as promised...

... the fairly complete before and after in photos. these span the period of march 2007, when we first put a contract on the house, to june 2009, when we left to return to baltimore. we did all of the design (with wonderful insight from designer friends), and drew did the majority of the work himself, with occasional assists from me, and terrific help from our parents, neighbors, and friends. where we sought out professional support: on the major structural stuff - the dormer additions to the second floor, reversal of the staircase, reconstruction of the front and back porches, and roof installation; window and furnace installation; and hardwood floor and wall refinishing on the first floor (the latter was mostly because we ran out of time). itemizing all that we did to the house would no doubt bore everyone to tears, but here's a laundry list of the most significant projects and their timing, as best as i can remember it and in no particular chronological order:

exterior front

installed new roof (fall 2008), new cedar shingled dormers (fall 2007), new front door (spring 2009), new porch floor, rails and stairs (spring 2009). removed vinyl siding and painted original wood siding (2007-2009). dug new front garden beds and planted trees and shrubs (summer 2007).

before:

after:

first floor

reversed direction and entry point of staircase so that it rose from the dining room to the second story rather than from the kitchen (fall 2007); installed new windows (summer 2007); installed new lighting and electrical (2007-2009); repaired, skim-coated and painted all walls, ceilings and trim (spring 2009); refinished floors (spring 2009); gutted bathroom, installing new marble hex flooring, subway tile shower surround, sink, medicine cabinet, lighting, hardware and fixtures (early 2009); gutted kitchen, sealing up one door, installing french doors to the back porch, and replacing all appliances, cabinets, countertops, flooring, sink, lighting, hardware and fixtures (spring 2009).

living room before:


living room after:


dining room before:




dining room after:


dining room ceiling before:

dining room ceiling after:

kitchen before (previous owner):


kitchen after:





first floor bath before (previous owner):

first floor bath after:

second floor

120 SF dormer addition, including new windows and skylight (fall 2007); built new bathroom with all new insulation, plumbing and electrical service, new lighting, hardware and fixtures, marble floors, salvaged clawfoot tub and stained glass windows (June 2008); added combination walk-in closet and laundry room (fall 2008); finished staircase with oak treads and stained banisters (fall 2008); sanded and painted softwood floors (winter 2008).

before (previous owner):




second floor after:

exterior rear

removed porch enclosure and added wide porch stairs (summer 2007); built new fence (summer 2007); planted trees (summer 2007) and added professionally tended vegetable garden (summer 2008); refinished porch floor and rebuilt porch rails and columns (spring 2009)

backyard before (previous owner):

backyard after:

i'm no doubt forgetting something major here, but you get the gist - big project, big fun. now we're off to an even bigger project, building a person rather than a house, but it seems unlikely that this our last major renovation, even if we'll be on hiatus for some time. after all, we have a gaping hole in our bathroom ceiling right now - we just can't seem to buy a "turnkey" house...

just when we thought we hadn't really come very far

i uploaded some photos tonight of our newly installed stair railings, tagging them "stairs" in our photo gallery. turns out we had a few other photos tagged "stairs." to wit:


whoa. what a trip down memory lane. we've come a long way, baby.
now, thanks to this:

and this:

and a lot of this:

plus a lot of staining (steep learning curve there), we have THESE (please supply your own drumroll):

not too shabby, right? just wait until my next trip-down-memory-lane post, featuring scenes from before we moved in. wow.

blogging on demand

our *ahem* readership has become rather vocal of late about the lack of progress on the blog. rest assured, we here at Casa Chaos have become similarly vocal about the lack of progress on the master suite. actually, there's been plenty of progress, but also enough setbacks to be disheartening. to wit:

1. drew finished installing the shower, only to be told by the plumbing inspector that he needed to add a tempering valve. this valve leaks. of course.


2. we painted the floors white, only to have them destroyed by the ongoing construction process - and my inability to understand the utility of dropcloths when i'm...


3. ...busy painting several coats of the wrong color paint on three separate doors and three windows.

all of this sounds more dreary than it really is, and so i bring you the latest in master bedroom chic:

the stairs, complete with treads (yet to be stained). drew and his coworker peter, who is an incredible woodworker, spent the last two days building the bottom two steps, which are rounded at one end. a really involved process involving, apparently, every tool ever invented.

the stained glass drew's mom gave me for christmas last year. how gorgeous are these? and how did i think i would want to leave those panels behind when we sell the house?

another view, from inside the bathroom.

the aforementioned "white" floors. with a couple more coats, they should look grand.

drew's closet (right) and the future built-in bookshelf (left) in the bedroom proper.

my closet (right) and the linen clost (left), now featuring doors painted the correct color.

the sitting room, seen from the bedroom.