Renovation Jubilation

Although it always requires more time, more effort and more steps than initially planned, doing-it-myself always pays off.  This house is just perfect for fixing up and wrapping around my family.  And I really love remodeling.  Here’s what Mark’s room looked like a year ago when we bought the place:

Definitely “to code” for a 1960’s basement bedroom.  The windows, however, did not actually meet requirements for legal egress in an emergency.  So I got out my crow bar and hammer, tore out the paneling and nasty ceiling tile and had a larger window installed.

 

And then the drywall . . . . oy with the drywall!  I should have known not to let the contractors do any finishing work after they hung the sheet rock.  They initially spent a little too much time staring at the mud at Menards, trying to decide which one to purchase.  That was my first clue.  I had a handful of further clues, culminating in a really crappy first coat of mud which took me six hours to cut.  So I fired them and finished it myself. 

It’s far from perfect, but at least I have only moi-meme to be ticked off at for the flaws.  I can live with that.  I still have to fix all of the outlet holes, which they cut too large to cover properly.

The colors Mark chose are really stunning.  A very modern green and steely blue combination.  We’re going to decorate with a lot of metal.

 

The floor is a spurl maple floating laminate.  Laminate has come a long way in the past 10 years.  It’s really gorgeous.  Mark was my apprentice yesterday while we lay it.  

It’s moulding time and there a few other finishing jobs, but he’s already moving back in and loving it.