Another week, another leap forward

On the road all week, but the changes at home are dramatic.  First, some shots from last weekend before I left:

Here is a nice shot of our new broom closet, to the left of the pocket door

Kim and Anne Marie checking out the living room

Foundation is ready to go

 Some free publicity for our awesome contractor and his crew. 

Framing has started on the addition, and the shape of the house is starting to show:

From the back yard, you can see the windows for the office:

 Nothing inside (yet)!

 

 The old nasty vinyl siding is gone, and they're ready to start with phase 2 of demolition, blowing out the nook and enlarging the living space:

You leave town for a week...

Tom and the crew at Crown Home Builders were busy while I was out of town this past week.  Foundation poured and built, inside walls modified, ceiling down, pocket door installed, the list goes on.  Before my flight on Monday, I stopped by to snap a few shots:

Here is the kitchen with the ceiling just down- that's the insulation piled on the floor.

Here is a view of the ceiling structure.  After the addition is framed out, this will all be replaced with vaulted space.

We had a tenant in the attic, but I guess she died of loneliness...  at first glance, I thought she was the biggest rat I've seen, but she's actually a squirrel.  FYI, she'd been dead a LONG time...

I got home on Friday, and the foundation is completely done, awaiting inspection:

All the plants have been moved.  We had some real concerns about our favorite Camellia bush that was right in the new addition site, but Tom, John and Harry made a giant effort to move it safely, and now it sits nicely in the back yard.  The town arborist says it looks like it will live, so that's a win for us!

Here's Tom and Harry, finishing work on repairing some old termite damage under the house.  John is in the picture too, but he's actually under the house...

Lastly, another shot of the inside-

I'm going out west this week, to Salt Lake City and San Diego.  I expect the framing will be started by the time I get back.  Can't wait to see the progress!

Foundations started!

The foundation crew got busy today- precision digging, all while taking extra care for our live oak tree...

Here are some shots from this morning before digging started:

And here is the same place this evening:

Here's the back yard this morning:

And again this evening:

Inside, they've already framed out the new living room walls, and Julia's old room is ready to be enclosed again:

And lastly, here's Cricket, stressing over all the changes to her house.  Due to some feedback, we have added some parental controls to the photo:

Leaps and Bounds

Its truly amazing how quickly a space can be transformed with the judicious application of force.  Its Day 3 of the project, and you can already begin to see the space to come:

View from the kitchen, looking towards Julia's old room.  You can see the original door that was framed in during an earlier renovation. 

View from the kitchen towards the front door.  Another old door was in this part of the wall.  We're going to replace this entire wall with a smaller divider and pocket doors.

Another view of the same space

Looking back towards the kitchen area.  The far wall will join up with the new bedroom/bathroom/laundry/mudroom/office space to be built.

 

Demolition Starts!

The crew moved in on Labor Day, 2010, and labored removing our nasty old kitchen.  We're donating our cabinets to Habitat for Humanity, which is a great way to recycle construction materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill.   Here's the progress from yesterday:

You can see the plumbing in the center, in what used to be a bar.  The wall on the right is going to be blown out and replaced with a set of pocket doors.  The wall straight ahead will be the start of our addition. 

The old eating area, looking out on the backyard.  The wall on the left is going away, being pushed out about 6 feet to meet the windows in the center of the photo.  

Facing the other way, the door in the middle is being sealed off.  Notice the flue for the fireplace- used to be a closet, and still sports the wood paneling!

On the back of the house, you can see the kitchen area and living room.  The stoop will be enclosed and the new screened porch will take up this space.

It took us a long time, but here we go...

We've lived in our little 1950's ranch home for 10 years, and we're finally ready to renovate! I'll be using this blog to post photos of the progress as our contractors tear up, rebuild, add on and generally improve the place.
Our contractor showed up first thing this morning to begin demolition. Already, the old kitchen is gone, and the space is beginning to open up...

Our house, back in 2001.

Here is a shot of the north side of the house, before demolition.  Notice the old window and charming vinyl siding on the back.  The sad part is we might lose the old Camellia bush, but we're going to try to move it...

   Here is another shot of the back of the house.  There is a giant oak tree just out of the photo, protected by the construction fencing. 

Lastly, here is one of our neighbors who got spooked by the falling bricks... We explained the situation and she ran off to find lunch in a safer location.