Here's background topic #2: Our new house --typically referred to in Seattle Indochine as the "
Inverness House."
. So we made an offer in August on our "dream house", thinking that we would put in a few months of work, and then move in around September or October.
Long story short, it is now almost 10 months later and we haven't moved in yet. This is mostly because we have been tied up timing wise due to things happening at our townhouse (see next post). But to date, here's what we've done already:
1. Renovated the
downstairs den: In this room, we took out all of the paneling and re-sheet rocked the room. We also rewired the room to bring the electrical system up to date. Still left to do: change the carpet and paint. Here's a BEFORE picture (AFTER pictures will be in a later post).
2. Remodeled the
master bathroom, powder room and family room area: This was our most major project. We took space from some closets in the adjacent family room to give more room to the master bedroom (before picture with the blue vanity). The extra space allowed us to put in a bathtub, a walk in double shower, double sinks, laundry chute, and a window. We also ordered new vanities, retiled the floors and tub/shower area, put in a new toilet, new electrical, and all new plumbing fixtures. Still left to do: install the vanity, faucets, backsplash and mirror (all pending the delivery of the new vanity which is 4 months late!), install shower door, install laundry chute door.
In the powder room (adjacent to the master bath), we put in a new toilet, new floors, a new tiled vanity, vessel sink and faucet, and a capiz chandelier. Still left to do: hang the mirror over the vanity.
3. Renovated the
downstairs bathroom: The downstairs bathroom is what we think of as the "kids bathroom." We replaced the vanity, put in double sinks, new toilet, all new tiling (floor and walls), new plumbing fixtures and heat, and painted. We kept the old bathtub and didn't move the locations of any plumbing around. Here's a BEFORE shot:
Other things we have accomplished (but don't have photo documentation for) are:
- ripping out all of the carpeting on the upper floor
- redoing all of the electricity in all 4 bedrooms, and resheetrocking walls where necessary
- gutting the kitchen (ripped out to the studs)
- removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room
- removing the paneling from the main living room upstairs
And, here's the thumbnail sketch of what is
still left to do:
1. Kitchen preparation (should occur by June 7): new electricity, plumbing, and gas line installed.
2. Kitchen sheetrock: putting up new walls (will occur as soon as step 1 is complete)
3. Whole house needs to be painted (still getting estimates on this)
4. New bamboo floors installed (will happen as soon as step 3 is complete,but the flooring is already purchased).
5. New carpeting in downstairs bedrooms.
6. Kitchen cabinets installed (July 1)
7. Kitchen countertops installed (3-4 weeks after step 5)
After that, we plan to move in! Who knows how long it will take....
I'll try to post whenever things get done!
