A Place to Drop Your Things...

Since Frank and I park in the garage everyday, we almost always come into our home through the breezeway.  When we moved in, there was a step up from the breezeway into the Dining Room.  As we talked through our renovation plans, we decided it would be better if there were no step up immediately to enter the home, and if there were some place we could drop our things as we entered.  There's nothing I hate more than a big pile of mail on the kitchen counter, and shoes all over the place. 

Our solution was to create a mini-mudroom with a "sunken" floor.  We chose to tile the floor with the same tile we used in the entry/foyer, and added cubbies for coats, a bench to store and put on shoes, and even a "stuff" tower for mail, phones, bags, etc.  The mudroom entry lets us enter the side but still take off our coats and shoes right away without walking all the way to the front door, etc.  So here's how it's shaping up...

Standing at the end of the kitchen island, looking towards the mudroom/breezeway.

Mail/Stuff Tower.

Mudroom bench seating and coat cubbies.

We'll be adding hooks in the cubbies as well, but those are still in the works.  The mudroom is turning out just as we hoped, and we know it's an area we'll use heavily every day!

Windowwwwwwws!

The windows are here! AND they're now all installed!! The crew's been installing this week, and since it took me so long to get to writing this post they're now all installed.  We're so excited!  The delivery came at the very end of May.  Frank and I were very busy the last few weekends though, with my half marathon, and traveling up to NJ.  Here's a glance at what the delivery looked like when the windows arrived...

Truck Delivery for the windows and sliding/glass doors!

Stack-o-sliders

Stack-o-windows

Once they all arrived, we had to wait for the window sills to arrive.  Frank and I went with a limestone will, to compliment a few other limestone installations we already had in the house (fireplace, mantle, etc.).  Once those arrived, it was time to install. 

Day 1: The crew installed the two master bathroom windows, and the side breakfast nook/patio door.

Window in mater bathroom from inside.

Side of the house - window in master bathroom from the outside, minus trim at this point.

Exterior view of the new patio/breakfast nook door!

Day 2: The crew moved on to installing the kid's bedroom windows, the breakfast nook back window, and the big front living room window -- that one was a beast!

Kid's bedroom - interior view of windows.

Exterior (front of house) view with two kid's bedroom windows in (far left and middle) and master bathroom window at the far right installed, minus trim.

Breakfast nook area - interior view of patio door and window.

Exterior view - living room "beast" window.

 Day 3: The crew opened up the new window between the kitchen and dining room, installed that new window and installed the dining room window and master bedroom window.

Back of house exterior - you can see where the new window opening is starting to take shape.

Here is the new window all opened up, and the dining room window in the back with the crew.

Interior view from the kitchen - breakfast nook window on the left and new window at the right of this photo.

Interior view from the dining room - new window on the left and dining room window on the right.

Interior view from the breakfast nook - all three windows (new on in the middle).

Day 4: The mancave window went in, as well as the mudroom sliding glass door, and the master bedroom sliding glass door! That's it for getting the windows in place!!

I came home to this! Standing in the breezeway, looking at new slider into mudroom.

Interior view standing in kitchen/living room - mudroom slider and breakfast nook patio door.

Exterior view - master bedroom slider.

View from the back of the house (prior to mancave window install).

So there you have it!  The windows and glass doors are in!  The interior doors arrived this week, along with a few other fixtures.  Things are really moving along here.  Next up, trimming all the windows and moving on to more of the finishing -- installing hardwoods, touch-ups and painting, etc.  Things are looking good for our July finish!

Now that's what you call an "Open Floor Plan!"

This past week was a great one for renovation progress at the house! One big thing that we were able to accomplish was cutting in the mudroom for our side entry.  The mudroom will be sunken below the rest of the main level by a few inches, and will be a tiled space.  We'll have some cubbies and hooks to hang coats, and places for shoes and mail too.  Since the side door is the main way that Frank and I enter, this will be where we put our things mainly as we enter and leave.  Since the mudroom is sunken, we had to do some work down in the man cave as well -- so framing started down there.  Here are a few pictures of how this all went down...

Mudroom cut-in, view from upper level - living room looking back.

 

Mudroom cut-in, view from lower level/man cave.

Sub-floor put into mudroom sunken floor.

Supports and sub-floor installed (from man cave).

Sub-floor installed, another view from top.

Mapping out where things will go with tape, haha!

That's it for now.. check back again soon!