2 year progress report

Sometimes I look around at ALL the things that need to be done in this house and it feels like EVERYTHING still needs to be done and like I haven’t accomplished anything.  But we’ve been in this house for two years now and I’ve been working really hard so I have to have accomplished SOMETHING.  So today I’m taking stock.

When we moved into the house we were living out of wardrobe packing boxes because there was literally no where to put our clothes.  The master closet was large but there were no shelves or hanging rods, the existing “cabinets” didn’t utilize the space well and it was built out of the poorest quality plywood imaginable so I ripped it all out.  The Master Closet would be my very first project in this new house.

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Master Closet before

It took me 4 months to complete this closet.  In hind sight, I should have started out building my workshop and getting organized.  Every other day I had to unpack boxes in the garage to find some tool or another that I needed and because there was NOWHERE to put anything away I’d have to put everything back in the boxes or line them up all over the floor — in an effort to be somewhat organized.  But I was like a horse with blinders on and wanted to finish the closet so we could put our clothes away.

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Executive Master Closet

It’s still not finished.  I have things to add–mainly my shoe wall but that won’t come until I decide if I’m changing the wall that it needs to be built on and I won’t decide that until I get to the Master Bathroom redo…  I add a little here and there when I have a day or two and need an instant gratification project.master closet plank wall at SawdustGirl.com

Master Closet Plank Wall

Wes and I did a couple projects together on the weekends.  We screened in the porch.  We had the deck stained and the porch painted for us.  Yeah for hiring a COUPLE things out.

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Screened in porch

At some point during my closet build I got tired of digging through boxes and took a detour to build cabinets for my workshop.

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While still finishing the Workshop, my parents came for a visit and my Dad always needs a project to work on so we decided to install a pocket door in the Laundry room

Laundry Room Demo 8

Then I finished my workshop to try to get somewhat organized before I did anything else.

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Next up was the main living area because it was driving me crazy!  I decided I needed to tear out the library wall as well as a GIGANTIC coat closet that was a huge waste of space.

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But in the process of exploring what was behind the walls before I just started ripping things out, I discovered the bathtub was actually pushing INTO the living room space.  WTH?

So I tore out the walls and the tub/shower.  (I hired a plumber to take care of terminating the plumbing lines and help me get rid of the shower.)
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Then I got everything framed, drywalled, mudded, primed and painted …
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And  moved on to do something to make this room a functional space…
library before

There we go!

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Then I took some time to give Madison a room to escape the chaos in the rest of the house.  Whether or not that room is a calm from the chaos is debatable!

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Madison’s Room

Then I started back up on the Laundry Room…

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But I got ahead of myself and ordered a toilet and vanity for the Powder Room and am sick of staring at them sitting in the living room so I’m finishing that project up before I get back on track in the Laundry room.

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Powder Room Floors

This year I also rebranded my blog from Sawdust and Paper Scraps to Sawdust Girl and started The Sawdust Diaries where I’m designing custom plans and coaching other’s to build AWESOME and slowed WAY down on my personal projects…It’s really cool but time consuming.  Which is why I’m not taking any more clients this year until I catch up on my own house and finish ALL the client projects that are going on right now.  🙂

 

Now that I see it all on one page it feels like an ok amount of progress for one person in two years time.  I need to hire some help though because I’m sick of living like this.  I want THIS HOUSE DONE.

So I’m looking into that — I wanted my kitchen done before Christmas.  I’m really afraid that’s not going to happen.  I’ll keep my hopes up though!  If nothing else, we all know — I’m a BIG dreamer.

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21 Comments

  1. Lindsey Hill says:

    Can I just say that I LOVE everything you do! I often feel out of place around women who do not understand my love for building, creating, and doing a “mans” job. I would prefer to go out and work on my car than to have my husband do it any day! I want to build and create and FIX everything in my house which is not the norm for most women. I recently discovered you and stalk your blog as often as I can. If only we were neighbors so I could see how you do it all. I have no formal training other than some from my dad. I can eventually figure anything out, but don’t know tips and tricks. I hope to be a client of yours in the near future!

  2. I think you’ve got a LOT done in two years! We bought our house 16 years ago, knowing we wanted to change a few things but those few have turned from little to big, and we’ve added a bunch more. Our house was built in the 30s with a big addition and basement added in the 50s. Talk about weirdly convoluted rooms!
    In 16 years, we’ve had a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatments, recurrences, and to top it all off, a tornado! Other than flattening our garage with a felled tree, the tornado damage was nominal, with only blown windows in the house. Which spearheaded a new project: replacing all the windows in the house. None are a stock size and have to be custom ordered and we have to stay true to the historical aspect of the neighborhood. It never ends. And you know what we’ve learned? It’s ok. EXCEPT…. My son just became engaged and we would like to offer our back garden for the wedding only that now involves a major garden redo! Yikes!

  3. I didn’t realize you’ve been in that house only two years. You’ve done a tremendous amount! Be proud and I know you are very fastidious. It looks great. Congratulations! We are in the process of cutting into our downstairs space to put in a cat litter box area plus, hopefully, a little storage area as well. I have enlisted a friend to help with the door framing, electrical and ventilation installation. I can do the drywall and flooring tho. Can’t wait until it’s done!

  4. To the untrained eye maybe but take it from me I see awesome progress! the painting of the screen porch is wonderful,I know what it’s like to paint wood paneling with knots!!

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