Family Room Renovation

Our 1950's cape was built with a porch that was poorly converted into an addition. The industrial carpet, avocado green paneling, orange flowered wallpaper and brown wood must have been all the rage in the 70's but frankly it did little for our tastes. With exposed sheet rock, poorly insulated walls, and a rickety book shelf that doubled as a wall we knew the minute we bought the house this room would need a face lift. So after a year and a half of dreaming and planning we embarked upon our project with optimism.

Thanks to Uncle Sam and weeks of Burke working like a mad man, we are excited to announce the completion of our Family Room Renovation. Burke's skill with sheet rock, paint, miter saw, hammer and SAFETY GLASSES transformed the once drafty, outdated porch into a warm, comfortable space with built in storage for all the kids toys.
Amazingly he completed the majority of the work during the three weeks I was in UT with the girls. I hope you enjoy the before, during, and after pictures.

Before

During demolition Burke discovered that the brown baseboards, chair rails and crown moldings were made of VINYL!! That ceiling fan was as noisy as it looks.

Burke re-cycled this old bookshelf by using the wood for the new baseboards. So now we can call this a "green" renovation:)

Hopefully these pictures won't give you nightmares!

The Construction

Burke built this wall and door way to create a mud room where all the cold air and yes all the mud will stay out of the house.

He added an additional layer of insulation and sheet rock to all the walls. Now the drafty old porch will be nice and warm.

After

I love this color "denim wash" from Benjamin Moore. It has a little bit more gray in it then the picture shows. The windows were already double pane so instead of replacing them we painted the existing brown window panes, moldings and sills white to match the rest of the house. The new crown molding and base boards also lend themselves to the character of our 1950's cape.
Burke installed new hot water radiators along the length of the back wall and a digital thermometer to keep us nice and toasty this winter.
I got a Hunter ceiling fan to keep us cool in the summer.
The carpet is a classic "dirt" colored bereber which should handle a lot of wear.

Burke built custom shelves and a desk on the new wall to house the toys and computer.

The Perfect Play Room

The shelves filled with toys quickly but IKEA boxes and bins help us keep everything organized.

I had Burke build this shelf to sit under the window. He did a great job and I love all the extra storage.

I found this cute rug at IKEA for only $25!!!

I love this picture because there is nothing in it... no shoes, jackets, strollers or mud!

Exchanging our large entertainment center for open shelves makes the room feel so much bigger

Burke built me a shelf to keep the movies out of kids reach and being thrown all over the floor. He is going to build a bigger one for the streo and cd's when we get some more wood.

The girls love the new room and were excited to get all their toys back, especially the computer!