Chronicling the cleanup and restoration of our house and property in northern Michigan

Chronicling the cleanup and restoration of our house and property in northern Michigan
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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Planning for "The Remodel"

While on our last trip up we took measurements of the whole house so that we could begin planning what we want to do in the way of remodeling.  The first BIG job is going to be the finishing of the basement.  We're moving from a house with 1,500 square feet of living space to one with just 750.  With the foundation being mostly above ground, giving us full size windows and easy means of egress, the basement is a HUGE untapped source of living space.  Here are pictures of the current basement layout, and what we're planning for the remodel.

As you can see, this is pretty much a blank canvas right now.  There's still some work to do to get it to this state.  There's some shelving and a work bench that needs to be removed, along with a bunch of power and hand tools.  Old Dale used to use this as his workshop.  I'm moving the workshop out to one of the barns.

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Here is what we're thinking is our shot at utilizing the space as best we can.  We considered adding some storage space, but opted instead to add the half bath.  This still leaves us with some minimal storage space under the stairs, and we still have ample storage space in the barns.  We're way too used to having a bath and a half, and we know that if we don't add it now it's not likely we will later.  We'd regret it every time one person is in the shower and another person has to "go".

I'll be working primarily from home, hence the "My Office".  The plan is to make the office large enough to accommodate a sofa bed so that the space can also be used as a guest room.  The picture shows a standard door, but I'll probably go with a pocket door to leave more room for the sofa bed and such.  The Bedroom will be our son Mike's room, and we certainly can't leave out our home gym.  The laundry area won't change too much from what it is now.
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Though this will be the first major renovation we'll be doing, we'll be tackling some smaller projects before taking this one on.  I'm heading up this weekend with plans to dive into the master bedroom.  I'm hoping to get everything shy of flooring done over the long holiday weekend.  I'll post an update for whatever I accomplish.

Talk to you all soon!

5 comments:

  1. I love your plan! I would add a shower to your half bath. If you brought the wall out to the end of the stairway, you could fit a shower stall in as well. If your adding the bathroom, the convenience of the second shower would far outweigh the cost.
    SAM

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  2. The lower level bath will serve you well while working - good call. One thing we did when building our house was to quadruple the number of outlets in the office. Instead of 1 duplex outlet every 12' as code requires, we place 1 quad outlet every 6' to accommodate the plethora of computers, printers, modem, router, switch, etc.

    -Chuck

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  3. Sam. Hmmm... Now you have me thinking. It didn't occur to me probably because we've had only a bath and a half for the 14 years we've been living here. It really hasn't presented too many problems. I'll already be installing an upflush unit for the sink and toilet. I know that the shower base will need to be built up so that gravity will take the water to the upflush unit, which makes it a bit more involved of an install. I'm going to have to give it some thought. :)

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  4. Chuck. That's DARN GOOD advice. I'm really looking forward to building this out exactly how I want it. I've never had that opportunity, working with new construction and building it to my own spec.

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  5. Mike would appreciate the extra shower too.....John

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