Floor plans

Once upon a time, we purchased a house.  It needed a lot of help.  The floor plan was a jumble.  The electricity was outdated.  The plumbing consisted of aging cast iron pipes and one in-room vented pipe (i.e. no exterior venting for the fixtures).  The carpet was worn.  There was water damage and rotting studs.  This is the story of what was and what is.  (If you're not much of a reader, just click on the first photo in each post, and you can just flip through the photos.)

A side-by-side comparison

The original floor plan

The new floor plan

Click here to see the exterior photos
Click here to see the living room
Click here to see the south bedroom
Click here to see the hallway
Click here to see the bathroom
Click here to see the kitchen/dining area
Click here to see the north bedroom
Click here to see the basement

Exterior

Stucco covered the exterior.  We knocked it all down, except what covered the cement block garage and back porch, and replaced it with hardiboard.  We ran out of warm weather days, so the exterior is only primed.  We still need to finish caulking, add trim, and paint.  These are the before and during photos:

The house has a two-car garage.  We added gravel between the concrete and the street.

We removed the screen doors, replaced the front door, switched out windows, and took out some shrubbery.  If you click on the photos to make them larger, you can see the chimney in the before photo; we removed that as well.

We eliminated three windows on this side.  The new electric heat pump is between the two pine trees.

We also added a water spigot.  It's the little dot to the left of the electric meter and heat pump.

A rose bush conceals the door into the garage in the before photo.  We relocated the bush so it would be better appreciated.

The house is on a corner lot.  Here's the view from one street. 

Here's the view from the other street.  The post under one of the windows is the water meter.  You can also see dirty snow on the lawn.  Isn't winter fun?

Click here to see the floor plans

Click here to see the living room

Click here to see the south bedroom

Click here to see the hallway

Click here to see the bathroom

Click here to see the kitchen/dining area

Click here to see the north bedroom

Click here to see the basement

Living Room

The living room maintained its general shape and size with a few modifications.

The front door opened to a vestibule.  We replaced the existing 32" door with a new 36" door, added a light operated by a switch, replaced the carpet with tile, and added more coat hooks.  We flipped the door swing and offset it to allow more room for a bench on on side.

The vestibule was closed off from the living room by another door.  We took out the door and built a 48" opening.  The new entryway is lower than the living room by a couple inches.

Instead of a step up or down, we built a small ramp.  It's pretty fancy.

The living room view as you come in from the entryway is very similar.  We shored up the beam in the middle of the room, removed the ceiling fan, and widened the doorway to the hallway.

 The walls were all stripped and the carpet was replaced.  In the before picture on the left, you can see a window air conditioner.  The entire house now has central heat and air.

All the windows were single-pane windows.  We replaced them with smaller, energy efficient windows.

We replaced the wiring and added three cable jacks and a telecommunication jack.

The doorway off the living room used to lead to the kitchen.  It now leads to a bedroom.  We installed a 36" door.

Clicking on the photos will let you scroll through the images.

Click here to see the floor plans

Click here to see the exterior photos

Click here to see the south bedroom

Click here to see the hallway

Click here to see the bathroom

Click here to see the kitchen/dining area

Click here to see the north bedroom

Click here to see the basement

South Bedroom

The room off the living room was the kitchen.  Now it is a bedroom.

You can see the door covered by a blanket in the above photo.

Ideally, we would have torn the wall between the existing kitchen and utility room down,  widened the doorway into the living room, and created an open eating/cooking area.  Unfortunately, the roof refused to accommodate that idea.

We widened the doorway by four inches, and added a 36" door.

We removed the small window.  Carpet replaced the tile.

We replaced the large window with an energy-efficient egress window.  It's not quite as long as the old one was, which should make furniture arrangements easier.

We stripped the wall.

Each stud was removed one-by-one and replaced with a new one.  We reused the doorway for closet access, but widened it to 36 inches.

The original kitchen contained the sink cupboard, range, upper cabinet, and a base cabinet (not shown here).  The refrigerator would have fit, but the previous occupant kept her kitchen table in here.

Here's the 360° view of the bedroom.

You can see the entrance to the back porch from the window.

Click here to see the floor plans

Click here to see the exterior photos

Click here to see the living room

Click here to see the hallway

Click here to see the bathroom

Click here to see the kitchen/dining area

Click here to see the north bedroom

Click here to see the basement