home improvement update

I realize it has been quite some time since I have had a home renovation post. This is partly due to the fact that renovation has slowed down considerably for us…thank goodness. You other homeowners know [especially home owners of OLDER homes] there is always something that you would like to do, or that could be done…but for now the big projects have stopped for awhile. One of our last projects I mentioned were our counter tops that we installed last winter. Other updates were mentioned here and here. There have been many other things that I haven't highlighted on here as well.

Our latest endeavor though, which has seemed to take f.o.r.e.v.e.r. has been our mudroom/laundry room whatever you prefer calling it.

Here is a "before" from when we first moved in: June 2010:

Things to notice in the above photo:

- Wall to wall PANELLING. [as if you could miss it]

- Cabinets, doors etc all woodwork…of an ugly variety

Now for the updating process. Last summer we noticed our ceiling in this room was dripping. Yep, awesome. It got worse. And then worse. And then moldy. And then the ceiling fell in. Yep, even more awesome. Our old…old…OLD…AC unit was in our attic and the bottom had rusted out, which caused the condensation to drip straight through our ceiling instead of being redirected. It was a big, smelly mess.

First priority was a new unit. We splurged for a new unit that would add central heating via a heat pump [more energy efficient…thus a tax rebate! Oh yeah!], since we only had base board heating before. We clearly didn't want to put the unit in our attic, so we added it to the empty space in the above photo. Easy access for maintence…new unit…awesome. However, putting this new unit it also required us to need a new electric box/circuit/amp thing. [Clearly I was not the one to put this in]. These two updates were by far the most expensive of anything we've done, but I think/hope/pray they pay off in the long run.

And OH YEAH…we still had a festering hole in our ceiling. We knew we needed to have that re-sheet rocked, so we got a quote on what it would cost to do the whole room…because even though the panelling made me feel oh-so-retro, I wouldn't cry if it had to go :). The cost of having someone else professionally do the sheet rocking was so reasonable we said, "HECK YEAH!" or something like that. And the nasty moldy ceiling, and nasty, ugly panelling came down. HOORAY.

And then it sat like that for awhile. I got pregnant and couldn't paint [beautiful thing], and so my awesome mother-in-law came over and got the ball rolling. She prepped everything, which is a very long process. And then she and Brent used one of their we-work-at-a-bank-and-get-random-holidays-day to bust the rest of it out. They are awesome. We are still going to update the floor, but for now it is SO MUCH BETTER. #1. it no longer smells. I didn't even want to do laundry in there because of it [thanks, mold.] #2. It seems so much bigger and less like the walls are collapsing in on you because of all of the panelling.

Yes it was a lengthy process…but the fruits of our labor have been well worth it so far :). I told Brent we could do a "sports theme" and use some of his KU stuff, which he of course was all for. I'll stop rambling now and let you take a peek [or, if you REALLY want to get the full feel for this room, I'll let you come by and do some laundry! HOORAY!]

So much better. The curtain in the back is currently hiding the AC unit. Beck and Brent will be building that in soon…or at least, sometime.

I have commissioned the world famous and multi-talented Grandpa A.J. to build a bench seat with storage for beneath this window. . I'm in no hurry to get it [don't panic, Grandpa!], but it will look quite nice right there, I do believe. AND it will come in handy once this little daughter of mine needs to sit down and put her shoes on to go outside. For now the ol' army trunk I found at a garage sale will do [it is pretty cool].

Like I said, I brought some of Brent's KU stuff into the room…actually, everything I "decorated" with was stuff I had on hand. Since the renovation of this room was so pricey after the new unit, electrical, and sheet rock, I didn't want to spend anything else! The shelf above was made for me by my Uncle Kirby years and years go, I always have a million frames laying around I've collected over the years, the flowers were something I had picked up at a thrift store in college, and the plaque I found in my stack of high school memorabilia that my sister gave me for Christmas in 2001 [it said it on the back…I don't actually remember that].

I also found some random yet cool vintage photos tucked away in my classroom closet. I swear they had been there for 60 years…that is probably not an exaggeration. They came with an old text book and have writing prompts on the back. I actually use these [there are hundreds of them] for my writers notebook invitations sometimes! I pulled out a few of the cooler sports ones and again found some frames I had on hand.

The picture on the left came from classroom closet. Hilarious. And the two on the right I decided to add of Brent and me. See below:

Look at that cutie-pa-tootie. Number 44, you have no chance. You are about to get schooled by my man. Brent was and is a fierce, I repeat, FIERCE basketball player. Okay…he's a fierce athlete all-around. Dear daughter, please get his skillz.

And to continue with the black and white theme, I found this old newspaper clipping from my glory days. [I will not so humbly have you know that the caption to this picture read, "McQueen struck out 8 of the Lady Wolverines, but Kelsey C** stepped up to drill a 2 run homer off of her in the bottom of the 5th inning." But it really is no wonder…look at those guns! I was pretty stout back in the day. It is funny though that now, as assistant softball coach, I'm analyzing my swing and realizing that I'm dropping my shoulder pretty severely. Hands to the ball, Kels! Come on!!] Oh…yeah…the mudroom…

This door leads out to the garage. I hung up some old practice jerseys of ours.

And found this old gem that I made when I was in high school. I found an old frame, painted it, stapled some chicken wire to the back and viola. It's a great place to hang our car keys too.

ar k One other thing I never took a picture of before was our second bathroom. It is tucked away in our mudroom…which is actually a great place to have it. [It is past the closet to the left in the first picture…the doorway with Brent's pull up bar]. It isn't very large, but it has a great shower, stool, sink, and even has access to the big closet. All one could dream of having in a bathroom, right? Torri actually helped me paint this little sucker last winter.

And there you have it…from start to finish…even though there are still a few more projects to tackle in here, I'm pleased with my nice, clean, mold free mudroom! [I still don't like doing laundry…but that is another post entirely…oh wait: here's that post!]

Hope you enjoyed this peek into our home! And as always, it's always open to friends and family…and the rest of you too :).