The long-awaited day has arrived. I gave up waiting for everything to be "done" before I took the "after" pictures. It's never going to happen, there's always something under construction around here.
I'll try to go in a similar order with these pictures as I did in my "fire damage" post, just in case you want to compare. Also, we took this perfect opportunity handed to us (of redoing everything in our house) and upgraded quite a few things while we were at it (with our own money - when else is someone going to pay you top dollar for what you once had and you can just add to that to get what you really want?). So sometimes we opted out of things we used to have (like how none of our windows have wood casings now), sometimes we installed/did things ourselves to save money (like the tile), sometimes we splurged on things, sometimes we didn't finish/replace things until months after we moved back in... and some things are still a work in progress, just waiting for us to save up enough money again. Take it with a grain of salt when you see a splurge here and there - we plan on staying in this house forever, so we'd better like it!
The toy room. (and Koda's massive kennel) This is the one room we painted by ourselves. Everything else was worth having the pros do to keep it quick. As you can see, we didn't replace the little stove. There is carpet in this part of the room.
My favorite details on the walls.
The new back door - I love being able to see through so much of it. We (and I mean WE, Curtis and I and anyone who could help) tiled between the doors and into the kitchen - better for a "mud room" than the awful carpet we had before (anything was better than that!).
I didn't take a picture of where the footlockers were. We ripped them out (and found cement flower beds under them) and didn't replace them. This is the view into the kitchen and it shows what was once the cabinet in the hall. We replaced it with a secretary desk. Some day we'll hang a picture over the electrical panel.
The stairs down. No more wallpaper! That's one of my favorite parts of all of this.
Kitchen. No more upper cabinets in most of it. We put in some shelves (and may get more of those some day) instead to help it feel bigger and more open. Curtis just finished the backsplash a week or so ago. Other than the upper cabinets missing, this wall didn't change much (by that I mean the sink and dishwasher are still where they were). Notice the sun coming in from the window - there's no awning over our back deck right now (actually there's no back deck at all right now), that should change in the next few months.
This wall DID change. The stove moved right and the fridge was moved to another wall. Where the cabinet is to the right of the stove was once a hallway to the bathroom and bedrooms. We found an awesome "melted" clock to remind us of the fire! Where the whiteboard is on the right wall is where the "people we like" sign once was. To the right of that (and off the picture) is where our wall oven once was - we ripped that part of the wall out. Now our stove and oven(s) are combined... into the most expensive appliance in our house, and the reason we had to go with stainless steel appliances (and sink) in the kitchen. I love that thing! One of our favorite things in the house is that pot filler above the stove-so cool!
Opposite wall (the wall where the fire started and the small counter was). Also totally different. There's our new fridge (I love freezers on the bottom!) and our rolling, cutting-board-topped cupboard. It holds the dishes, silverware and garbages.
Another view of that wall and into the dining room. The opening to the big cabinet above the old small counter got moved into the dining room.
The floor in the kitchen. This was the first room we tiled and the first time we had ever tiled. Luckily most of the uneven spots are under cabinets and appliances so you can't see them!
The dining room. The door on the right is a little deceiving. It opens to the huge cabinet that was once in the kitchen (and is four feet off the floor), under that is the sloping ceiling of the stairs - and useless as cabinet space. Look! We replaced our buffalo picture with a buffalo picture! We also replaced our table with a counter-height one. Koda can't rest his head on it.
The fireplace - totally redone. We had hoped that the brick we exposed when we ripped out all the sheetrock would be pretty and we could leave just that (that's how our basement fireplace looks), but we were wrong, the had random wood slats and cinderblocks mixed in, so we covered it with stone.
That space is a wood storage cubby. Curtis cut it into the wall and tiled it last fall.
The front room. We haven't replaced our couch or area rug (that money got used elsewhere), so it doesn't feel "done" yet. I LOVE my new player piano! I'm sure you'll also be pleased to hear that I love the color they stained the floor for us - we won't be refinishing our wood floor again for a LONG LONG time!!
This picture frame was a door/window in the master bedroom. We kept it and redid it.
The only hallway left upstairs - our kids can't run in a continuous circle anymore, darn! The built-in drawers at the end of the hall were replaced with a closet. We moved the master bedroom door (it's just to the right of this picture).
Master bedroom. The painter told us we would hate having our walls such a dark chocolate brown and tried talking us out of it a few times. He was wrong. It makes for dark pictures, but we love it. We moved the bed to the wall on the other side of the window - only possible because we moved the door.
The sitting area (a step down from the rest of the master), and now both of our closets. This side is mine. Messy, I know. But at least there's not a door in the back of it anymore!
Looking in to Curtis' side of the closet (and the laundry baskets). The TV was our Christmas gift to us last year.
The other side of the wall with the mirror - the rest of Curtis' closet.
Curtis' new climbing toy/pull up bar.
Where Curtis' closet used to be. Getting rid of it really opened up the room, and we were able to move the door into it so it's more out-of-the-way now too. It used to be on the wall just right of where it is now.
The kids' bedroom. Between the popcorn ceiling and the dirty firefighter boots we were able to make a lot of cosmetic changes in here, but everything is still right where it was before.
I saw something like this at a friend's house and again in a magazine when we were picking out colors to paint the house. I couldn't help but add it. Some day we need to repaint that dresser so it matches.
And the bathroom. Actually, this view, before the fire would have shown you the kitchen at the far end of it. The wall the clock is on is new. To the left was the old coat closet, the door on the right was not there (although some built-in drawers/cabinets were very close to that. And just right of this picture is where the old door to the old bathroom was.
The vanity (aka, the old coat closet). My "getting ready" space where I won't be in anyone's way. Notice the foot space under the counter is smaller than the head space above it - that's where the wood storage cubby cuts in.
The sinks. One kid-sized and one adult-sized. I had to find smaller-than-normal sinks to accomplish that. I love KSL classifieds!
The door across from the sinks. It's the toilet room. It's where the tub used to be.
The toilet and tub room doors, as seen from the vanity.
The tub room. The door is a double door (although on of them is VERY narrow) so we can open it up into the rest of the room when we want to. We used a curved curtain rod to make the shower feel bigger.
The smaller-than-normal tub. :) Davis loves baths and is a little too eager to get in sometimes. The drain on this tub uses the same drain hole that the old toilet used. The soap dish is basically where the toilet paper holder once was.
Just right of the tub (still in the tub room). This is what is left of the medicine cabinet/mirror that was over our sink. We still need to finish it somehow.
And downstairs. Everything except the ceiling looks exactly the same. The ceiling down there is lower than normal, so we decided to take out all the old light fixtures while they were redoing the ceiling (because of water damage) and put in can lights instead.
Note the missing paint where the decorative "beams" used to go. :) We'll have to redo that someday too.
This is the bathroom downstairs. It was like the rest of the basement and didn't change, but we recently started to change it ourselves. Out with the old sink and too-big light fixture. No new mirror yet...
Out with the old toilet and flooring. No floorboards yet...
Out with the old wallpaper and in with new white paint... wait, it's not white? That's what we said when it dried. It's this weird almost mustard greenish-yellow color. We'll see if we keep it or not. Also notice the hole in the wall where the toilet paper holder once was and the fact that the cabinet isn't finished yet... it's still a work in progress.
That's it folks! What do you think?
