March 16 – October 16th (ish)

I’m declaring the project complete even though we have one small outstanding work item (a replaced cork tile needs sealing) and one missing warranty (for the heated floor). I still have some areas to tidy up in the post-remodel shuffle – such as replacing the doors on the upstairs hall closet, taken off to make more room when moving things through the tight 90 degree turn in that corridor – but that’ll get done soon-ish.

I put together a before and after album in the remodeling pictures to provide a quick overview of what we did – without the necessity of wading through all the ugly bits in between!

With our 2001 remodel there were things we wanted to do that got dropped because the expense was just too great, and the same thing happened this time. Funnily enough, there was one item that was on both the 2001 and 2015 wish list and got dropped both times – improving access to the attic with a drop down ladder. I’d still like to have better access than hauling up a ladder and having to pass things through a small square hole in the closet ceiling, but perhaps the best option is to simplify our stuff so we don’t need to store things in the attic at all!

Remodeling so many key rooms – and living in the house throughout – is not for the faint of heart. In many ways this was much harder than the 2001 remodel even though this time we weren’t sleeping in a bedroom with a tarp for a wall. This remodel added no square footage to the house, but required many more adjustments because we were cooking in the mud room, the fridge was in the garage, etc.

The fact that Seattle had its warmest summer on record probably was a blessing because we were able to eat outside so much – where you could temporarily forget about the chaos inside. Being here almost all the time allowed me to catch so many issues or potential problem before they became “facts on the ground”. I don’t have enough remodeling experiences to know if ours was typical or not, but in spite of the work taking longer than anticipated and costing more than budgeted (we knew it would go over; the issue was managing that so it didn’t balloon out of control), the end result is truly lovely.

For me, the big thing is light and views. We have lovely woods around us and so many parts of the house were not really taking advantage of that before. Whenever compromises had to be made to keep the budget sane, windows and views got priority over pretty much everything else.

For Jeffrey, the big thing was wired networking (which I wasn’t as hot for, but I have to admit has improved lots of things significantly). For Brandon it was an extra fireplace (bonus room) – he wanted one in his room and the bathroom, but that stays on his wish list for his own home someday. Kerri didn’t want anything to change – she doesn’t like change in general – but admits she really likes it now it’s done. Plus she got a sofa in her room which will stay (it was only going to be temporary)!

The remodeling company, Westhill, Inc., wanted to have some professional (!) pictures taken for their use (which I OK’d as long as they were only for their promotional use and the photographer’s portfolio; no stock). They wanted surfaces clear and everything tidy (sort of understandable, but no one actually lives like that), plus they focused on the big things, and didn’t think the pantry was picture worthy 🙁  It may be a small thing, but it’s one of the big payoffs, along with some of the special storage areas in the kitchen, like the spice/oil pullouts, that you use every day and make a huge difference in the usability of the kitchen. To each his own, I guess!

We have other areas in the house that need some fix ups or a coat of paint – and the carpet, original to the house, is not long for this world – but when you combine the work done in 2014 (new roof, replace skylights with solar opening skylights, repaint exterior, replace toilets, replace dishwasher) with the remodel this year, we’ve gone a long way down the house “to do” list. In the Spring, the garden could use a little love…I guess the list never really ends!