Renovation Complete!!

I had every intention of posting updates on how the remodel was going...and then things just got crazy. So here's a post full of pictures all the way through to the finished project! I cannot say enough how much we appreciate Dad and his ridiculous work ethic. Couldn't have done any of it without him!!! Aaron is very glad it's over...he needs more sleep! Haha!

The boys were excited to go to the "basement" to help Papa. Isaac kept telling me, "I want to go downstairs!" Jacob pretty much just wanted to go so he could play in the mud created from cutting open some pipes!!

 Isaac was Papa's right-hand-man. He loved being out there "helping".

 Looking from the garage into what used to be the school room. Dad is putting in the pipes for the washer. Plumbing and electrical are his least favorite jobs to do...they both take a LOT of time, thought, and planning, and it doesn't look like you got much done when your'e finished!

 Tired workers!

 After helping cut some foam board insulation, Jacob brought out some toys to play.

 Jamie came one day and helped Dad. They spent most of the time arguing over how to do things ;)

 I can't remember now what they were trying to do here, but it was comical to see 3 grown men trying to get that subfloor down! (this is looking to the back corner of the garage, which is now the guest bathroom)

 The tub is brought in!

 Removing the garage door!

 Papa had to work on some of the hottest weekends of the summer!! And Isaac had to be just like Papa and take his shirt off, too.

 Wall studs going up between what will be the laundry room and guest suite.

 World's biggest wrench!! Looking from garage door into guest room and bathroom.

 Starting to frame the outside wall in the guest room.

 I HATE reading directions. I would rather wing it or just not put something together than read directions. I get that from Dad! We were both pretty frustrated trying to figure out the piping/installation for the bathtub!!

 Taking out the header. Everyone cleared out in case the whole garage came down! ;)

 It's all good. No problems.

 The boys helped unload the trailer.

 Getting ready to frame out the window for the guest room, where the garage door used to be.

 Guest room closet all framed out.

 Bathtub fixtures almost complete!

 Plywood going up on outside wall, where garage door used to be.

 Getting ready to cut out the sheetrock for the new door into guest suite.

 Grinding down some nails.

 He sat down for a second and the next thing I know, he's sound asleep! :) All that hard work and late, late nights.

 Putting sheetrock up in the guest bathroom.

 Guest bedroom getting sheetrock.

 Laundry room getting sheetrock (what used to be the school room).

 Just waiting for the window to get in. Had to special order it because no one carried it in the almond color.

 And we have a door!

 Man, paint is EXPENSIVE!!!

 Taping and mudding.

 Looking from guest bedroom into the bathroom, with the closet on the left.

 Woohoo!! The window finally arrived!

 Papa has stilts for mudding ceilings. Anna had to try them out.

 Isaac helping Binga paint the new bathroom.

 He is actually asleep here. After pulling an all-nighter. He's crazy!

 Jacob is eagerly waiting to help slap down the mortar.

 He got to help Papa lay the mortar board in the laundry room.

 Bathroom is painted!

 Laundry room is painted!

 Isaac's turn to help!

 Painting the guest room.

 Bathroom tile

Laundry room tile

 Siding is finished! I can't believe how well it matches. Other than just looking newer than the rest of the siding, it's a perfect match.

 Putting in the bathroom vanity and counter.

 Washer & dryer moved to their new home :)

 Aaron installed the ceiling fan in the guest room all by himself. He wanted me to take a picture of it :)

 Vanity done!

 The kids LOVED playing on the carpet and pad rolls!!

 All hooked up and already being used.

 Paint and trim done in guest room.

 We couldn't find anyone (at a reasonable price) to install carpet for us. The carpet from Lowes, which does installation, was twice as much as the carpet at Menards, which doesn't do installation. So this gave Dad an excuse to get some new tools ;) and he installed it for us. He did a fantastic job, of course.

 I think it's safe to say the kids love the new carpet!

 I'm really glad we spent a little bit more and got really high quality carpet and pad.

 And extra strip of carpet left that the kids rolled out and loved just sitting on, reading on, playing on... They can't wait to have carpet in their bedrooms!

 I got impatient to move the bed into the new guest room, so I made the kids help me move one afternoon! :)

 Next up was getting the baby's room (which used to be the guest room) painted. Jacob helped me take off outlet/light covers. With a butter knife because I couldn't find a screwdriver. No one was injured. ;)

 I cannot keep the kids out of the new guest room. They LOVE the carpet!

 Since the carpet was on sale, we decided to go ahead and recarpet the baby's room, too. Which meant we needed to do new trim and doors. If you give a mouse a muffin..... I didn't think the carpet was too terrible in that room-no real stains we could see. But when Aaron started pulling it up, we saw all the pet stains on the backside. GROSS!!!! I'm so glad we replaced it.

 I wanted to do a neutral color for the walls because if the girls ever end up sharing a room, I didn't want to repaint this room again!! :) So I went with a chocolatey brown...maybe because I was craving chocolate?? Aaron didn't like it, but I told him to trust me. I've yet to paint a wall that he didn't end up liking!

 Guest room is COMPLETE!! Well, except for filling nail holes on the trim and giving it one more coat of paint. But it's completely usable now! Curtains, bed, even some artwork courtesy of Anna and Jacob! :)

 Guest bath complete. Well, except for putting some shelves in there behind the tub. So funny story about the mirror... Way back when Dad was doing the electrical, he asked me how high I wanted the light above the vanity. We measured (of course this is before we had the vanity in there) and I said, "Yeah, that looks good." Then we got the flooring in and the vanity in and realized that the light was going to be pretty much at my eye level!! This was AFTER the sheetrock AND the paint was done!!! Luckily, Dad was able to move it higher without too much trouble and the extra hole is covered by the nice, big mirror. Like I've said before, no project ever goes completely as planned!

 Laundry room complete and, as you can see, in use often! We don't have the desks and shelves built in yet, but that's fine...no hurry on those!

 The nursery. I wanted to do pink and brown and I love it. I'll just go in there and sit sometimes. Maybe it's the new carpet smell?? I think mostly it's just that I cannot WAIT to have this baby in my arms while I sit in that chair!!!

 Today, Aaron got the door painted and the door knob put on. We're still waiting on the closet doors to come in.

Anna begged me to paint today. I couldn't say no when she told me why she wanted to paint. She had an idea of what to paint for the baby's room. So she and Jacob each painted a canvas for the baby's room. You can't read hers, but she wrote "I am a gift from God" on hers. She has some Kris Goertzen art in her room and one of them says "I am precious in God's eyes"--she said she wanted to baby to have something like that in her room. :) I told them what colors they could use and Jacob just made a masterpiece. ;)

Dad put in so many late nights (and all nights!). I kept telling him this didn't have to be finished before the baby is born, but he was determined that it would be! And with my many "scares" of an early delivery (I'll blog about that later)...he pulled a lot of all-nighters working on this project. Many thanks is not enough for all his help-and my brothers who came at various times to help, too. Aaron & I are so grateful!!

(My apologies for any typos...I'm too tired to go back and proofread, which really irritates me. But not enough to go back and do it! ha. 2 more days til this baby comes!!)