The Addition

The first room we tackled in the house was a small room off the side of the kitchen that had been added at a later date to the house. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the process, but I do have befores and afters.

Yes, that's fake wood paneling, and yes, someone did a two-tone yellow sponging effect over it... also the fake brick vinyl flooring. Nice, huh?

In the above image, you can see the opening over the sink and the doorway into the addition room.

So, we started by tearing everything out of it, the granny rails, the paneling, we took out the small pantry, checked that the brace between the door to the kitchen and the opening over the sink wasn't load-bearing with our friend Saturn, removed the brace, tore out the floors and discovered we had carpenter ants destroying the flooring, and lastly tore out the ceiling and discovered chipmunk nests (pee, poop and all).

This is what it looks like now. With help from Saturn in pulling down the beam, Sarah's brother, Tim, helped finish the tiling when it became clear that Josh and Sarah work well together, just not side-by-side, the room was finished. Most everything came from ReNew (our local building salvage store). The tiles, the bamboo, even the grout. Although some things you just have to get new, such as drywall (walls and ceiling) and presure-treated plywood (to replace the sub-flooring). You can see the back part of the kitchen sink in currently open. Once we get to the kitchen, this will all change.

The light and shelf above the white trashcan were additions this fall (2011).

**NOTE: As I write these catch-up posts, I'm realizing that these are not really in chronological order. Stormy wasn't around when we were eating chickens or fixing lots of the house. This post about our addition room, represents mid-summer 2010.