DIY Home Renovation: Phase 1

Part I

NOTE: This post was written in August 2024 and has been sitting in my drafts ever since- at that time, we were living with my parents as the bulk of the renovation made the home uninhabitable. A lot has been completed since this writing- so this is Part I of a three-part series.

Set Backs: We don’t have electricity and haven’t in several weeks. Being away from home for over 2 months now is hard. We all miss our own beds. We hope this week to get power back on and HVAC as the North Carolina heat is unforgiving. There was also an issue with the framing, where a decision was made about the roof without consulting us first. Now we wait on the engineer to approve this.

Set Forwards: The majority of the framing is done, and soon we will be able to drywall. We are making final decisions on decor- a white kitchen, green living room walls and wood accents for light fixtures. Replacement windows are set to come in in a week. Crawl space and space have been insulated.

Plumbing and electric passed inspection.

Here's what we've been working on...

Kids Bathroom

🔨Archway above guest/kids bath

🔨Tilt cabinet will be to the left of this photo- a laundry shoot that leads directly down to the first floor

Office

🔨Future Window Wall: This is currently the playroom but will become the office. We will drywall the bottom half and add in a window (original from the home) on top. The other side will have a door, so I will finally have a creative quiet space to call my own.

Sunroom

🔨This will be our sunroom and future downstairs play space. This room connects to the living room. We also plan to use this space when we host family gatherings. We added 30 inch pre-hung triple windows here so there will be lovely light. We’ll add in a couch and a table with storage below.

Kitchen

🔨You can see the support beams that existed outlining the house’s footprint. Everything to the left in this photo is new square footage. Luxury tile on the floor under this cardboard. We have ordered new cabinets and countertops and will add a 7 foot L-shaped connecting island with additional high top seating.

Back of Home

🔨The house has been wrapped in Tyvek; now we are considering having the rest of house wrapped as well. The wall closest in the photo is the new laundry/mud room. It will also have a small toilet and sink with a door that opens to the backyard. The farthest wall you see is one side of the sunroom. It will also have a door leading to backyard. Above the sunroom is the new added 4th bedroom.

And we hammer on...

Meredith