After: Lucy's Room

Last, but definitely not least, dear Lucy's room. The girl has more space than she knows what to do with. (After co-sleeping with Mom and Dad for the first six months of her life, she handled the transition remarkably well. In true Lucy fashion.)

(From bathroom) 

Curtains and wall-art to come. As well as a closet build-out. 

And my personal favorite piece:

Balloons by Grandma Betty. Truly a work of art.

Afters: Jill & Jill Bath

On to the addition...

First, the Jill & Jill bath. ;)

Both girls have access to the sink room from their bedrooms.
The toilet/bath/shower is in a separate room.

Before and After: Renovated Bath

Though the initial plan was to totally reconfigure our bath, when the numbers came back it was financially unfeasible. So, we did the next best thing and updated everything. We love it.

Main upstairs bath vanity before:

Main upstairs bath vanity after:

Main upstairs shower before:

 (chocolate tub! pointless doorknob!)

Main upstairs shower after:

No tub. No doorknob. Amen.

(p.s. Our alternative to super expensive, difficult to clean glass Euro-doors? A ceiling-mounted shower track and custom curtain. Maybe someday we'll go with the doors, but for now, this is great, and about one twentieth of the price.)

Before and After: Maizey's Room

Maizey's room before:

  

(You'll see a furniture repeat in Lucy's room.)

Maizey's room after:

She upgraded to a big girl bed, lost a window but gained a bathroom, and is generally very happy with the change. Still to do? Closet build-out and bookshelf solution.

(p.s. The goose lamp lived in my and Pete's room when we were children.)

Befores and Afters

So, life is CRAZY. And not because I have a lot of extraordinary stuff going on. Just life. I've got a willful, wordy 2.85 year old and a 7 month old with an oral fixation. I've got a husband who commutes, works long hours and travels. I've got a design business I'm trying to run, a house I'm trying to keep somewhat organized and a yard the size of a small park. We're just busy. Living.

Although we're back in Milford, the home renovation "punch list" is far from complete, so I've been hesitant to post photos. But, enough is enough. The punch list may never be complete. Forgive the lack of wall and window decor. 

Here, the new playroom downstairs:

The couch pulls out when Grandma and Papa visit. We are still trying to suss out a "reading corner." And, we need more ikea storage.

Our bedroom upstairs:

The only change here was the floor, but we swapped out bed around too. In need of a good area rug. 

And, the hallway upstairs:

Check out the expansion and fabulously bright light tubes...

To summarize, on the first floor, we converted the office to a playroom/guestroom. We replaced the flooring throughout the upstairs.  We added a bedroom and bathroom on the second floor. We added sky tubes (LOVE). We made Maizey's room larger and redecorated. We completely renovated the existing second floor (now "master" bath). Rooflines changed dramatically. 

Tomorrow, photos of Maizey's room...

Home again, home again

First off... WE ARE HOME!

This explains the lack of posts, and what will undoubtedly now be a series of somewhat schizophrenic ones.

It feels great to be back, but a little harried as well. Maizey loves her new room so much that she prefers not to waste time sleeping in it. For eight days, it's been up at 6, neglected naps, and been wrestled to bed at 8 - with lots of feet pitter-patting for an hour or more after lights-out.

Will and I are exhausted. Not only did we tackle unpacking and clean-up, our laundry pump broke and the basement flooded. *sigh* I not only feel like a crazy person, I look like one too.

Today is the girls' third day at their new school. Both are doing super with that transition.

And of course, Lucy is handling it with a smile and a laugh.

Even if she does wake up three times a night to eat. But, the girl is working on solids and is breaking two bottom choppers, so I'll cut her a break.

Coming up?
Our last days in Ann Arbor, six month Sticky Bellies pics and if I ever get pictures and curtains hung, renovation photos.

Enlarging disappointment

Will and I are currently dealing with an upsetting, anxiety-producing, borderline infuriating, just plain shitty situation. As many of you know, in February we embarked on a home renovation journey to help accommodate our "enlarging" family.

This was after extensive, somewhat intense, personal conversations regarding our options - "love it or list it" style. (Maggie = love it. Will = list it.) We'd house hunted last summer and just couldn't find something that lived up to our location, lot, and home's character.

We interviewed three architects. Hired one. Settled on the plan to add a bedroom and "jack and jill" bathroom to the second floor, as well as renovate the existing upstairs bath. Months went by. Measurements taken. Drawings sketched. Changed. Plans completed. And, about a month ago, we went to bid. Drawings and schematics were sent out, as well as a line-item, open-book bidding excel spreadsheet. In the past few weeks the architect's associate and I spent hours walking three different builders through the house. 

(Now, as an aside, the unreasonably lengthy duration of the planning/architecture process was understandably stress-producing. We embarked on this endeavor to accommodate the baby in my belly, who was growing each and every day. So, each and every day we weren't moving forward was another day for me to stress about. Recently, we'd come to the conclusion that this would be a two-step job. First step (before baby) = demo and rough-in. Second step (1+ month post baby) = finishing. Totally not ideal, but hey, what can ya do... Yes, I wanted to scream at the architect to hurry the f*** up, but, I was trying to be flexible. To help expedite the process I interviewed and hired somebody to source fixtures and cabinetry based on idea boards I developed. The horses were in the gate.)

The three bids came back this week and on Thursday, the architect, his associate, Will and I gathered around our dining room table to go over the proposals.

End result? We are out $5K to the architect, have some useless plans, and are back where we were in February (or even arguably, last summer, at the "love it or list it" phase.) I am 8 weeks away from having a baby.

We are livid.

Of course, when we started the process we talked numbers. Before hiring the architect, we got rough estimates on costs. Conclusion? He is the world's worst estimator, or a very deceptive individual. He underestimated between 75-100%. 

So, what happens now? I cry. A lot. I am angry. Embarrassingly, I grieve. And, we try to pull together a game plan, both for the baby's arrival, and the future. I don't want to move. At all. I.Love.This.House. But, we really need more space, and, now that it seems adding the space here is financially ridiculous, we...sob...house hunt?

Stay tuned.

And, for effect, let me repeat. We paid somebody $5K, invested 60+ hours of time, and are at the same place we were 8 months ago.

p.s. Yes, I realize the kids could share a room. (I did as a child - and loved it.) But, we determined that would be tough given our home, and, that we didn't want to go that route. And yes, I do realize this is another one of my first world problems.