A View From the Driveway
Entrance into the House from the Garage
Spring cleaning came late this year. Well, I suppose it’s not too late as it’s still officially spring—for another couple weeks. It’s one of those things that, though exhausting, can be invigorating, as well. Chris and I live in a very small cabin with storage space inside to match. So, you’d think “cleaning house,” so to speak, would be fairly simple. But when it’s the out buildings that need to be organized, that’s a horse of a different color.
You might wonder what motivated this burst of energy. After years of discussion, we decided to go forward with a remodel idea—expand our tiny cabin into the garage. It was never designed to house a car, but instead became a catch-all for stuff. It’s amazing how much junk we’ve collected over the years. And to be fair, some of it was here before I moved in. When this project is complete, we will have added almost half again to the size of our home—expanding our 1,000 square foot cabin into 1,400.
So, for the past two weekends, we’ve crawled through the rafters, riffled through old photos and deodorized areas stray cats have wandered—a disgustingly smelly operation. This project required us to clean out not only the garage, but also a small storage shed built onto the back end of the house and a large storage shed on the lower end of our property—which houses not only our personal belongings, but files and supplies for Chris’s chiropractic business.
There are a lot of pitfalls in a remodel of this size—even if we’re not doing the actual work ourselves. I won’t even go into the issues with cost and time overage, because I’m going to optimistically believe these won’t be a problem. Crazy, you say? Maybe. But we’re fortunate enough to have hired a young man who is building a reputation in our county for honest, creative, dependable work. So, although, I know anything is possible, he’s allowed for the unexpected.
However, when someone is working in your house for three months, even the most tolerant of individuals will find themselves…out of sorts. And I don’t pretend to have unlimited patience. I’ll be praying through it. As I told a good friend of mine—I asked for this! It’s not like some tragedy has befallen us (like a fire or natural disaster) causing this interruption in our lives. I spent the last few years talking my husband into this situation. How unfair would it be of me to grumble and groan because I’m a little inconvenienced? Sounds good in theory, but only time will tell.
I’ve always been fascinated with home remodels—although I’ve never had one like this myself. We’ve done a little here and there, but to add rooms is a new experience. And if you’re like me, it’s fun to see the process. So, I thought I’d give you the opportunity to follow along. It won’t be the only thing I blog about—so if you’re not interested, I hope you’ll come back to see what else is happening in my little world. Phase One is the purging phase. Not terribly exciting, but you can’t appreciate the magic if you don’t see where it all starts.
The Gutted Garage
Entrance into the House from the Garage
Comments 2
It will be worth it all when it’s done. I’m very excited for you and Chris. And it’s one day at a time!
Thank you for showing us the before and after the gutting. I have been in your garage and the pictures show just what I remembered. This is quite an undertaking, but remember it is temporary. You will get through and the end result will be beautiful. I am still impressed with what you guys did in your bathroom and deck.