The Fixer Upper: Progress

The progress the boys have been making over at The Fixer Upper has been in the back bedroom and hallway on the main floor.

(Here is a floor plan of the main floor so it's easier to visualize.)(Isn't the house so long, skinny, and cute?)

I shared the dilemma about not having any windows looking out into the backyard in a previous post. That situation has been solved already!

The boys took out the two matching windows, one from the side wall of the bedroom and one from the side wall of the bathroom and reinstalled them together on the back wall of the bedroom.

Old window in bedroom:

Old window in bathroom:

No window in back wall of bedroom:

Both windows reinstalled together on the back wall of the bedroom:

I know I mentioned it before but the previous owners had a zoo in that house, and we believe they used to keep their animals in both the basement and the old laundry room / mudroom. As a result the floors STANK. They were the same beautiful hardwood as the rest of the house but they were pretty much ruined. Instead of installing new floors on top of the stinky rotten wood, Alex went and ripped out the hardwood. He was shocked to find ANOTHER layer of hardwood underneath, as well as two layers of sub floor. He took out both layers of hardwood (blech), washed the old sub floor with TSP, primed it with Kilz, and then installed brand new plywood over top. There is no way we wanted any animal smells lingering in the house after all of our hard work.

The last change we made is just a small one but has also made a big difference. When the Flippers built the new bedroom, they made the doorway so close to the wall that there was no room for trim on one side (huh!?!?). I'm sure we could have just left it as is but it just bugged all of us. So Alex's dad took the door out, moved the door frame over, re-drywalled, and re-hung the door. Now it is centred on the wall just as it should have been.

The back area of the house is looking (and smelling) so much better now! The painters have also been in again and the ceilings and walls are almost done. 

So, what's next you ask? The boys (Alex and his dad) will be working on some structural issues outside before we can start rearranging the back bathroom. Yup, we're making major changes there too. We just can't stop. ;)