all seasons room – progress

It took about two months, one engineer {who was actually completely wrong}, eight concrete guys, three framers and two inspectors… because Nashville.

No, this isn’t the beginning of a joke. We’re quite sure there will be more added to this complicated equation by the time we’re finito. But we’ve gotten started on our next money pit addition and we’re thrilled to be back today to share a little progress on our all seasons room. 

If you’re not familiar with our journey, you can check most of it out under this little section, here. Three years ago, we uprooted our family to shake things up a little, grow our business, and be closer to family. We purchased a fixer upper in a fantastic neighborhood, with a fantastic school system. Said home had basically not been touched since 1978. It was right up our alley, and we were determined to make it home. So after finishing the upper and mid levels, we finally finished off the outside portions and basement, last Fall. And now, we’re ready to do our first addition: the all seasons room. 

You can see the intro to it all, here where we shared our initial plans. And our joyful announcement that we’re ready to begin, here. – wheeee permits!

When we first moved in, {and by move in, I mean we took possession of the house since it was basically neglected for some time} the back porch and yard looked like this:

And our all seasons room {and by all seasons, we mean addition, because we have full on plans -more on that later} will look like this: a little bit of the revised version for you from the first two that we shared. Except much better in real life. 

The floor plan on the inside, will look like this, and we’re basically thrilled to add another space to our home where we can entertain, and enjoy friends and family.

Along with a quick mockup of the outside view: 

So a couple of weekends ago, it was demo day. And demo, we did. A few of our friends told us they were actually sad we were moving it all.

We get it – we’d made do for a while with the metal shed as it was – it was nice and sufficient for our in-the-meantime phase. So in a way, we were kinda sad too. I guess you could say it’s the end of an era.

We were feeling a smidge sentimental, until we cleaned it out… And were able to see on top where there were weeds growing on top of the roof, and realized this thing REHEALLY needed to go.

Some of you may have been following our little demo and progress on instagram but once we climbed up and got started, we realized the shed/covering/whateveryouwanttocallit was so old, it had been caulked. Again and again and again. {There was a reason it leaked all this time.} We couldn’t even get the screws out of their holes so we could properly dismantel it all.

PS the roof will be be next in a long line of steps, because old and because brown. But because budgets, and because it’s still good… stay tuned. We can live with a slight eye sore in terms of color clashings – I guess the neighbors will have to avert their eyes in the meantime. 

So we resorted to literally banging it out with hammers and mallets in sections, before we could remove the accordion-style metal. 

No worries, said shed went to a happier place a-la the recycling center. 

Also, if you ever need therapy, demo is your game. It’s so satisfying. It was definitely a 3.5 hour cardio in the heat of the day so when we were done, we were DONE. Everything was stuck together, and between relocating furniture {graciously stored in a friend’s barn for now} and taking it all apart, it took us a while. 

And the back was ready to begin with concrete work for the foundation. Goodbye, 1978. Hello 2018. 

We were quite surprised by how different our back looked without the impeding shed – the back of the house is so much brighter on the inside, too. 

I don’t think the designer in me realized what a mess the foundation work {that we required} would be. You know… since I’m not a concrete person or anything. Jamin, on the other hand, knew what we were getting into. We’re both glad we waited until now to get started, with all the fun we’ve had with friends in the back this summer. So there was a little of this… 

And then a lot of this. 

But the concrete was poured and dried, just in time for it to rain… so winning. 

And we even had time to pressure wash it off last weekend for Aiden’s birthday celebration with some friends.

A ramp for the dogs = redneck haven. 

And then it was time for block work. Except now that they’ve been laid, we hit our 2nd bump in the road.

As it turns out, the blocks weren’t laid square. WHAT? I know. The framer would be able to correct it to a degree, but we want it done correctly now to help with future issues. And since it is out of square by 6 inches, yeah that’s a lot and kind of a big deal. Things like this happen all the time in construction, so deep breaths. We’re glad to take it slow since this will now need to be corrected. Though we’re excited to get this project rolling, it’s not exactly interrupting our lives in any way, and it’s nothing like the time we were desperately trying to finish, just so we could get the kids settled. One step at a time. Here’s to being patient. Things like this happen in construction all the time, and a little patience goes a long way.

Wheeeee! So stay tuned. We can’t wait to show you the design elements, coming soon! We’re so excited about some of the ideas we’re beginning to pull together. 

As always, have an inspired day!