Renovations | RV There Yet?

This basement renovation – finishing off space in the basement for a bedroom, small bath, and closet – started back at Christmas time when we were last here in Ohio.

With a family of 7, one of the biggest challenges was rearranging all the stuff just to make an empty space! 10 years (and two kiddos) ago, that very space had been made into a big storage room –

And trust me, it was full!!
Other parts of the basement had been finished off in 2013,

and has been well used as extra family space.

(It got ‘all the way’ finished after I and my camera left!)
But to add an official bedroom and bath entailed challenges over and above just figuring out how to rearrange the family ‘stuff’.
Like an egress window.

It was a big job (especially during a pandemic), but it was in by the time we arrived. Yay, Toby!!

As you can see, it was no mean feat!

The other big, needs-to-be-done-before-Pops-arrived, task was moving the plumbing to the correct spot for the bathroom. Thankfully there WAS plumbing already there, but of course, not where it needed it to be.

Yeah, that was a BIG job!
By the time we arrived last week, all the walls had been constructed, the shower had been roughed in –

and, the drywall had been loaded into the basement! Pops was all set to go!
With Toby home over the weekend, the ceilings went up and the walls were starting to take shape!

(for perspective – I’m standing in front of the window, and Gary is standing in the closet.)
Toby always heads to the basement when he gets home from work to lend a hand –

and sometimes the prospective occupants also show up.

To help. Right!
Hallway done –

(bathroom on the left)
The last of the drywall in the bathroom will be installed once it stops raining long enough for the guys to pick up the green board at Lowes-

So at this point, with the exception of the inside walls of the bathroom, all the drywall is up! The mudding has begun, and you never know, but maybe there will be painting accomplished by the middle of next week! The list is still pretty long to get the area Teenage Girl Ready, but it certainly has been exciting to see all the progress made in less than a week!

With the weekend coming, Toby and Pops should be able to get lots done by working together. But since it’s also one of the last weekends before the baby arrives, I think there will also be some Family Fun time too! And that’s a good thing!

Thanks for coming along on our Renovation Trail!

Anyone still there? Did you think I’d go from a post a day to almost nothing? It really wasn’t my intent, but life got pretty busy here and somehow this little blog kept getting put at the bottom of the pile. (Truth be told, it was busy towards the end of November too, but a commitment is a commitment and I was determined to finish strong. And then it seems I fell off the map!)

OK – things are busy here in Waco. We’ve decided to put our sweet Waco house on the market. I know – crazy, right???? There were a lot of factors, but the bottom line was the realization that at much as we love that house, we just aren’t ready to hang up the RV keys and settle in to a non-moving home.

So our goals for our time in Waco became a bit more pressing. Since this would be our biggest opportunity to finish up the projects we’d started over the last year – like that shed and upgrading the electric service – we knew the clock ticking.
Here’s how we left the shed in the spring –

As you can see – Gary’s made some great progress –

Windows and doors in, trim almost completed, and really it’s just that upper access door to the ‘attic’ that will make it complete. He still needs to fix the garden area (the part in the front that looks like it could be a deck), but it’s really coming along nicely!
With the shed nearing completion, he moved to the electric upgrade.

Ooooo – so fancy!! When it came time to install the new smoke detectors on the second floor, he ran into an unexpected glitch. One that will require a bit more work. And the first step of that “bit more work” involved being able to actually GET to the wiring in the attic. And that required getting all of the insulation out of the attic. So…..
Gary worked in the attic, feeding insulation down the access door

while I smooshed it into giant contractor bags.

Yes, I wore a mask and gloves. Gary even had a dust mask on!
It was an all day event, but by the end of the day –

the attic was empty of insulation and deck was full of bags to drop down into the trailer to take to the dump!
(Have I ever mentioned that there’s this sweet second floor deck off one of the bedrooms. Check out this birds-eye view of the backyard-
Nice, right?)
This morning it was off to the landfill for us!
(Some unknown person dropped off a box spring and a recliner in the alley behind the house last week. Although it’s pretty rude to do that, the box spring was helpful in securing our jumbo bags. The recliner will have to wait until the next trip.)

You know you’re doing house projects when the guy at the landfill recognizes you and offers to help you unload. Or when you think taking a picture of “The View from The Landfill” might be interesting.

So much trash in this world!

My plan was to get the upstairs painted and all sparkly before we leave next week, but between the electric glitch (making a general mess of the second floor), Christmas sewing, being Gary’s helper, and baby holding (hey, that’s my job too!)

I’ve pretty much made lots of plans and picked up paint chips.

But while the SAD news is that we’re selling the house, the GLAD news is that it looks like we’ll be selling it to a sweet family that we’ve been friends with since we’ve been coming to Waco! It’s just at a handshake stage at the moment, but we’re excited about the possibility! Everything still needs to be done, but if nothing else, maybe she can help me pick out those darn paint colors!

We’re going to miss this place, but if things go as I hope they do, we might just be able to enjoy a couple more nights like this in the future!