Living Room Renos March 2008

Well, it's been a busy month. Since the beginning of March, Dave & I have been redoing the living room, from top to bottom, literally.

We started with enclosing a heater vent to the upstairs. (our house was built before the age of central heating or electricity) We covered it in with wallboard scavenged from the basement.




Then we started ripping out wallpaper in my office/sewing room. It was applied directly to the drywall and plywood. It wasn't an easy task to remove it cleanly, so we just ripped out drywall, deciding to replace instead.

After ripping out drywall, we found more wallpaper beneath. Would you believe the walls were made of cardboard? Plain ol' cardboard boxes!! One was from Evan's Florist in Moose Jaw. Our walls were put up with cardboard, wallpaper, drywall and then more wallpaper! Oh my goodness!!



We had a bit of electrical work to do, to mount an outlet securely to the studs, instead of to the wall itself (yes, it was screwed onto the plywood directly). Then we built a false wall, to facilitate drywall installation. There was originally no studs in the corners, so what would we fasten the drywall to? It was just an easier option this way, rather than trying to retro-fit studs into a wall cavity that wasn't built with standard sized lumber.



Drywall finished off the office walls, then onto mudding & sanding. Such a dusty job.

We did a bit of sanding on the ceiling, but after consulting with Mom, we decided it was probably just flaking primer that had never been painted (primer will do that after a few years). So then onto priming....ceiling, walls, trim.

Our first coat of red (aka terra cotta tile) was an eye-opener. WOW, such a change. We were able to paint both coats of red in one day, ending about 9pm that night. An exhausting day it was. Like most have been.



After paint was the flooring to install. March 22/08 saw the foam underlay go in. We also started the laminate then, too, not expecting it to take as long as it did. We quit about 5:30, went to town to pick up the boys and Gramma then headed out for supper. We were only about 1/2 done the floor at that point. A LOT of cutting to fit around the doorway, stairs, heater vent, etc.



Easter Sunday saw the boys finding their loot in the kitchen. Really, there wasn't anywhere else for the Easter Bunny to hide it. This photo also shows how cramped our kitchen has been, with a table dismantled behind the 2 couches piled in there.



We finished up the floor on Easter Sunday, for the most part anyhow. We still have doorways to finish up. Baseboards are about 1/2 done, too. Once we finish up the doorway to the porch, we can finish up the baseboards.



Here is a final photo, so far. Nothing on the walls yet, I might do some rearranging of photos, etc. (or perhaps I don't want to put nails into my new walls!!)






It has been a long tough job at times. A few times I just wanted it to be over. I was tired of the mess, the furniture ALL over the house (kitchen, bedroom, porch) and the dust everywhere. But, the worst is over. We just have 2 doorways to finish (bedroom & porch) and then we're done. OH! We have to finish the white trim on the doorways. I forgot, they're only primed. I wanted to get walls & floors done before painting took us all year long. LOL

So, I guess we're not as done as I thought. The closet door and door trim in the photo above, as well as our bedroom doorway (and door) need to be painted. Right now, they're primed only. We can't decide if we'll rehang the existing bi-fold door (painted, of course) or buy a regular passage door. All depends on cost, unfortunately. The doorway isn't a common size, only 30 x 77". Not sure if a standard door comes in that size.

Now....the porch needs a new floor, the bedroom needs a fresh coat of paint, the bedrooms upstairs need drywall & paint. Oh, the list goes on and on and on and on...