[new home renovations, part I]

I have been promising renovation pictures for my friends so even though I'm supposed to be packing, here's a bit of the process so far.

Most of the work we've done so far has been upstairs in the second floor where the bedrooms are. Here are some "before" pictures of the rooms and what we are doing to them.

Gross old wall-to-wall carpet in each room. We are saving the laminate flooring from downstairs and putting it in two of the rooms upstairs. The other two will get brand new laminate.

The whole house had been painted with dark colors and we are brightening it all up. Off-white walls, white laminate flooring...

I'm hoping I'll get this room. It's not quite sure yet what will become of this room. It would serve as an office/family history/memory keeping/art & crafts room.

How about this Oilers room? Hockey is HUGE in Canada but no way our house will have an Oilers room. :)

This room will be Sienna's room.

This kitchen was a brand new custom made kitchen. Worth a lot of money. But...

It's just not my style. Too traditional for my taste. So we're changing it all! The only thing that will stay the same is the appliances. They are brand new and stainless steel.

All downstairs windows are brand new, highly efficient, so we won't have to replace those.

I haven't been to the house today, but this is pretty much what the kitchen looks like at the moment. :)

Here are some miscellaneous pictures:

1. Salvaging downstairs laminate flooring to be used upstairs.

The fireplace rocks are expensive kind but aren't pretty (worse than in this picture, kind of "spotty" and dirty looking). We might just paint the rocks but haven't really decided yet what to do with it.

2. Sienna has LOVED helping at the new house! This kiddo has lifted heavy things, pulled nails and staples off the floor and all sorts of things. She's a great helper!

3. Working on removing the wall-to-wall carpets upstairs. So much work to scrape the floors (nails, staples). We've been blessed to have family and some friends come and help us with the process. Gotta love people who are willing to lend a helping hand!

4. This is Sienna's room after the carpet has been removed and the walls have been sanded, patched and primed.

5 and 6. Moisture and frost inside upstairs windows. New windows will arrive next week if I remember right.

7 and 8. Walls have been painted. Room #1 has a bit darker paint than the other two.

9. Another photo of the kitchen.

10. Installing the laminate flooring in one of the upstairs rooms.

11. The room with the laminate flooring from downstairs, painted walls (off-white) and closets (pale lavender). Hard to see the real color in these pictures.

12. The busy renovating mama still found some time to care for her babies.

Ton and ton of work but it will all be worth it in the end! 

I'm feeling quite emotional about leaving this home though. So many fond memories. ♥