The Grove

We have been working on the hallway and stairway for quite some time, and I honestly can't remember when we started it! When we moved in, the main wall over the stairs had plaster falling off, so we knew we needed to replace that wall. As we've gone through the house, fixing things, we've come to realize that all the walls need the old plaster and lathe torn out, insulation added where necessary, and drywall put in place instead. This process is a long one because the drywall mud needs 24-hours to dry between coats. However, we can't always work on it when it is ready, so we have had many stops and starts along the way.

Almost as soon as we moved in, the only front porch light mysteriously died. So, we had to tear into the front wall to access the wiring. That began the whole project, though we didn't complete it then. (I had posted about that earlier, but decided to include those pictures again for continuity. You can see my original post here.)

We also started the stairway wall before we were really ready to because it also coincided with the wall in our bedroom that the closet is now on. (See our master bedroom project here.) However, we were focused on the master bedroom at the time, so were not able to finish the hall and stairway project. After finishing the bedroom, we went back to the kitchen, and then we went back to the hallway/stairway project. This turned out to be more than we bargained for, much like the master bedroom project! As we were tearing out the wall plaster and lathe, we realized that the ceiling should probably be replaced as well, so we tore that out and then saw the spiderweb of electrical work that really drove my husband nuts! So, he set about doing is best to fix that mess. As it turned out, he needed to tear into the living room AND dining room ceilings in order to access all the wiring to fix the wiring in the hall! (The dining room is our next project.)

Now, we've gotten the new drywall up, the muding finished, the paint on (we changed the color since what we originally got was much pinker than we thought it would be), and now the ceiling tile is being put in. We decided to put fiber ceiling tile over the drywall to help absorb the kids' noise upstairs.

I'm posting pictures of the day we first saw the house followed by the fixing process. We are not done yet, but I thought I would post what we have done so far. We still need to finish placing the ceiling tile, purchase and paint the trim, place the trim, and then finish up the bookcase in the window area.

The day we saw the house for the first time July 13, 2009

(This is Anna!)

The process...

We had to start working on the outside wall almost right as soon as we moved in because the one front porch light mysteriously stopped working. We had to tear into this wall to get at the electrical.

Since we were fixing some of the electrical, we decided to go ahead and put an outlet at the base of the stairs. We then finished up the hallway.

Benjamin and Anna look so little! :)

(See baby Peter?! He's "helping".)

We needed to cover the plywood that Jason replaced the first landing with.

So we bought some short pile carpet at Menard's.

(We've since painted the rise of the steps ivory, they look much better.)

Tearing out the bedroom/stairway wall.

Newer progress...

We replaced all the doors upstairs, since the old ones were warped, dirty, and very old.

Tearing out the ceiling

Part of the wire web.

Digging into the dining room ceiling to access the wiring.

Digging into the living room ceiling to access wiring.

Jason even had to dig into the dining room wall to access the wiring that continued down the wall.

Working on the book case.

Old window out.

New window in.

Sanding drywall mud is a VERY dusty job!

(Peter's "naughty seat" so I could keep my eye on him.)

We had to access the wiring in this wall again, so Jason had to cut out the drywall. Replacing it with a "patch" of drywall resulted in a "lumpy" wall, but there was no way around it, we had to access the wiring.