• Removing a large amount of wood paneling from the walls and replacing with drywall while also re-insulating the walls to make them more energy efficient.
• Removing the acoustical tiles from the ceiling and re-insulting it as well and refinishing it with drywall.
• Installation of recessed lighting in the ceiling
• Removal of poorly executed built-in cabinets
• Removal of faux brick surface on the fireplace and replacing with slate tile
• Adding a few additional outlets
• Installing a new 5′x3′ window to allow more natural light into the room
• 3 new exterior doors, 2 with new screen doors
• New baseboard heaters
• All new trim

It’s a big project but well worth it and I can’t wait to see the end result. The entire project is supposed to take around 3-4 weeks and hopefully it’ll get finished within that time. In the meantime I’m setup in the dining room and working from there, which is a nice change of pace and much brighter.

Extending the network reach

We’ve got a large wireless network setup at the house currently but the signal wasn’t quite strong enough to reach to the back end of the garage, so I took one of the Airport Expresses I had lying around and plugged it in out by the receiver and a 2nd Airport Express towards the front of the garage to bridge the gap between my router and the one hooked up near the receiver. I set the “bridge” AE to extend my existing wireless network and the receiver’s AE to join my existing network and enabled AirTunes. I had a nice strong signal so I used an 1/8″ stereo to stereo RCA cable it hooked it from the receiver’s AE to the AUX input on the back of the receiver and was able to setup iTunes to play my music from my MacPro through my receiver in the garage, which was cool enough but I wanted a way to be able to change songs from the garage without going inside to interact with iTunes, and then it hit me.

The iTunes Remote Control

If you’re fortunate enough to have an iPhone you have access to one of the most amazing apps created for the device. It’s called Remote and it’s probably the best example of a sleeper app I’ve ever seen. I had downloaded it (it’s free) from the App Store but never really had a use for it until now. With Remote you’re able to connect to your iTunes library (as well as your Apple TV) and control the playback of songs. What’s amazing is that is also gives you a wonderful artwork view, ability to control AirTunes speakers, search your iTunes library, edit playlists and more. So instantly I had this amazingly powerful remote that allowed me to access and playback music sitting inside on my computer and hear it outside in the garage through my receiver and the sound quality was excellent.

The other bonus is that I now have wi-fi access out in the garage should the need ever come up

The kitchen remodel was a huge success, I’ll be getting some final photos here soon but we’re so excited with the change. Our entire house is now remodeled and every room is exactly the way we want it. The office is by far my favorite improvement. As you can see from the photo on the right it’s a wonderfully warm and inviting yet contemporary room. I haven’t worked in the living room with my notebook once since the room has been finished, I love being in here. The new office was even featured on Unplggd.com!

Work has been fantastic. I had a staggeringly huge first quarter and I’m amazed that I even made it through. Agee Design has been a huge adventure and I’ve grown so much through the experience. I’m so thankful to have a career that I love so much and to be able to work with so many wonderful people. I’m hoping to take a couple of big steps in the next year or so, but I’ll wait and see how things go. More on that later.

Kristen and I are planning a vacation to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan in early June and I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be another road trip like our trip last summer to Niagara Falls and Alenxandria Bay New York. I’m really looking forward to getting away for a bit and recouping a little.

Office Remodel
Not long ago I built a closet in our office to add some storage space. We went ahead and slapped some paint up as well even though there was a little bit of cosmetic cleanup that needed to be done to the walls. We’ve also noticed a place on the wall that was very weak appeared to be slightly damaged from water, so we decided to have ProSource Construction come in and take a look. As it turns out we had water coming in from the bottom left side of the window frame. We decided to take all of the drywall off of that particular wall so we could make sure there wasn’t any major damage that might need repair. Thankfully it wasn’t damaged that badly at all, we sealed up the area that was leaking, re-insulated the entire wall and we now have new drywall over that wall as well. We’re also having Rick fix some cosmetic blemishes in the room before repainting the entire room. Once all of that is done we’re having light maple colored laminate flooring installed in the room and probably a ceiling fan put up. Then that room is finished!

Dead Tree Removal
In our back yard were 3 very large, old trees. They were one of the things that I loved most about this house when we bought it. They were incredibly tall and big around and the provided great shade to the patio throughout the summer. Sadly 2 of the 3 were in really bad shape and were showing signs of significant decay, so we decided to have a local reputable tree service come and take a look. I wasn’t interested in having the trees removed unless they really needed to be and after they showed us a few tell-tale signs I was convinced that it was necessary. Both trees were removed completely and the stumps ground down. It’s very sad to have them gone, the yard has really suffered aesthetically because of it but I guess it’s worth it to not have to worry about an 80-foot Silver Maple limb crashing on your house one day… We planted a small Bing Cherry tree yesterday in the back yard, but it’s going to be a while before it gives us much shade.

Some New Carpet
We finally got around to replacing the unpleasant (and stained) carpet in 2 of the 3 bedrooms. We were able to get remnants for both rooms so it was very inexpensive and really made a big difference in those rooms.

Minor Kitchen Improvements
We’ve held off on doing any work on the kitchen thinking that it would end up being the largest and most expensive renovation we’d be doing to the house. However, after our bathroom project we felt ready to take it on and confident that it would be an easy project in comparison. For now we’re doing pretty basic improvements, painting, bead board, chair rail and probably painting the cabinets. We looked into getting new cabinets and totally redoing the room but it was just too expensive. The minor improvements we’re making will make a big difference on their own.

Privacy Fence
One of the improvements I’m most excited about is our decision to build a privacy fence around our back yard. Our back yard faces an alley and a several other houses which leaves the back yard feeling a little too exposed. We’d also like to be able to let Pepper be outside more so she can run around and get some exercise. Hopefully we’ll be starting that project in the next month or so.

We’ve got some other small improvements planned as well, all of which will bring us to a finish line in our home improvement marathon. I’m sure I’ll have photos and other blog posts as the projects go forward.

Monday we worked on the demolition phase of the bathroom remodeling project. We got all of the walls torn down to the studs, all of the tile ripped down from around the shower, removed the vanity/sink, removed the tank from the toilet and generally prepped the room for all of the finishing touches that would be applied over the next week.

Once we had the tile removed and could see the wall behind the shower the extent of the damage was clear. The cement board, the insulation and the outer wall were all completely saturated and dark with rot. As expected, Rick told is that a section of the wall should be replaced. The only decision to be made was what we were going to do to finish the hole once it had been plugged back up, would we put vinyl siding on the front of the house? Find a creative way to put siding over the the hole? Eventually we decided that if the siding came off cleanly and Rick thought it would be possible to put the same siding back up, we’d do that. We’re quite fond of the cedar shaker town shingles that are on the house now and, despite the comments made by folks at the lumber yards, have needed little to no maintenance.

All day yesterday Rick worked on cutting the five foot square hole in the house and trying to get the new tub in place while we had the space we needed. We ran into a few problems with the plumbing kit we purchased for the new bathtub and decided to call it a day at around 8:30. It was a long day for Rick, he worked so hard.

Today the plan is to get the tub installed and get the hole in the house closed. Hopefully that will get us back on schedule so we’re ready for the plumber to come tomorrow and finish the plumbing for the shower. Overall things have gone pretty well considering the problems we’ve run into. Hopefully by the end of this week our new bathroom will start to come into focus.

We went tonight and got some paint to paint the outside of the house. Kristen and her dad are going to start painting tomorrow while I’m at work so it will be fun to get home and see the progress. I’ve attached a rendering of what the house will (hopefully) look like once the painting is done.

Since we first saw the house the thing we’ve been very excited to tackle is the yard. It’s a great yeard that has been abused for the last few months. Just by mowing the grass I could see that it had great potential. This weekend we’re going to work on the yard a great deal. Mulching and other landscaping, fence removal gardening and flower work are all on the list and we can’t wait!

We’re planning a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond this weekend so we can pick up lots of items for the house and then we’ll be working on the house all weekend! Hopefully it won’t be too hot.

Photos coming soon!