Restructuring

   In case you couldn't tell, I'm a little behind when it comes to posting.  We are in the midst of a major renovation here at Modern Love headquarters.  I'm going to fast forward through the past few months (mid-September to November) to get to the good stuff.  You would thank me if you knew how many different iterations there were for the design plans.
   After we hired our awesome architect and he measured our existing floor plan he set out to change what we have to fit our needs.  After we went through a few versions we settled on this:

It's hard to see all of the changes in this layout.  Here is an annotated version that includes the portion of the house we are currently working on:

In order to accomplish all of these changes we did a fair amount of demo to get rid of the two 1950's bathrooms that you saw in previous posts.  Dave did most of the demo until it was time to take down some walls, and then I joined in.  During this time we had our plumber remove pipes and plumbing that stood in the way of our new layout.
   After the demo was done we started framing the new walls which was necessary to layout the new rooms, but also because we had to set up a space for insulation since there was none in the cement block.  So this meant that each existing exterior wall needed a new frame, in addition to the new interior walls.  Dave has been working on the rough electric (where the outlets will go, lighting, fire alarms, etc), and he is almost done placing the recessed lighting in each room.
   At this point, all of the walls are up, and we had foam insulation sprayed on all of the exterior walls.  The next steps are finishing the electric work, fixing the bath closet to make it smaller, and installing the bathroom exhaust fan.  Once that is done we will have the drywall and plaster guys come in and make this place look like a real house with actual walls.
   Throughout the demo and framing, we have had to take a ton of time to make design decisions.  It sounds like it would be the fun part, but every little thing takes time to decide. Who knew that there were 5 million types of recessed lights, and another 2 million types of bulbs?
   My next post will be a run-down of all of those design decisions, but for now I will leave you with a few images from the last week or so...

In the smaller bedroom looking into the master

In the master looking into the smaller bedroom

Awesome bathroom tile behind the newly framed walls

Dave looks oddly amused by his framing boo boo.  Head trauma, anyone?

Charlie is plotting to kill the nail gun in its sleep.  For now she will be in her hiding spot if you need her.

You can't really tell, but those walls in the back have been spray foamed.  It looks like marshmallow.

Today's blog playlist is all over the place.  It's been an emotional week, and it shows in the music.  Dave and I lost a good friend, and for me, a grad school and work comrade.  Beth was a true fighter.  These songs remind me of her:
1.  "Lucky now," Ryan Adams  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp064T7rQSk
2.  "All My Life," Evan Dando  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSwxWmHF8bo
3.  "Airline to Heaven," Wilco and Billy Bragg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcmjRheVZmM
4.  "Keep Me in Your Heart," Warren Zevon from the album The Wind  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMTKb-pgxGI

That last song is a killer.  I know that all of the people who knew and loved Beth will keep her memory alive in their hearts.  I still can't believe she's gone...