Major Home Remodel

I have dreamed for 3 years about doing this home addition.  John started dreaming with me about 10 months ago, so we had a contractor come over and give us a general bid for the job.  Then we sat on the idea, mulled it over, changed and changed the plans ten times over, saved our pennies and planned our finances. . . Then we got pregnant with #7 and decided to jump on it and get it rolling, and hopefully finished before baby came.

So we're now living in a construction zone with constant dust, noise, workers in and out daily, lots of last minute decisions, questions, more changes to the plans, and lots of major messes. And I couldn't be more excited!  After a few failed attempts at cleaning the house (vacuuming, dusting, sweeping),  the kids were thrilled to hear me announce that no one has to do any cleaning till Spring Break in March.  It's just no use.  We're hoping to be finished by then.

So what are we doing?  The family room ceiling originally went up about 21 feet, all the way up to the ceiling of the second story.  We put a 10-foot ceiling over the family room, which will allow for a huge play/game room above it.  We added two big storage closets (which are sooooo needed in this house, where there are currently zero linen or storage closets.  Just doesn't work very well with a large family) and changed the small loft into another bedroom and full bathroom.  

Within the last two weeks, we have finished framing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and insulation.  What's left is drywall, then trim, then paint, then carpet, then more trim and last minute install of electrical, plumbing, etc.   we're hoping to finish up within the next 4 weeks.

Here's the family room.

Workers, framing the new ceiling over the family room.

Looking down into the family room from the upstairs loft.

New floor being laid for the big playroom ( according to Andersen and Kate), otherwise known as the new game room (according to My teenagers).

Looking from the stairs landing to what used to be a wall, which the workers knocked down. Lots of circular holes towards the ceiling ( on the wall adjacent to the master bedroom) allowed for insulation, I.e. noise barrier between the game room and my bedroom.

We decided to put a pocket door towards the top of the stairs at the entrance of the hallway that leads into the bedrooms so we have the option of closing it when young kids are going to sleep but older kids are playing in the game room.  It also will hopefully keep friends/ cousins away from playing in the bedrooms.

Looking into the loft, which is being morphed into a bedroom and bathroom. The tub was installed yesterday.  Progress!

In the hallway, we used to have upper cabinets with a desk and lower cabinets below.  For my family, it was the clutter collection pile, and the cupboard were so narrow that we could hardly store sheets and towels.  So we ripped them out and are building a double door closet with wide, deep shelves for bins, tubs, and lots of awesome stuff that just needs a place to call its own.  And because we didn't want to be wasteful, we installed the upper cabinets in the laundry room and plan to use the lower cabinets in the playroom below the media area.

Another storage closet for all the games, toys, and fun kid stuff that keeps our kids happy and entertained. This closet is in the corner of the game room.

Where is all the family room furniture?  In the living room, of course.  Makes for a fun game of hot lava, where the kids hop from couch to couch without touching the ground.

I'm pretty sure that Spring Break is going to bring some major Spring cleaning and home organization.  Can't wait!