was your house renovated by a jackass too?

I’m thinking of holding a photo contest of the most ass backwards renovations discovered during demolition. I mean really – are all these layers necessary? I started in on the downstairs bathroom demolition so a new wall could go up to house all the upstairs plumbing. In an effort to have at least one bathroom operational, I didn’t do the whole room (thank god). Not asking for walls or a sink, just a shower and toilet.

Behind the wall that held the door, were layers of sheetrock, particle board, and paneling. No studs.

Behind the north facing wall where my toilet is and pipes to the kitchen addition, was a layer of faux beedboard, sheetrock, plastic faux tile in sheet form, sheetrock, white plastic in sheet form, plaster and lathe. I’m guessing I just gained about 3″. No insulation except in one sketchy corner and I think that was a bed for critters.

Beneath the “tile” floor was an insane amount of glue, piece of plywood with brad staples ALL OVER, nother piece of plywood, original floor. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get up 5 sq ft.

So we did manage to get a little wall up, as square as we possibly could, but not only was the floor not level, one of the beams appears to be sagging a good 3″.

i love a square…the first new (old) window is in

So, my very first window is in (thanks Chicky and Paul) and I am elated. I spent an ungodly amount of hours on window design – and up until today, doubting myself through the whole process. I struggled with creating a passive solar design and something that opened up the dark spaces. I went with a 40×40″ window (that I got for $80 at Restore!) for the north facing wall – much to the chagrin of my radiant heat experts at Northeast Radiant Technology (sorry Rob) in jacob’s room and it is amazing. Not only because it makes the room look so much bigger, and lighter, but also the views are fantastic.

I really want to thank Michel Gaison (the architect I consulted with when I first drew up plans) for encouraging me to trust my photographic instincts on light and space. And also for just being super cool and sitting down with me and making me design, redesign, and design again. And for making me do cardboard markups. And for making me rethink how I use space and objects. And for giving me a roll of trace paper. And for not charging me a ridiculous amount of money.

So here are before and after shots – it’s been raining for days so not the best picture, but you get the idea anyway.