#27 - More Progress

Ryan being the electrician he is was excited to re-work the lighting in the room. Previously there was some large track lighting and tacky 70’s style wall sconces. Not to mention the switches were all over the place and receptacles needed updating. We took down all the previous lighting, moved the switches to one convenient 4-gang box and installed 4 recessed lights and a ceiling fan. Of course the ceiling was left with stains and paint lines so we plan to work next on fixing the ceiling holes and repainting the whole. We were a bit ambitious thinking we’d have time to do all of this and have Sunday free to relax. This work actually took Ryan all day Saturday which means we didn’t get started on the rest of our desired work.

The next day (Sunday) we had a very out-dated shelving system and some unattractive paneling that needed to be addressed. Lucky for Ryan his dad showed up as he was putting the finishing touches on the lighting Sunday morning so he had an extra set of hands to tackle the well-built and very sturdy shelving system and gave them a little trouble getting out. The wood unit was custom built and the pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. They had to sawzall the unit to pieces to remove it being careful not to damage the drywall behind it or the hardwood floor below. They did a great job and before we knew it the corner the shelves were in had been transformed. The room feels so much larger and looks 100 times better (even without repainting the walls yet!).

Also, like I said we had to remove the paneling above the fireplace. Lucky for us there was nicely finished drywall behind it, so all we need to do it touch up some holes and re-paint.

It was so nice to sit down at the end of the day and see all the progress in the room.

Other than painting the ceiling and walls we kind of opened a small can-of-worms. The living room and kitchen run together (basically no divider between the two ceilings and the shelving unit that did slightly separate the two is now gone) so before repainting the living room ceiling we’ll need to get any structural work done in the kitchen to make the paint flow nicely.

So next on the agenda is to rework the kitchen lighting (remove fixtures and add some recessed lighting, a small ceiling fan and run wire for pendant-type lighting for the future kitchen) and change one of the walls a bit. Currently we have two pantries and a space that just doesn’t fit our fridge (but should). So, we’ll be moving the two pantries together to make one large pantry and opening the space for the fridge a little to accommodate our side-by-side. I’m very eager to do all of this because it will take my currently tacky out-dated kitchen and make it a little more appealing to the eye until we can afford new cabinets, floors and counter tops later on down the road.

The only down side to all of this: all of the progress I made in the garage has been totally reversed