There's always something new going on in the York household! This is a place for us to share that with you, our family and friends. Enjoy!

Showing posts with label house expansion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house expansion. Show all posts

Friday, July 24, 2015

House Expansion: Mission Complete!!

The expansion is complete!!  Our contractors are working on our "punch list" to tidy up a few things here and there, but the construction is complete.  We are now working on adding our finishing touches such as furniture, fixtures, and decorations.  We started in the bathroom and it has turned out beautifully!
 
Bathroom before we got shower doors, toilet and vanity

The tile work is amazing!

We added some mirrors and lights above the vanity

It's a beautiful bathroom! I can't believe it mine!!

The nursery has also been a work in progress.  I think we have managed to complete it as well.  We are working on a few more decorations for the walls, but it is ready whenever he is!
 
Some cardboard letters that I painted and glued scrapbook paper to

"Album Covers" designed by Dan


It's not a very big room, but we made it work!
We took another trip to IKEA!  We just couldn't help ourselves.  Despite the troubles we had with the last piece of furniture we put together, we just took a chance.  We found a beautiful bedroom set for such a great price!  When we were talking with a gentleman who worked there, it turns out the twin trundle bed we took on a month prior for Sophie's room was quite a difficult assembly.  We were getting ourselves into easier furniture with our bedroom set.  Also, despite the instruction booklet clearly illustrating putting furniture together with two people, Dan has tackled them all on his own since I do my best work observing these days.  So far, so good!  He has taken his time with the assembly and we have a bedroom set!!  Now, we just need a mattress...  Back to the stores we go!

We found a beautiful mirror to match our set! I have always wanted one...
We had also picked up another piece for our bookshelf and moved it into the living room.  We plan to put a few chairs across from it to create a sitting area in that part of the living room.  A few rugs added a nice touch to the room, and Sophie has found it to be a great place to take books down and read.
 

We will be building an island to add in this space of the kitchen expansion

More views of the kitchen extending into the addition. The floors look beautiful!


Laundry room complete!  Already a bit messy...
We are so happy with our beautiful new house!  It feels like a new home entirely!  There is still some work to be done, so I will continue to post more pictures as we complete our finishing touches

With Love,

The Yorks

Monday, June 22, 2015

House Expansion: Weeks 18-23

We picked out some great colors for the house!  Or, at least we thought we did...  We looked at a color wheel to choose all of our paint colors and we didn't try any samples out. How brave!!  Everything worked out perfectly, except the exterior color.  The painters brought over a huge bucket of it and gave us a sampling on the front of the house.  Turns out, it looked a little too purple for Dan's taste. Darn! I've always wanted a purple house!! 
Original choice, a bit on the purple side

Round two, samples!!

So, we asked them to stop and went back to the drawing board.  This time we did it the right way by getting samples, applying them, and going from there.  So we started out with four samples, and we were not pleased.  Went back for a few more, and a few more after that.  I think we ended up with 12 samples on the side of our house all together.  We finally picked "the one", and gave our contractor the number.  One day, we came home to our exterior all finished.  Here is what the front corner of our house looked like.
Original color choice on left, final choice on right!

Turns out, someone left the old bucket of paint on the job site.  I've tried to imagine how this happened, and the only thing I can come up with is that a few painters started on opposite corners of the house.  They met up at the front corner, pondered the difference between the paints, looked at their watch and thought, "Oooh, it's 4:30.  Quittin' time!  See y'all tomorrow!"  No one mentioned the mix-up to us.  Dan noticed it and sent the picture to our contractor, who of course said it would be fixed by the next day.  Lesson learned:  Don't put 12 samples on your house and expect a flawless finish!  The final product is beautiful!  Our house really stands out, and the difference in trim colors really pops.  It's a great color!  It's called Refuge by Sherwin Williams.
Hard to capture it in daylight with the huge tree shadowing it!

After the painting was done, we had some base boards installed.  Next came the tile for the bathroom floors, walls and shower.  New wood flooring was also put in throughout the new living space.
New color in old Rock Room

The skylight and the color really brightens the place up

Green for the master bedroom

Bright blue for baby boy!

The project has taken a little bit longer than originally planned.  We have made some changes which have taken up more time.  But, if you ask this mommy, times a tickin' and I'm itching to get some things prepared for our new arrival.  Naturally, Dan hears my complaints all the time.  I guess he decided to take some issues to our contractors.  This is how I imagine the conversation went:

"Jess is really pregnant.  She's getting more and more pregnant by the day.  She really wants the nursery finished so we can move stuff in there.  Besides being really pregnant, she's really emotional too.  I have no idea if she's going to cry, laugh, or yell.  You all really don't want to witness any lapse in her mental stability.  Can we do something about this?"

The very next day FIVE guys showed up to work on the house!!  Wow, the threat of a pregnant woman's emotions goes a long way!  That day they sanded the new and old wood floors and got a coating of stain applied.  Our bathroom tile was nearly completed as well!  It was one of the hottest days we've seen here in central Florida, so I was feeling a little sympathetic.  (Especially since Dan had just threatened them with psycho pregnant lady).  I went to the store and got some cookies and lemonade (no, I did not turn my oven on to bake! Too hot, remember!).  I set out these refreshments in the afternoon, and I think they appreciated it.  After talking to the contractor, he said they would have to apply two more coats of "stuff" to the floors then they would be laying carpeting in the bedrooms.  All I needed was carpeting in the nursery to be able to move the crib in.  This would allow us to get Sophie her big girl bed and start the transition sooner rather than later.  Dave, our contractor told me carpeting would be done on Monday.  He told me this on a Wednesday.  I went to work the next few days, coming home to a smelly, hot house.  Smell from staining and finishing wood flooring.  Heat from turning air conditioning off while the guys were in and out of the house all day working.  BUT, lot's of progress was being made!!  When I came home on Friday, I had a surprise.  Carpeting had been laid in the BOTH bedrooms!!  Someone is getting a big smooch for this one!!  That meant that we were able to get to work on the kids rooms this weekend.  The contractors really came through for us, and at the moment I am a happy preggo!
Old rock room!

Sanded down, old floor into new floor

Laundry Room floor
Shiny and new! Floors in new living space and kitchen extension

Carpeting!! Master bedroom

Nursery carpeting
Carpeting being installed in the nursery meant that it was time for Sophie to get a big girl bed!!  We moved the crib, changing table and rocking chair into the nursery to make room for a new bed.  We found a cute bed at IKEA complete with drawers and a bottom half that pulls out like a trundle bed.  It's been a while since we've bought anything at IKEA, and it became all too clear to me last night.  ASSEMBLY REQUIRED...  Ugh, IKEA assembly.  The twin sized daybed came in three different boxes and about 5,000 different pieces.  I get it, assembling it yourself cuts down on costs.  How about the instruction manual?  Pictures and numbers only!  Would it be so bad to have some words involved?  Then I suppose they would have to translate it into 50 different languages and the bed you paid $300 to assemble yourself will now cost you $500...  Dan's sister had something smart to say about IKEA furniture assembly: The instruction manual should have a divorce decree at the end of it!  Man, it really put our teamwork abilities to the test!!
 
So we got started on this project at about 5pm.  Big mistake.  We realized it was going to take a lot longer, so we let Sophie get her night's sleep started in baby brother's room.  She seemed like she felt right at home...
 
 
Six and a half hours later, we finished!  We put some cute princess sheets on it and got our little girl to tuck into it like it was always there.  She stirred just a little bit when we laid her down.  She looked up at us and closed her eyes with a huge grin on her face.  Instantly, the mess we just endured was all worth it!
 
Nevermind that the drawer is all wonky...we're working on it!!
Next up and grouting to finish up our bathroom tiles.  Cabinets, sink, toilet, and shower doors to be added to the bathroom.  Then comes a little tidying up and inspections.  Then we should be all done!  It will be a bittersweet day when these guys leave our home.  It's been quite a journey, and has been amazing to witness it every step of the way.  I imagine my next post about the expansion will be the last. **sniff sniff**

Love
The Yorks

Monday, May 18, 2015

House Expansion: Weeks 13-17

The expansion is still underway!  We have come a long way since the last post. Old walls have come down and new walls have gone up.  The addition is really starting to take shape!  The old walls that came down were to expand our kitchen and open the existing house into the new house.  At the end of the last post I put a picture of this rooms wall and windows.  They're gone!!  And so is our old room.  The kitchen will now extend into this room.  We will be adding a nice sized island with cabinets and stools. 
 


Here is another view into the old room that is now the kitchen extension.  The door on the right is the hallway to the old house.  The door on the left is a closet which is still our "office".  We will be transforming it into a walk-in pantry.  I have always wanted a walk-in pantry, thanks mostly to my Aunt Linda.  She has always had one, and even as a little kid I was in love.  Maybe it was all the good food that I always found in there...

Our new skylight

Tearing down old wall to separate room from kitchen

A HUGE mess...

Before skylight was cut

During

After


A look through the living room
Master bedroom
The next two pics are of our new master bathroom.  We have a walk-in closet in there as well!  Picking out tiles, cabinets, sinks, fixtures and such has been daunting. I think interior decorating is not my thing!




 Nursery view into back yard and back porch
 
 
 Laundry Room going into garage ^^
 
Sophie's old window had to come out!  It looking into our new walk-in closet 

 
A patch over Sophie's old window. We have some painting to do
They have finished the siding!!  This Hardie board is no joke.  I'm pretty sure they started putting it up a month ago.  It's very detailed work, but very durable material.  It is described as a fiber/cement mixture that can last up to 50 years.  We will be painting this siding, so I figured we would add a few pics of the before look.




We are getting our interior doors installed today and it seems they will be adding trim to the interior windows.  We have made a few trips to Lowes and Home Depot to pick out paint colors, tiles, cabinets and counter tops.  So all of that will be added soon too!  After a fun trip to IKEA last weekend, Sophie has picked out her big girl bed.  Once we get the new nursery finished, we can move her crib in there.  Then we give the big girl her new bed!!
 
I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  The guys said they will be done at the end of the month.  Here's hoping!
 
Love,
 
The Yorks
 
PS- DSS Construction added a new mascot to the family!  Meet Bandit!  Sophie loooooves him and lovingly calls him "Band-Aid".  He is a baby Husky and joins his sisters Amber and Lilly.  Sophie loves when they get to visit the worksite.  For the record, Bandit is their hardest worker!!


Workin' hard