first showroom to choose the next item - wait for it: shower/tub faucets- which we have to select before the roof can go on.
- We'll spend much of the weekend trying to finalize our bathrooms overall (floor tile, vanities, lighting, etc.) since we'd like everything to match. We're crazy clever like that.

Oh, and I've started posting before and demolition pictures on the blog so you can visually follow along. Stay tuned...

Weather report

I do love the rain and the wind, the lightening and the thunder. We've had a few days of rain, with a storm slated to move in overnight. It'll taper off by later tomorrow. I see this as a good sign, an auspicious prelude to the official start of the project. Thursday looks to be the first of a run of clear days, so that's when demololition is scheduled to begin. Fingers crossed!

The big decision we didn't anticipate

We met with our builder Friday to discuss the first big decision. I have thought long and hard about virtually every aspect of this renovation, but I did not once - not once! - ever think about this one: the roof.

The roof? That's the first big decision? Ok, how many choices are there? Well, behold:

The Project Brief

When we talked about ‘the renovation’, we were all sorts of dreamers. We could bump the house out and back and up! We could install solar panels! Wallpaper is totally in! Okay, that last one was just me.

Then slowly we started to get a little more serious. What’s most important? How would we go about this? Are we really willing to do what it takes to make this happen? We decided we were.

Fast forward to our getting an architect and a builder. Now, you can sit around with these folks all you want, dreaming and surmising and fantasizing. You can say you're looking for a city-chic Swiss chalet, and then get weirdly intense about, say, the shape of your bathroom faucets and how you want to loathe stucco but you can't - it's just so texture-y. That sort of random word association approach to construction will get you disappointing houseplans and a high architect bill. Plus, I'm pretty sure you'll be that client they all horrify one another with at their builder conventions.

You have to focus. That's where The Project Brief comes in.

First, about the second story

When they install a temporary utility pole in your front yard, you know something is about to happen.

Oh, hi! Welcome to Southern Reno - The Second Story. We're documenting a renovation we've dreamed about for years.

Above is a picture of our current home. She's cute, huh?  Quaint, cozy little three bedroom, two bath with full basement. Ah, but she yearns to be bigger. She wants to be our home forever, and give us no reason to ever look longingly at another. So she's going under the knife. Or the saw, rather. Lots of 'em we expect.

What's on the reno list? Here's a peek:
- A second story
- Three additional bedrooms and bathrooms
- An upstairs laundry room
- A more open main floor floorplan
- One less bedroom on the main floor (hey, the stairs have to go somewhere!) but also...
- An actual dining room

It's so exciting, and we can hardly believe it's finally underway!