Wow! Mike Shrader of Palladian Designs has done an amazing job with our space! Just imagine how super cool we felt, arriving to a meeting with both our contractor and designer (20 minutes late, by the way, due to faulty Google Map directions - not our fault, swear) with this beautiful drawing of our new home waiting for us! Okay, enough exclamation points - but tonight was quite the meeting. For the first time, we were able to see the preliminary designs for our new home. It was equally overwhelming as it was exciting (as blueprints don't quite do it for me like a magazine picture can) but we are still confident that we are headed in the right direction. Lots of slight changes to our original vision, but we are quick to let the experts mold our "vision" to their liking! For tonight - we are pumped and celebrating this "round one" with a few beers, a visit from the lovely Kelly Workinger, and "Glee"on Fox. The next few weeks will bring some hard numbers from the contractor, some info from the bank, a shopping day with the interior designer... and then maybe, just maybe, we will have some work underway by the new year! Stay tuned for updates!

Scary Basement Pictures

Believe it or not, this basement will be finished and livable when it's all said and done!

Exterior BEFORE

Exterior changes will include a new front porch as well as new siding and windows. There will likely be a room addition on the back of the house, which will dramatically change the back view of the home. I didn't mean to include two of the same deck pictures - how do you delete pics on this thing? I still have a lot to learn about blogging!

Upstairs BEFORE

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The upstairs will undergo a major transformation. Settling/sloping floors made our original remodeling plans very difficult. Once everything is torn down, the floors will be rebuilt to level things out. A master suite will be incorporated into the space, and a two-story addition will likely be added to the back of the house to create two guest beds upstairs. At some point, someone put some effort into this upstairs bathroom. It will stay as is.

Downstairs BEFORE

I know these pictures don't look so bad - hard to believe this will be gutted to the studs! We hope to maintain this beautiful craftsman charm during the remodel. The kitchen will be completely redone, with the existing pantry transformed into a half bath. Living room/kitchen walls will be opened up to create an open concept first floor.