The Living Room

A year ago now we refinanced the house. We originally had one of thus funky 80/20 mortgages where you get a mortgage to pay the down payment of another mortgage and avoid PMI. The whole thing was shady but it was the only way at the time we could swing buying a house. Then the bubble burst. Anyway now we have one normal mortgage and we got a kick ass rate.

During that we had to have the house appraised twice. Both appraisers said get rid of that old 1950s ceiling as fast as you can in the living and dinning room. While I ripped the ceiling down I took down the plaster walls, insulated, rewired, fixed some plumbing issues, ran new network, phone, cable lines and so on. Normally when I redo a room it takes a couple months tops but this project took 9 months from start to finish. I really wanted to push my finish carpentry skills to the limit and that takes time.

We still have to install new floors. We plan on putting in solid bamboo flooring. It looks good, its durable, cheaper then oak, and is environmentally friendly. Before I can install the new floor I need to replace the front door. It is original to the house and the house was built in the 1900s. The door is drafty, the door knob doesn't work right, and its covered in a million layers of lead paint.

Sorry, I don't have the before pictures or any videos of the construction. I made them, but its been 9 months and I haven't a clue where I saved them.