Up

There were days when I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to say it….but “It’s done!” It’s true. Between the hecticness of parenting; the tiredness of growing another, the busyness of church involvements and work (for a while two jobs at once for Rod) and all the other things that tend to keep us busy, the upstairs has been finished!
I can't say that it has been easy for anyone, for a variety of factors, including those already mentioned above. Add to it the fact that it has been a very long process - about two years, give or take. Add to that the fact that, like many renovations, it has evolved and changed shape and grown from its original plans. There are still some things that need doing, but it is at the point where we can now use it. Hooray, Hooray!
I am so proud of Rod and of all the work that he did and am so pleased with how it looks.

And so, without further ado...
Before:
This is how it looked when we moved in. At first we thought a coat of paint could fix most of the problems...and then we realized how poorly built it was. It became apparent that there were three major issues - insulation (an easy 10 to 15 degree difference between upstairs and down on a given day), ventilation, and storage. And then there were the "little" things: the drywall tape was hanging down in places, we could push on the drywall and have it push back, the floor squeaked, etc.

We began by ripping the drywall off and battling a recurring infestation of ants. When we had determined (hoped) we had "won," we removed the insulation down to the studs; reinsulated with greater R value; installed new vapour barrier; rewired for more lights; and added extra strapping. We replaced the old window with a new and larger one and replaced a non-venting skylight with a venting one. We added several pocket doors (which led to the project of replacing the downstairs' ones, too 'while we were at it'). We roughed in for a two-piece bathroom (yet to be completed). We ripped up the floors, planed, stained, and varnished the boards; reinforced the subfloor and made sure the sheeting was well-screwed down and then relaid the floor. We redrywalled, taped and mudded; rebuilt and added the kneewalls and added several doors - which also required staining and varnishing -for easy access to storage. The "finishing touches" including paint, new lights and fan, blinds, trim, outlet covers....I am pretty sure I have forgotten a few things, but you get the idea: it was a lot of work.

And so....the finished product. :

Behind the closed door is the eventual "powder room".

You can see how thrilled G is with his soon-to-be new bedroom!