Mudroom - Take 2

I'm pretty sure every time Husband and I delve into a new project, or continue our efforts on one of our many never-ending projects, Grandma and Grandpa watch us from above. 

And laugh their asses off at us. 

I know that many, if not all, of our "hurdles" with remodeling were not put there on purpose.  Yet, we've come to realize that we are not capable of tackling any task - large or small - and not have some form of a bump in the road, issue, pain in the ass, problem, hurdle, obstacle... Call it what you may.  I bet you can figure out what we call them.  Anyways, why am I bantering about this?  I have no idea.  I did have a point when I started typing but I'm watching The Sandlot movie simultaneously and lost my train of thought.  It happens.  Can you blame me?  Smalls, you're killin' me.

Once upon a time, we decided to add on a new foyer and garage.  Our original mudroom (you can read about it here) is now becoming an enclosed closet.  You would think that this wouldn't be THAT big of a project, and I guess it really isn't compared to some of the others, but of course, nothing can ever be easy.

A coupla before pics:

Here comes the pain in the butt issue... We had to rip out the sub flooring to make the floor level with the rest of the new area

 

And what to do we find.....

More vermiculite :(

 
For those of you not familiar with what that is, it's a form of insulation in the same category as asbestos.  Think of Vermiculite as Asbestos's sister and they're both cancer-causing bitches.

So on with the masks and off with their heads, so to speak.

 

That's better.

 

 

Oh!  And look!  The cover to the cistern aka Al Capone's Vault.

Neat-O.

 

Gonna knock down some walls now

Oh hi, Evan. 

Evan recently lost his fingernail while riding under the shopping cart and sticking his hand under the wheel at Lowe's while shopping for supplies for the blessed foyer.

 

See?  Gross.

I'm glad it didn't happen to a different finger....... You know, like his thumb.

 

 

The mudroom will now be converted into a closet and will have a door on it.

 

View from our new front entrance

 

View from my dirty kitchen

 

 

New patio doors leading to the backyard...Another post in the making...

 

View from mudroom.  The door to the garage on the left and a framed out closet to the right.

 

And to the right of the closet.....

A fun little project that will be happening... Who can tell me what this is?!?!?!

 

One more guessing game....

What do you think this little area with the 3 squares is gonna be used for?  If you've been reading my blog, you should be able to figure it out ;)

 

To be continued.........

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playboys, Pepsi and all kindza UPDATES!

One would hope that with all of the demo and remodeling we've done to this house, we'd find some sort of hidden treasure or a roll of cash stashed somewhere. I'm sad to report that's not the case for us.  Relics we have uncovered are an empty pull-tab Pepsi can and a Playboy from 1970 with the cover ripped off and the corners chewed by mice that we found in the walls of our now living room. Hopefully it was mice that chewed the corners...... Which reminds me of a time when I left the door to the house open when I was running in and out of it and a gopher decided to help himself to our basement. He's dead now.

 

I regret to inform you that I do not have a photo of the Playboy to show you but I do have this lovely picture that Evan made for me that I will graciously share.

It's a "hockey thing" he told me.  Of course it is.  It totally looks like a hockey thing.

 

 

***UPDATES ***

It's been a while so thought I'd give a few updates as to some of the projects we have been forever working on.

 

Basement:

The basement has been on hold since Spring finally decided to make an appearance.  It's ALMOST done... Like every other project we have running, of course.  But here's a few shots to bring you up to speed:

 

We added a few doors

Remember Al Capone's Vault?  He now has a door.  Super Husband made it.  Welded the track, made the door from some old tongue and groove wood he found... I told ya he's talented.

 

Closet doors.  Also made by Super H.  We couldn't find any closet doors that we really liked, so...

He welded some frames together, bought some wood, attached with carriage bolts and there ya go.

Boom.  Closet doors.

Don't forget to admire the stain job.  That was my part :)

There is a little more progress than what I've showed BUT, I don't want to steal my own thunder for later when I show you the FINISHED photos.  Yes, I used the word finished.

 

 

Garage/Addition updates

Oh boy, hasn't this been a long time coming after the nasty winter we had.

 

Lo and Behold!  A frickin' garage! 

 

And a driveway!  Or what we like to call our Sea-ment.

 

And a sidewalk!

In case you're wondering about the siding, it's not supposed to be there.  Exposed Tyvek wrap is the new thing.

 

One more update

The Foyer

I have decided that The Foyer deserves it's own post but here's a preview:

As of today:

This archway is where the door to the house used to be.

 

 

Other side, door to the garage.

Here's a tip for you that we learned the hard way:  The nice beautiful expensive door that you see there that leads from the foyer into the garage is not up to code.  Those doors can not have glass or windows in them.  Even if it's cute glass.  Dammit.