Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary this month - two full years as the proud owners of Glenlochan.  I use the word "celebrated" loosely because the celebration consisted of more work on the house.  Hard to believe we've been plugging away at this for 24 months now, through setbacks and progress, unexpected budget busters and incredible savings through sweat equity, difficult decisions and exciting planning and generally lots of highs and lows.  This is, by far, the most difficult, extended, complex, and exciting project we've ever undertaken, and although some days we feel pretty experienced at renovation, most days we realize how much we still don't know. Rob's a heck of a general contractor, however, and in addition to all the hands on work he's still doing, he ensures that we stay on task and budget and that the subs are lined up like clockwork.

As per the last post, this month has been focused on readying the original structure for mechanicals and, ultimately, insulation and drywall.  All of the remaining original interior walls and ceilings have been re-framed, leveled, and supported to ready the original structure for the next stage.  It almost looks like new construction now!  Here's a few before, after and now shots.

Original upstairs bedroom shot:

 Same view after the demo:



Where we are today - this will be the upstairs game room and where the original french doors were, above, is now a large addition (shot taken looking in from 10 feet back were french doors used to be):

Original downstairs "study":

The study after demolition:

Where we are today - the window has been re-framed smaller to accommodate the original stained glass window and the door opening to the room has been enlarged and reframed:

Original kitchen:

Shot after the demo:

Where we are today (same shot, but you can now see through to the added half bath and laundry room):

Original upstairs hallway (closed off because the upstairs had been modified to be a separate apartment):

After demolition:

Where we are today:

 

A nice trip down memory lane and good reinforcement for us on how far we've come.  Here's some additional interior re-framing shots.  

The ship beams have been carefully preserved and the ceiling reframed around them - the full width of the beam won't show once drywalled, unfortunately, but that's the compromise we had to make to ensure the floors above were sound and that the future drywall won't crack when we walk upstairs.  Some beam exposure is better than none!

The living room wall by the staircase:

 

The front door - shot taken from the back of the new addition/breezeway.

The opposite shot of the breezeway standing at the front door - this will ultimately be an arched entrance to the "keeping room" with a screened-in porch beyond the opening for future french doors.

Fireplace reframe:

Upstairs - we've relocated the main/guest bath to the top of the stairs to preserve the open breezeway concept upstairs, too.  Game room entrance is to the left.

The back half (new addition) portion of the game room leading to the second story screened porch:

The upstairs master bath (formerly the site of Kitchen Number 2):

An example of the solid new ceilings/floors:

All in all a very productive month.  Mechanicals will start with rough plumbing next week, followed by heating/cooling, and then electrical.   Two years ago I don't think either one of us thought it would take this long to get to this point, but it's been an incredible journey so far and we see the light at the end of the tunnel.