Living in Chaos...

If you are my FB friend, you are well aware of what we are doing and where we are in the process. And I think I have mentioned it on here a time or two.

But just in case you have missed the juicy details, let me catch you up to speed.

For quite a while, we have wanted/needed a little more room in our house.   Our girls have shared a room for 7 years now.  I have heard so many stories of how doing so brings families together. That sisters become the best of friends.

And I love those stories.

Unfortunately, that is not OUR story. 

Our girls are very different people. 

They have very different personalities.

And very different needs.

And very limited space.

I actually get claustrophobic walking into their room.  Too much stuff in one little place. (And it isn't because we don't declutter regularly).

Anyway, about two years ago, we started investigating how feasible it would be to add on...to build up. We paid an architect to draw up some plans. We even talked to some builders.

And then Mark had an unexpected job change.

And the plans came to a halt.

The girls have developed a sort of friendship. But the needs are still there.

And that is what they are.

Needs.

Not wants.

If they were just wants, I would use this money to take myself to Hawaii.

So we resurrected this idea this past fall.

We actually looked at other houses as possibilities.

But in the end, we liked OUR house.

One day I was up in the attic. I looked around and realized we really had more room up there than I thought.

So we started the ball rolling...

And several signatures later, here we are.

Renovation.

Here are a few pics of our progress thus far

Before:

Notice the "before" pictures only show the part of the attic that wasn't holding our piles of stuff. Most of that is now in our garage and storage as we go through it...

Last week we had some people come and clean up the insulation (it will be reused later)...

By the way, if you wonder how much of a difference that pink fluffy stuff makes, I can tell you.  The rooms under the "bare" area are significantly colder than the ones that still have it above...

This past week, we had a little demolition going on. This was Child 4's room. He is now temporarily relocated to Child 1's room (with protests of course) while many of his belongings are all over the toyroom/sunroom...

Yesterday I came home to this.  Temporary walls. Dust everywhere.  No heat and only partial power...

It has been an adventure to say the least!

I have a few more things to share but they will have to wait...

Reba