In addition to the normal insanity that makes up our everyday life, we’ve added something new to the mix this week: home renovations!

The Background

We bought our beautiful home just over a year ago and knew there was one big project we definitely would need to take on at some point.  The house was practically perfect and definitely move in ready (heck, we even loved 90% of the paint colors the previous owners chose) but the biggest drawback of the whole house was the fact that the washer and dryer were in the garage.  Aside from the fact that it’s just nice to have a designated laundry room inside the house, can you imagine how hot it gets to do laundry in the blazing heat of a Florida garage during the summer?  Add in the head a dryer puts out and you might just melt.  Not to mention how disgusting it is when you drop a clean pair of underwear on the dirty concrete floor as you’re pulling it out of the dryer into a laundry basket. No bueno.

So, my vision for the house from the time we put in the offer was to move the laundry onto the second floor of the house by all 3 of our bedrooms.  I am already not a fan of doing laundry (I’ve been known to go a month or two between washing anything at times – yes, I have enough clothes to make that a possibility sadly) but the further the clothes have to travel, the less likely you’re going to be finding me to putting in a load.  Luckily, our house has a big bonus area at the top of the steps and next to our master bedroom that we had absolutely no purpose for.  This space could easily be closed in with a new wall to create a new, larger walk-in closet!  From the get-go, I fantasized about my beautiful giant closet.  I may have slightly overestimated its size in my imagination (as I envisioned a center island, furniture inside, etc., but it’s still a great space with lots of opportunities for extra storage.  Now to fixing the laundry room situation.  The house was built with access to a fairly small walk in closet from the master bath.  So my vision was to break through the wall of the closet that connects to the bonus area, make the current closet a small laundry room that you walk through to get to my big now-enclosed bonus-area-turned-closet.  In one fell swoop, I solve my laundry issues, my closet issues (I have really struggled to pack all my stuff in the current space), create a lovely master suite, OH – and I also included a solution for the always gross kitty litter we had been keeping in the bonus area space!  I had the wonderful idea to steal a corner of my new closest for a little linen-closed sized kitty litter room completed with vented fan and cat door to contain all the smell and mess (with access from the hallway of course – cat litter and clothes together are not an appetizing combination).  We knew this would not be an inexpensive undertaking – especially since the washer and dryer the home came with were from 2000, not in good shape, and would definitely need to be replaced as part of the project.  We decided to use the old washer and dryer till we ran them into the ground which would also give us time to save money for the project.  What I imagined as a couple of years quickly became just 1 year when we started having major washer and dryer issues over the last month or so.  Well, there’s no time like the present right?

The Before

The original closet.  Unfortunately, the closet system the closet came with was actually really efficient and functional so I’m sort of sad to lose it.  I could definitely use more space through.  I wish I had snapped a picture before taking all my clothes out – it was literally bursting at the seams.  This space will be our new laundry room!

The bonus area.  This picture was taken from the perspective of walking up the steps to the second floor.  Our master bedroom is through the doorway all the way to the right of this space.  Welcome to my new future closet.

Our Progress So Far

Most of the walls are framed in, sheet rock has been hung, “mudding” started so the project is well on its way!  Keep an eye out for either some progress maybe just the after photos.  We still have a bit of work to do but I am hoping things will be wrapped up this week.  The plumber and electrician are supposed to come tomorrow which will represent most of the necessary progress for the washer and dryer install and the cosmetic work should continue also.

Now the fun part of the project is on the horizon – decorating.  I bought a beautiful light fixture for in side the closet, started picking paint colors, and I have begun to imagine how things will take shape.  I can’t wait to share it with you as things come together!

In Other News…

I posted a quick before and after of my big hair cut but I never really went into any detail.  Well, about two weeks later, I am still loving my new do!

I took in a couple of inspiration photos and put my trust in the hands of my wonderful hairdresser Michelle.  She cut off about 8 inches, took a new approach to my highlights, and added some nice layers.  I was a little nervous at first to see how it would air dry and if I would be able to replicate my desired style by myself.

While it has definitely added some time to my morning getting ready routine, it has been so worth it!  My hair seems to look best if I dry it with a blow dryer and round brush right after I get out of the shower.  This smooths the hair overall and gets it ready to be curled.  I have my drying time down to 20-25 minutes which I expect will get faster as I get more dexterous with the dryer and brush.  I have been adding the curl in with my Chi flat iron which worked so much better than my attempts to use a flat iron.  Add in some light hold hair spray and voila!  I re-do and touch up the curls each morning but that takes me somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 minutes.  As a result, I’ve been getting up a bit earlier each morning but so far, it seems like a routine I can maintain.  I have also been running primarily in the morning so that means my wake up call comes around 6 am.  It’s so hard to wake up but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

I’ve also found a new running hairstyle that works.  Meet the high quick bun:

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Have you taken on any major home improvement projects?  Where do you find your decorating inspiration?