Download pdf - Remodel timeline pics

Welcome to the photo timeline of our addition. We began designing it in 2008, and it has taken 4 years to design, trash,

redesign and oh yeah, fund.

Hope you enjoy!

This is the front of our house. We’ve spend years getting the gardens updated. Nothing will really change with this view, which is good. All the fun will happen out back … lets take a look.

Here’s the back of our house. Little mudroom off to the right (remember that view), a small brick patio with room for the grill and some plantings and enough yard (you can’t see) to toss the football around. Yes, all of this soon to change … and for the better we think.

Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan

And so our Journey begins. As you can see, we’re taking down that mudroom (yes, we threw a Knock It Down party, those are sledgehammer holes) and we’re building a kitchen / TV room addition, about 18x26 right across the back. We’re also converting a small bedroom into that much-needed second full bath.


One of the first things that happened was our mudroom was gutted. This had a tiny powder room in it which became the focus of some creative haiku prior to us smashing the heck out of it. The above destruction was NOT from the party, but from the contractors. Just to be clear


My hope was to take a picture from this exact spot as often as possible, to see the build happen. (I hate when HGTV does before & after shots from different spots). So, mudroom came down (rubble in foreground) and crawlspace starting to get dug.


Close-up of the crawl space and future foundation. Black tarp at top-center is covering up our entry to our existing kitchen (future ‘butler pantry’). I like that my Bilco door looks to be levitating. That will soon go.


Different view of the foundation. Here you can see the waterproofing that went around the outside. Also notice the nice mound of dirt in the back. They took out 4 truck loads of dirt, and left that for backfilling and grading – see next picture.


Foundation walls and “rat slab” poured. First mid-construction change – needed 2 additional courses of block because the yard about 18” higher in the back. So they needed additional foundation height for when they graded properly. Nice jury-rigged gutters, eh?


Now into October - foundation built, waterproofed and backfilled, what’s next? Start to build stuff. Can’t build stuff without lumber. Notice those yellow-ish boards bottom-right? Those are LVLs, massive joists and rafters. We’ve been told we could land a helicopter on our addition.


A view from directly in the back; flooring is down and walls are starting to go up, very exciting. It felt like we went from one big hole to a room in 3 days. That rubble is what was left of our Bilcodoors to the basement.


Back to the vantage point (now that the Port-O-John is moved). Walls are up and roofing rafters are in. Second mid-construction change: an overhang. Going with a flat roof was not our ideal design, and when we saw the overhanging rafters before they were cut to their planned 4” overhang, we decided to go with 18” to make it look less like a box.


New view, from the opposite corner. Roofing is installed and the house wrap is on. Nearly water tight (did someone mention hurricane?). It is really starting to look closer to that finished product. We’re opting for gray siding opposed to trying to match the house white.


Windows and door installed. Yard graded again and seed and hay down. Pretty mushy from the weather, so walking on planks. We’re planning on some nice down-lighting in the overhang and flanking kitchen window on right with some “barn lighting”. We’ll see how it really ends up.

Now we are starting to “feel” the construction. Wasn’t so bad when everything was happening outside. But now, we’ve lost

the kitchen and relocated everything to our dining room.

For inside, the kitchen gets repurposed and a small bedroom goes to a hallway and bathroom.


November started to focus inside. This WAS our kitchen. Small and galley-style. Now, nuthin’ but studs and lath. Opening up the doorway to dining room, adding a closet (right) and it will eventually be our butler pantry. Just waiting for that butler now.