We decided to create a totally new floor plan with just four bedrooms upstairs, and each of them would be a decent size.
This involved a LOT of demolition. If fact, almost every wall in the above photo had to come down. All the flooring had to be removed. The big house fan in the hallway ceiling had to go, as did tons of other things like closets, lighting, a built-in bed, and baseboard heaters. This stage of demo took us many, many weeks and we had to enlist the help of some friends from church to get it done by our contractor's deadline. And every time we thought we were done ripping and tearing, there was more to do.
Let me just say that construction crews, especially demolition crews, are worth every single penny they charge for their labor. This is hard work. It's dirty work. It's exhausting work. If you've ever watched an HGTV reno show and thought, "I'd LOVE to do that! I want to buy an old house and fix it up! How FUN that looks!", you would be dead wrong. Everything looks simple and easy on tv. The reality is much, much different.
Anyway, we spent evenings and weekends as a family at the house doing this work. The kids sometimes picked up a hammer - or even a sledgehammer - and pounded away. We filled countless buckets full of plaster, nails, wood, and general debris to throw into the dumpster. And the hallway and upstairs started to look different.
Eventually we got to the point where all the necessary walls were gone and the floors were cleaned up down to the subfloor. At this point, the plumbers had to remove the heaters and copper pipes and the electricians had lots of wiring to do. And those clean-swept floors? They stayed that way for approximately 14 minutes before they became covered with more debris. That was a vicious cycle that went on and on and on.
But then look what happened! New walls appeared! This is the same view as the first photo taken from the entrance to Dixon's room. Here's a side-by-side for better comparison:
It's a bit hard to tell, but the hallway is officially gone. The space that was hallway is now a part of two bedrooms at the back of the house (on the left side of the photo). At the top of the main stairs is now a spacious landing area that angles around to provide access to the new front part of the upstairs.
You can see how much space the bedrooms picked up by taking over that hallway. The "wound" in the ceiling is where the bedrooms previously ended.
And a view from the now open area at the front of the house looking towards the main stairs.
Oh - see the open floor joists? All of the floors joists were filled with blown-in insulation. If the kids are loud, stomping their feet, jumping around in their rooms, etc., we won't hear it downstairs. *huge smile*
I'm so happy with how much more spacious these two back bedrooms now are. Where there were once four bedrooms and a hallway we now have two bedrooms and an open study area for the kids to share. The amount of time and work it took to get to this point was incredible, but it will be so very worth it.
And after months and months of demo, construction, rewiring, plumbing, more demo, etc., I finally walked upstairs last week to see THIS:
Yes folks, that is the same space! This is the current view from the end of the open study area near the main stairs. The two bedrooms are on the left, Dixon's room is behind me, and Sasha's room is through the doorway at the back of the photo. This space will become home to two long desks for the kids and all their schoolwork and art supplies.
When I took this photo the paint crew was in the process of priming the upstairs, hence all the paint supplies on the floor. As soon as I pulled out my camera and said I was going to take a picture they scattered like ants into the bedrooms. Silly boys.
It's starting to look like a home!
