What we've been up to

It's been 5 weeks since we've got the house, and the "rejuvenation project" - as my contractor calls it - is starting to take shape.

Rather than rambling on - nobody reads this blog anyway - why don't I just show the progress via pictures.  Here we go!

Living Room: We had the built-in bookcase removed, as we want to have an entertainment center or a library there.

before - with built-in bookcase

during - built-in gone + a literal hole in the wall

during - hole in the wall gone (pardon the increasing clutter)

On the other side of the former built-in, in the bonus room, we had a built-in cabinetry.  I hated it - it was finished in a half-assed manner and made the room felt like a garage.

cabinetry - ugh!  The backside of the built-in was hidden in this

About the only good thing about it was that it was very well built.  T and E had quite a workout demo-ing it.   I'm surprised the neighbors hadn't complained about the noise, because their method of "demo" is mostly hammering the hell out of everything until something falls down.

the other side of the hole in the wall, is the same hole in the wall.

Once the cabinets were gone and drywall up, the room feels much more open and airy, and less like a workshop.  I forgot to take a picture of the drywalled wall, but you're not missing much, seriously.

Ceiling:  The house throughout, except the main bathroom, has this type of wood slats and cross beams for the rather-low ceiling.

yup, a skylight.  It helps brightening up the living room.  Although it probably wouldn't be good for TV-watching.

We're going to repaint it with Benjamin Moore Simply White, so yours truly spent a good part of the past two weekends sanding all the slats and beams (twice for the gloss-painted kitchen ceiling) while T pretended to be busy with everything else to avoid participating in this activity.  I don't blame him, it's about as enjoyable as standing under hot steam while removing wallpaper.

Bathroom: We didn't plan on doing anything on the bathroom, since everything was in working order.  Ugly, yes, but functional.  Let's just wait on remodeling it later, after we move in. 
Of course, that was the original intention.  Lo and behold, one thing led to another:

sky-blue walls, brown tiles, vinyl floor.  Oh my.

original 50's tiles were removed.

The saying "they didn't make 'em like they used to" rang true in this case.  T and E were drenched in sweat after removing the tiles.  (It was also a 90-degree day, too).

empty slate.

I wanted to get a claw-foot tub, but they're apparently expensive and the underneath of the tub is unfinished cement and dirt.  So there went that idea... the tub stays :(

Next, I'll post an update on the other rooms.