Cottage Renovation: Interior Work

If you've ever watched any HGTV, you know that old houses typically come with their fair share of problems that are not visible from the surface. Once you start tearing out walls and pulling off siding you are likely to find some structural challenges. And despite my best efforts to wish away any old school problems, they crept right up to slow down our progress. Luckily, the biggest speed bump we've encountered so far wasn't really that big. The hip style of our roof has required us to use some headers in places we weren't planning for, causing us to rethink some of the room and closet placements. And lets be honest here....after several days of heated "discussions", re-drawn floor plans, and even a first by Bubba to change the layout, we finally compromised and came up with a functional and really great solution!

We've decided to make our former master bedroom into the guest room and what was supposed to be the guest room our master bedroom. Now, you'll enter our new sitting room from our bedroom, as well as a master bathroom and a (small) walk-in closet. It's also going to have some custom built shelving. I can't wait to watch it all unfold, it will be so nice to have a removed, personal space of our own and not feel like our bedroom is on display for all visitors to see.

For today though, I wanted to share some pictures of the work we've gotten done this past week. Our contractor and plumber came in and demoed the bathroom and exposed all of the piping. I'm still not sure how the two of them got the cast iron tub out of the house, but they did it!

Bathroom BEFORE:

View from the kitchen looking into the bathroom. So small...and so strange to have the only bathroom in the house off of the kitchen, but I guess that's an old house for you!

Closer view of the bathroom. Not that you can see it very well, but we are saving the vanity, sink and medicine cabinet.

Bathroom AFTER, now a mudroom:

View from about the same spot in the kitchen. Where the 2x4 is laying across the floor and there is no tile is where the tub and wall were and where the addition started. Lots of light and more room!

View from the new side door on the addition, looking into the new mudroom/former bathroom. It will enter into the kitchen.