In the spring of 2008, Annette and I decided that we would remodel the house and add a game room over the kitchen. In addition, we added a wall to create the study and walls to close the openness of the house.
Because we were adding a new room upstairs, we decided to replace the carpet in all upstairs bedrooms and the loft. The existing carpet was a light beige color that showed everything (including the vomit stain from when Tanner was sick in the first year or two after we moved in).
We met with a contractor (Pat Dallas) who agreed to do the project. Then we met with the bank to see if we could get a construction loan that could be rolled into a refinance of our mortgage after the project was finished.
The project included remodeling the kitchen to remove a wall and overhead cupboards. We also changed the two pantries and added a nice big bar that is counter height.
Before Pictures
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| looking toward the future study from the stairs |
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| me holding Ashton in what would become the study |
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| microwave, oven, and stovetop |
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| looking toward the kitchen table we removed the wall by the sink and the overhead cupboards |
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| the tiny windows between the kitchen and playroom (our realtor Suzie Bush on the phone) we removed the overhead cupboards and made the bar counter height |
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| looking into the loft (and at Tanner) from the kitchen lovely blue wallpaper! |
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| looking into the large pantry we moved the door to the left side and changed the shelves to make them more efficient and useful for us |
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| looking into the small pantry we changed the shelves to make them more efficient and useful for us |
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| loft looking toward the kitchen and living room we put a wall and doorway to the game room along the wall to the right |
Annette and I picked a paint color (to get rid of the blue wallpaper!), a new carpet, and a granite countertop. Although we wanted to change the kitchen cupboards, we could not afford to include new cupboards within the project scope.
After Pat and his crew built the game room, we were ready for the new carpet. We had a slight hiccup because the flooring store called to tell us they could not get the original carpet pad we selected. This led us to choose a lower-quality carpet pad. While this lowered the project's final cost, we have always regretted not waiting for the higher-quality carpet pad.
On carpet removal day, we discovered the plywood subfloor in the bedroom over the garage had a large wet spot next to the wall under where the dresser sat. As we were talking about it, one of the boys voluntarily told us that the floor was wet because they liked to save time by peeing behind the dresser rather than walking 10 feet to the bathroom ... that revelation led to a lesson about why we have bathrooms in the house!
When we started the project, Pat promised we would be finished by June 1. Annette was pregnant with Addison and went into labor on Wednesday, May 28. Pat asked his crew to work extra hours on Wednesday and Thursday so that everything was finished when Annette came home from the hospital with Addison.
After Pictures
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| new study from the top of the stairs |
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| new kitchen |
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| looking at the kitchen from the playroom |
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| new kitchen showing the game room above |
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| new small pantry |
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| new large pantry |
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| new game room and loft area |
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| putting the game room to good use |
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