1st Floor Reno (not kitchen) – updated 12/13

[Deleted]

My H and I took off work on Friday and he also took off today so we got a lot done in the new space this weekend. I love seeing everyone's progress pictures, so I thought I'd share mine as well. I'll try to keep everything in one post now  

The space is not large, and the laundry room as intended really served as nothing more than that and pass through to a teeny tiny 1/2 bath. So as part of the reno, in addition to raising the floor to the same height as the kitchen, we are bumping out the wall for the 1/2 bath to allow for a minor reconfiguration moving the toilet from under the window to the same wall as the sink. We are doing all of the work ourselves, and by "we" I really mean H since he's a perfectionist and doesn't let me help as much as I would like LOL

I'll add more pictures as we progress. I'm honestly not sure how long this is going to end up taking, but I'm guessing probably at least month working on it nights and weekends. We'll see, maybe H will surprise me and get it done faster. 

Before-ish:










Pantry design:






Half-bath design:




Progress pictures:





New door, yay!

[winecat]

What was the height difference between the two floors?

What software/app did you use to design? I have a bee in my bonnet about changing some stuff in my house.

[Deleted]

Sept 8, 2020 13:43:51 GMT -5 winecat said:

What was the height difference between the two floors?

What software/app did you use to design? I have a bee in my bonnet about changing some stuff in my house.

I don't remember offhand, but it was definitely higher than a standard step height, maybe like 9"? 

For the pantry I used the kitchen design tool on the Ikea website, and for the bathroom, I honestly can't remember, it was what ever one let me do it for free LOL

[winecat]

My front porch, laundry, and pantry are all on a floor that's about 3 inches lower than the rest of my house so that's why I'm asking. I want to make some changes. I wasn't sure if I needed to/should raise the floor there. This is mostly a pie in the sky but it's been fun to think about.

[winecat]

I tried one floor plan website that was free but wasn't easy for me to use.

[mrsukyankee]

Yay, progress! Love seeing it.

[Deleted]

Small Update: the floor is complete and all of the plumbing and electrical is completed. We moved a bunch of switches and outlets around so my H just pulled all the original wiring and started from scratch. We had a small set back when he decided to cut a wire and figure it out later and for some unknown reason, that wire was connected to 3 outlets on the 2nd floor on the other side of house. Thankfully during demo we didn't find any major structural issues, everything for the most part was in great shape given the age of the house (1973). There was water damage to one piece of wood, but it wasn't structural, just put in place to hold the old vent pipe, and clearly they did a piss poor job of water proofing that and water got in. We relocated that pipe anyway, so just patched the old hole in the roof. Next up we need to put in the new door to the garage, then we'll be able to remove the store that goes in to the kitchen, put in new insulation and start drywall. That will all hopefully be done this coming weekend. I've already picked out all of the finishes including the hardware for the new cabinets that I love. Literally the only thing that is being reused from the old bathroom/laundry area is the toilet because we just purchased that new a couple of years ago, everything else in the space will be from scratch.

In the first picture you can see that we were testing out the new position of the toilet, instead of it backing up to the exterior wall, we turned it and it will now back up to the garage wall. Turning the toilet and bumping out the wall in to the new pantry space means that we'll have room for an actual vanity in the 1/2 bath which I'm super excited about.

[winecat]

This is so cool!! Thanks for the pictures.

[thejackpot]

How exciting! I love the progressive's pictures. Your husband is super handy!

[mrsukyankee]

I love seeing all the progress.

[Deleted]

Another small update. The drywall is in and my new, larger opening is framed out and drywalled as well. My H is being quite ambitious and thinks he’ll have the walls primed by the weekend. We’ll see!





And here’s a sneak peek of the flooring. I spent Friday and Saturday moving it around to different rooms at different times of the day to make sure I liked it.

[winecat]

This is amazing! I wish I knew how to do that kind of stuff. So cool!

[momin2013]

Looks great - that new opening is really going to open up the space. I also love your flooring, it goes very nicely with your paint colour!

[mrsukyankee]

Starting to really come together. I can't wait to see more. Well done to your H!

[dr.girlfriend]

IDK if you already have a plan for the sink, but we replaced our exposed-pipe sink with a pedastal sink in our tiny half-bath and I think it looks much better!

Before (photo we took at showing):


After:

[thejackpot]

Wow! You guys are doing a great job! So thrilling!

[Deleted]

We’ve got floors and doors! The bathroom should be operational by Thursday night and after that my husband is going to turn his attention to the cabinetry.

The scope of our project has expanded some. We decided since we were putting new doors in the new space that the whole first floor should get new doors. And as long as we’re putting in flooring in, might as well put it in the entire first floor, and heck, if we’re doing that might as well put in all new baseboards LOL It’s all good though, these are needed updates.






And here is a closer picture of the floor. We chose a laminate. It’s 12mm and we put down a 3mm underlayment. The flooring itself is waterproof to 24hrs and has an AC4 rating so should stand up to my dogs ::fingerscrossed::

[k3am]

YH moves fast! It's going to be so nice once you're done. I love the floors!

[nicolewi]

The floors look great! I bet you will be very glad you decided to do them throughout the entire space.

[Deleted]

Oct 6, 2020 22:00:54 GMT -5 kellady said:

This is looking great! A lot of work, but will be so worth it.  I love the idea of updating the doors and floors on the first floor.  

And lol at the dog photobomb.                                           

LOL I kept telling her to move but she wasn't having it so I finally said eff it and just took the picture  

[simpsongal]

It's looking awesome!! I feel you on the scope creep, but it's really the right call. You've got the place torn up and you have access to all the same materials, do it all once! Your DH has some serious skills and even more impressive, he's cranking it out!

Hallmark of a good reno, if you move walls and what not and it looks "correct" (like it always should have been that way

[winecat]

I've been checking back for an update. It looks so good!

[InBetweenDays]

It looks great! Gotta love scope creep - but I think it's a good idea to tackle the doors and floors right now. You'll be very happy you did. Thanks for letting us follow along!

[mrsukyankee]

Great choice in flooring!

[Deleted]

Quick sneak peak update. As of last night we have a functioning bathroom. It still needs a lot more to be done, but I’m so excited with how it looks. All of the woodwork is painted with SW Emerald Urethane Semi-Gloss in Pure White. It’s a bit more expensive at nearly $100/gallon but it really is an awesome paint. My H kept commenting on how nice it is and he’s a hard man to please.

Now:



vs Before:

[definitelyO]

looks amazing! love the vanity!

[Ramz-ee]

That looks so good!

[mrsukyankee]

Beautiful!

[Deleted]

No pictures this week because my house looks like a bomb went off, but I just wanted to provide an update.

This project started out as a re-do of the laundry room and powder room. That part of the project is going well. The scope-creep however is getting out of hand! LOL

Because we were putting in new doors for the garage and powder room, we also ended up doing a new back door, which has led to new doors on the entire first floor. New doors on the entire first floor also led to new door trim on the entire first floor. And while we are at it, we decided to start looking at new front doors and that will be replaced as well.

We started just putting in new floors in the new space which of course led to putting in new floors on the entire main floor. And since we're doing all new floors, we're also doing all new baseboards. And since we are doing all new baseboards, might as well do all new baseboard heaters while we are at it and of course, new thermostats in every room. AND the new floors went down great in the pantry/kitchen/foyer, but the kitchen and dining area isn't going as well. First when I pulled up the dining room carpet, we discovered cat pee all around the border of the room on 2 our of 3 walls, so I had to clean the subfloor well and then paint with Kilz, which I'll have to do in the LR as well, but not before we fix the 1/2" hump in the middle of the LR floor. Oh, and the LR/DR is 5/8" lower than the kitchen/foyer so we have to put down all new subfloor on top of the existing subfloor to even it all out. OH! And the worst part about the floors? Apparently the prior home owner had cats. Did you know that cat pee smell can be reactivated over 5 years later when you pull up carpeting? I didn't, but now I know. I mean, I know that we'd likely have to treat a few spots on the subfloor with Natures Miracle because of my dogs, BUT was not expecting cat pee stains along the entirety of the base of the dining room walls, so we decided to paint the entire subfloor with Kilz, but I accidentally bought oil based and now my house stinks to high hell LOL

And of course, now that almost everything is going to be shiny and new, I want to paint the LR/DR because I've hated the color since we moved in. BUT my H has always hated the fireplace, so now it looks like we're going to be ripping that out and replacing the brick with tile and turning it from wood burning to electric.

Somehow this is all supposed to get done by Thanksgiving with only the two of us working on it. Yeah, OKAY! LOL

[aprilsails]

I know there are a lot of new issues there @sameoldstory but I’m excited for you since you are getting so much done and will love it for so much longer once it is finished.