a room of her own

This old house that I call home was originally built as a three bedroom up.  Along the way, someone placed a two-story addition on the back, adding a family room down and a fourth bedroom up.  The downfall to this idea is that the hallway only accessed the original three bedrooms, making the third bedroom a walk-thru to get to the fourth.  My original intent was to use bedrooms three and four as a master suite, with the walk-thru being a sitting room/home office.

But... that was when there were two kids.

Along came FOUR kids and the plans had to change.

Lily ended up in the walk-thru, with eventual plans to modify the floor plan to include hallway access to all four bedrooms. This was a fairly sizable undertaking, because the room needed to be completely gutted, reframed, rewired, and drywalled.  When the boys room was gutted and remodeled, their layout changed slightly, which included one new wall with a closet for Lily's room phantom-framed about 18 inches behind her existing wall.

Standing in Lily's doorway, just prior to demo... the closed doorway beyond is the fourth bedroom.

These DIY projects always take longer than I anticipate and hope, and this was no exception.  Two and a half years ago, I moved Lily "temporarily" into the family room downstairs.  I took a few days off work that summer and the boys and I got a good start.

My demo crew, summer 2014

Graffiti fun... then let the demo begin!

Pieces of a room

Reframing the room and rerouting the hallway

Inside the room, looking to the hallway

The boys and I got enough done that week to get the new hallway functional.  Not done, but functional.  From there, things moved slowly.  I wired the new area myself, which was my first somewhat significant electrical project.  I pulled the proper permits and passed my inspections.  Then came insulation and drywall hanging.  I also did the drywall finishing, which was another slow process.  

The trouble with DIY projects and four  kids is that a lot of life happens that slows progress down.  Trying to balance working to support a family, spending time with that family before they grow up, and trying to get a major DIY project done is not easy.  

Inspections passed, getting ready for drywall

At about the one year mark, I put Lily's room project on hold to rebuild a porch with a poorly designed and leaking roof that began quickly deteriorating and needed to be addressed.  Though I contracted the majority of this project, I still did the design work, all the interior demo, and the stripping and salvaging of the original siding for reuse on the new project.  By the time I worked closely with the contractors to wrap this project up, months had been spent... months NOT working on Lily's room!

Before and after

I'm not proud of it, but quickly a year turned into two.  As the two year mark approached, I knew I had better git er done!  But, the aforementioned porch had weathered a year and needed to have the exterior buttoned up and all the wood acid washed and stained... another project that took several weeks of working around a job, four kids, and the weather.

When the porch was sealed from the elements, I stepped up efforts on Lily's room.  When asked what she wanted this past year for Christmas, she responded, "my new room!"  Uh-oh... yep it had been too long since she had moved into her "temporary" family room accommodations.  I did everything I could to make the deadline, but a few weeks before Christmas, I could tell I wasn't going to make it.  BUT... Lily's birthday was mid-January, and I was pretty sure I could make that.

With the exception of trimming the window, I got it all done and moved her belongings into her room the eve of her 12th birthday.  She spent the night with her grandparents and it was ready when she arrived home on her birthday.  

As usual, it took too long, but the home is now truly a four bedroom and Lily no longer lives in a walk-thru bedroom... she has a room of her own!

The "phantom" closet discovered

Happy Birthday, Lily!

addition subtraction addition

Probably one of my life's worst decisions to date was the purchase of this place I call home.  It has been the bane of my existence for lo these many years.  I grew up just eight miles from my present home and, at the time we purchased it, I was working near here and commuting about an hour.  Moving to our present town cut my commute to about fifteen minutes.  (Life has changed a lot since then and I'm now commuting an hour back in the other direction, but that's another story!)

As a kid, I had a fascination with floor plans... those birds-eye maps of the inside of a structure that lets you see every room, doorway, closet, hallway... or even secret passageway (if one existed) all at the same time.  Unlike walking through a building or home and only truly knowing what you can physically see in each area, the floor plan allows you to virtually walk through but know exactly what is beyond every wall.  Maybe I'm weird, but I found them fascinating (and still do).

I remember in younger grades, my friend Brian and I would draw floor plans in our spare time at school.  They were Dr. Seuss-like floor plans that could never feasibly be built in three dimensions, but were wildly creative in two dimensions... with indoor pools and game rooms and secret passages galore (that lead to many of the same places the non-secret passages lead, but one never knows when you want to go from the game room to the kitchen for a snack without anybody knowing how you got there!)

Later, in high school, Brian and I took a mechanical drawing class together (back in the day of old-fashioned paper, pencil and t-square drawings), where we spent the school year drawing various mechanical parts and widgets that were never really going to be machined, all the while listening to John Cougar's Jack and Diane every day on the radio. (I swear, in 1980-something they played that song EVERY hour, EVERY day!)  However, the assignment that I couldn't wait to be assigned was the end of the year project.  Our local newspaper had a small weekly feature of a sketch of a home floor plan.  I used to enjoy this feature and get my weekly geek on as I poured over every voyeuristic detail of the inside of each house.  For a few bucks, you could order a non-building "blueprint" of the home, and from that print you could order the much more expensive building sets.  For our assignment, we had to pick a home from the newspaper and order the "blueprint".  Using it as a model, we had to draw our own set of dimensioned building plans, complete with 4-sided elevations and site map.  I ordered my plans and couldn't wait for them to arrive.  I loved every hour spent on the drafting stool crafting my floor plans.  Of course, I got an "A" on my final project... and I still have those drawings.  (Incidentally, my buddy Brian later hired an architect to draw building plans of a very slightly modified version of the house he drew in the class.  He physically built it himself and currently lives in it!)

Fast forward to 2001 and I was very dissatisfied with my chosen career.  Another friend, Phil, was an architect and looking to hire a draftsman.  He approached me one day and asked me if I had any interest in learning the trade of CAD (Computer Aided Drafting).  Any interest?  Heck yeah!  He trained me as a draftsman and I spent every day doing something I really enjoyed... pouring over each new sketch as I did those black-and-white newspaper sketches years earlier.  That job went away with the crash of the housing market in 2008, but that, too, is another story.

So what does all of that have to do with my present home?

It was originally a 1920's vintage 3 bed, 1 bath colonial, to which someone later added 2 separate additions on the back.  The home had inherent interior floorplan flaws and was in much need of updating, but the me that had loved floor plans since childhood and the me that was then employed as an architectural draftsman walked through it and saw not what it was, but what it could be.  I fell in love with a vision, and I had a dream of taking that vision beyond my ability to draw it and actually create it.  And, that is where good old common sense evidently failed me.  I convinced my wife to purchase it and I have paid a very dear price (in many different ways) for that decision.

Despite the bad decision, the interior is now about 75% brand new... gutted, walls moved, rewired, replumbed, reducted, drywalled, etc.  Though it came at a high cost, I am proud of what has been accomplished.  But, there was one very major detail that has haunted me a LONG time.

The first addition that someone added to the home was the 2-story area on the rear of the home (to the right in the pic below).  It tied in nicely with the existing hip-style roof and was fairly well done, making the home L-shaped.  Later someone added a second horribly constructed addition of an enclosed porch and sunroom (to the left in the pic below).  This addition had a flat roof that was very problematic and leaky.  I knew this when I purchased the home, and I had an idea what I wanted to do to remedy it.  For a number of reasons, though, that was always put off, partly because it was a big (and a little scary) project.  

1st addition (right),  family room with 4th bedroom above

2nd addition (left), enclosed porch with sunroom above

The roof leaks in that area of the house got worse and I decided I needed to get serious about tackling it.  By this time, we were not actually using the porch/sunroom area, so I gutted it to study the structure and plan my roof redesign.  What I discovered was that it was so poorly constructed, the parts of the structure I was planning to salvage and update were not even salvageable.  I did some measuring and some calculating and visualized a necessary (and more costly than I had in mind) complete tear down and rebuild of this area.  I probably could have built the new addition myself, but I decided I didn't want to and didn't really have time.  So, I consulted with a local contractor about the project.  I provided him only 2 hand-drawn sketches (below) and asked him if they could tear it off and build something that looked like this.  They understood my vision and we hashed out a contract.

Before... the flat-roofed menace

I stripped the original siding and salvaged it for re-use.

I also salvaged the aluminum storm windows for scrap.

A buddy salvaged the old window sashes for the antique glass.

My part of the demo/salvage done and the contractor's "before"

All but floor and foundation came down in one day... good riddance!

Down to the ground, demo done the second day

[Insert ghost story here]  I didn't get a photo of it (because it was too dark), but under the floor deck, in the earthen crawlspace, we discovered a very dead floral arrangement in a very old dusty basket... the kind you might see at a funeral.  It was laying on it's side on the dirt in the middle of the crawlspace... sort of like you would see placed on a fresh grave.  So, it begs the question... just whom did they bury here and build a porch over?  And, since we didn't dig around, just whom did we build my new porch over?  My theory is that it was poor Uncle Joe, who couldn't afford a cemetery plot and loved sitting on porches.  Uncle Joe probably passed away just as they were getting ready to build the last addition, so they planted him, placed flowers on his grave, and built a porch over him.  He must approve of the new porch, because he has yet to make a haunting appearance through all the disturbances of the renovation.  I affectionately now refer to the new porch as "Uncle Joe's porch".

The new design is a porch below with a walk-in closet/storage room above

After

The "finished" product... at least the paid portion of finished.  I will take it from here and finish the closet interior and the porch interior, which is planned to be enclosed as a screened porch... someday!

I really didn't like writing the checks for this addition subtraction addition, but it is a relief to have it done and a big monkey off my back.  I am very happy with the result... it looks just as I envisioned it.  I have to admit that I have been ashamed of my house since I purchased it because of this mess of an addition.  It's not completely finished, and though I acknowledge it is still one of my worst decisions... I now at least have a home for my family of which I am proud.

box seats

Although it seems quite popular, I have never been to IKEA.  I have browsed their website, but never saw much in the way of style that appealed to me.  Maybe the actual store would be different?  I do have some ready-to-assemble furniture pieces in my home, of the kid's dresser, entertainment center and computer cart variety, but a ready-to-assemble sofa... that doesn't seem like a good idea.  Or, does it?

Our home has a 12' x 16' living room... relatively small by today's housing standards.  I have a family of six... relatively large by today's family standards.  As we finally moved into the front [remodelled] area of the house, Jen and I started to ponder the most efficient way to offer cozy seating in a tight space for a larger family.  The corner sectional sofa seems the most efficient solution.

I assumed that a sectional sofa was just that... many sections of a sofa assembled in a flexible configuration, right?  Wrong... mostly.  We did some furniture browsing and found that several of the furniture store's "sectionals" where little more than a couch and loveseat with the arms lopped off and shoved together.

So, I went online to explore sectionals.  And, that's when I discovered Home Reserve.  Based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they specialize in ready-to-assemble sofas and chairs, build them from American made materials and sell them exclusively online.  I was intrigued by the company and their website and it looked like a good product at a fair price, but I was skeptical... very skeptical.  After all, it takes a little faith to order a seven piece sectional, give them my credit card number, and watch as the UPS man carries my new sofa to the porch in seven relatively small boxes!

So, I did some fairly extensive research on the company.  They are featured by HGTV and Better Homes and Gardens, just to name a few.  They have an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau, and a vast majority of independent online opinions are favorable.

I convinced Jen that it was a good idea to further explore.  (After taking 7+ years to remodel this portion of the house, convincing Jen that ANY of my ideas are "good" ideas is more difficult than it used to be!).  But, we scanned the many online fabric swatches, and ordered a half-dozen actual swatches at $1 each.  They arrived on schedule, just as the company stated.  I then called customer service with several questions, and my questions were courteously handled.  The company offers customers to tour the factory and watch their sofa being made, but since Fort Wayne is over a four hour drive, I opted not to conduct on-site research.

The company offers a "risk-free trial" in that you can order a single armless unit to assemble and try in your home.  If you like it, order the remainder of the sectional.  If not, box it up and ship it back and the company will fully refund your money, including shipping. 

We decided to try one piece.  We placed the order and, just like the swatches, the single box showed up on our porch perfectly punctual, just as the website shipping information stated.  I assembled it in under an hour, and was impressed with the simplicity of assembly and the clarity of the instructions.  The finished product seemed sturdy, durable and comfortable.  Our only concern was that the seat depth seemed a little shallow, but this was not surprising, according to the many reviews I read.  The shallowness was not bad, and in a smaller room can actually be an advantage, as some overstuffed sectionals would likely swallow up the room.

After sitting on, and looking at, the single piece for a few weeks, we decided to order the remaining six pieces.  Once again, a very smooth experience.

Seven pieces...seven boxes

Each box clearly labelled... one left, four armless, one corner, and one right

Unpacking the box

A bag of fabric and a vacuum packed bag of cushions

Below that, a bag of hardware and the frame parts, manufactured from OSB.

The clearly-numbered frame parts for an armless section

Each boxed section comes complete with a pair of lightweight gloves to protect the assembler from any possible splinters (splinters were not a problem), and a sanding block, if needed (I only used a sanding block briefly on one piece).

The assembled frame.  Notice the seat bottom has a handle-hole cut into it... each section base doubles as a storage box!

The armless unit with the back and front panel fabric installed... complete, minus the seat and back cushions.  One huge selling point to this furniture is renewability.  Because all the fabric is self installed (and no staples or other attachments are necessary), the fabric can be replaced relatively inexpensively, rather than putting the whole sofa on the curb and starting over.  Also, fabric comes in machine washable options... in theory you could remove 100% of of the fabric and throw it in the washing machine.  The fabric we chose is not machine washable, and after installing all of it, I'm not sure how often I'd care to pull it off and launder it, but, in theory, you could machine wash your sofa... pretty cool.

Seven pieces assembled and ready to use!

It took just over eight hours total assembly time, which, if you've ever assembled any ready-to-assemble furniture, does not seem bad for a seven piece sectional sofa.  It is comfortable and roomy for a larger family, although I think we've already established that the corner is the seat of choice!  The true test of a product is time, but initially, I like this product.  Next, we need to add either a coffee table or some matching ottomans, for kicking back and stretching out, and a corner entertainment center.  The carpet is ordered and I'm wrapping up the trim.  Jen is shopping for accent pillows and window treatments.  I'm looking forward to getting this room wrapped up and ready to kick back and enjoy some good family time.  This sectional gets us well on the way to that goal!