Woodlawn Ave Remodel Month 5

I’m about a week late posting this update I realized as I checked my calendar. Easter threw off my remodel update groove. A lot has happened since our month 4 update. This month saw a completion of the electrical and plumbing. We had to wait a few days for the inspectors but with inspections completed the spray insulation went in, was shaved down, drywall up and just a few days ago, the plaster work went up. It’s amazing how, in a weeks time, you have a very clear picture of the final product.

There was a lot of fun things to watch this month but the boys especially loved the spray foam. We couldn’t be in that part of the house for long due to some mild fumes but it was certainly worth a couple minute peek at the progress. It sprays on as a liquid and expands almost instantly.

It’s amazing too, how that goopy, uneven surface is shaved away to a smooth wall. It took about 3 days for them to spray the foam, shave it down flat to the wall and clean it all up. Pretty darn impressive given it takes me 3 days to do laundry. Haha!

Once the insulation was sprayed in, shaved down and all cleaned up, the truck came to deliver the drywall. They ended up taking out the upstairs window and using a crane to lift it up and through. There was a whole lot of holding my breath as that heavy load dangled there inches from our other windows.

The night before the drywall went up, Matt and I went outside after putting the kids down and wrote some meaningful Bible verses all over the walls in the addition. We wanted that weaved into the very fabric of the remodel–a gratefulness for the blessing of this all.

The drywall darkened the rooms so much that I was reminded of how important it is to choose the right paint color. A dark color really can zap the light out of your rooms. I’m further reassured about our choices after noticing that darkening effect. The kitchen, family room, stairway are all going to be Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace. This is my favorite white, I used it years ago when I painted our cabinets in our old kitchen. You can read all about that here.

For me, I think the plaster guys were the most fun to watch. They had long stilts on their legs to walk around and mud the ceiling. It looked a tad like a robot movie in our house for a bit. If they had left those bad boys in our house overnight I would have definitely tried them on. They used these big bins to mix the plaster and spread it on like they were frosting a cake. The finished product is so smooth. I love it. We’ve been told they don’t do this all over the country. In most places, they put up drywall, use a tape to cover the joints and then mud only the joints. In California, they use a spray texture on the walls. So I love this smooth as glass finish to my walls. Notice how the white-ish plaster lightens the rooms back up.

Here in the stairway they aren’t putting up drywall or plaster because we have a wood shiplap detail going up and they are putting it right over the original wood siding to save on costs. That should be started this upcoming week and we are so excited to see that light and airy detail go up.

Thank you for following along! Watching this old house come back to life has been so fun but the turning the finished space into “home” has me just plain thrilled. We are officially at the one month away from completion date (give or take a week) so I think I’m going to start a weekly post since everything will be happening quickly at this point. Stay tuned!