I would be soooo depressed to be this close to finishing all the hard work and then to sell the house.

It's less depressing if you're able to make money on the sale. I had three days after finishing our house in SA but got over it at the closing table.

Yep, based on the comps in our area and how fast they are selling, we've got a good idea as to how much we will make on the house. It still is bittersweet knowing we did all this ourselves for someone else to enjoy.

This thread was like rehab addict in a blog form. Nice work!

Thankfully this last week has been pretty uneventful in terms of hurdles with the renovation. We’ve just working during any and all free time to get this bad boy ready for pictures (which are today!).


We didn’t really want to add a drop ceiling in here, but there is just too much junk up in the ceiling and we figured it’d look better covered up. And instead of the single plain light fixture screwed into the joist, I added the 3 new recessed lights.


I was able to reuse some of the old shelving from this room to build this shelf and add some simple trim on it to dress it up a little. Even with a hammer drill making things easier, I HATE attaching stuff to block walls. At first I organized the shelf, and then….


my wife had her turn to stage it. She’s much better than I am at that!


Nothing too exciting here; just the toilet area and a new shelf installed.


This was a really tough spot to design. If we left the full window height exposed, your head would be cut off in the mirror if you’re taller than 5’10” or so. The more we moved the mirror up, the smaller the window opening would be and we’d lose any kind of natural light coming in (which was never much to begin with, but we still wanted some at least). We ended up bumping the mirror up enough to where I (at 6’2” tall) can see up to my forehead when I’m in front of the sink. There was a piece of cracked Plexiglas that we replaced above the mirror, which is on the inside of the block wall while the glass window is on the outside. We then added some casing around the Plexiglas to tie it all together (don’t have that pic with me). We also got the counter and sink installed about a week ago and since I won't be home in time for pictures today, I put the faucet in around 2am this morning (and it didn't leak!!).


Since we’re trying to make this look as finished as possible, I built a wall a few feet in front of the furnace and water tank and put the sliding doors in place. Once we finally got them in, the room felt like an actual room and less of a utility area.


Decorations in the entertainment center.


We’ve had this sealed up in a Ziploc bag and stored in a box for 5 years because we never had a good place to show it off. We finally get one and it’ll be there for all of a month! This was the cake topper for the groom’s cake at our wedding. One day I’ll get a small display case for it.


[This message has been edited by Lavender Gooms (edited 4/22/2014 7:47a).]

what is the cake topper made of and where did you get it?

I believe it's a styrofoam form that the baker wrapped fondant around. We had it made at Lone Star Bakery in Euless, TX.

thank you!