{ Big Changes }

This is what we started with upstairs...

I was planning on just painting all the wood paneling but Mark had other ideas. At first I was not excited about tearing apart the whole upstairs because I knew it was going to extend our move in date much further out but after seeing how it looks now, I am glad we decided to make some big changes up there. The kids are going to love it when its done and its going to be a great space for them to sleep and play!

This was our first big project on the house.  We Mark removed all the paneling and the middle wall divider. We ran into an issue when taking the middle wall out. We realized there was a chimney that went through the middle of that wall and out the roof. It was a chimney for venting out an old furnace so it was no longer being used. As you can see in the picture below it was right in the middle of the room.

You can also see all the paneling has been removed and the flooring had been ripped up. The progress was exciting! I really wanted that chimney removed which meant the roof would need some repairs afterwards but my amazing hubby did it. It's now one big open room. Check it out, isn't it so different already!

Mark also moved the ceiling up higher and the side walls were extended to maximize the size of the room. 

The can lights have been installed into the ceiling and the new electrical outlets are in around the room. This has been a long process for the upstairs. It took Mark about a day to remove all the paneling and only a couple hours to take out that old chimney but removing the nasty old insulation took a long time. We also adding a lot of main floor lighting so while the flooring is removed in the upstairs it was a good time to add all of those ceiling lights downstairs so that added time. It is now ready for the sub floor, drywall and new windows. See here's the new windows...just waiting to be put into place.

The old windows were in extremely bad shape. Most of the house will need new windows eventually but these two were the worst so we will be happy to see them go and it will be much more efficient to have these new windows installed. Check out those rotted boards around the window. I couldn't get a great shot of the window panes due to the lighting but they are bad. 

I am so excited to see this room coming together. Mark has put in a lot of time and energy so far with the help of a lot of friends and family too. We are so grateful for everyone who is helping on our home! I know drywall will make the room seem a lot more finished so I will update you as soon as we get that in! 

Here is a before and in progress pic for you to check out again. Looks good huh?!

Before

 Progress