So, we have some pretty major projects going on at our house right now. You can tell by the dust, plastic coverings and the complete and utter mess our house as been for the last 2+ weeks! Hopefully we'll be working only on the outside very soon though. At least then we can remove the plastic covers and some of the sheetrock dust!
We are
adding a door out from our kitchen into the backyard. We are also having
sheetrock put up on the top half of the fireplace (you may recall from
this post). I am SO excited that things are actually happening!! Erik and I both have a hard time getting things started and then completing them [I tend to blame him more for this]. I think I blame him because it seems to drive me crazy to have projects that we have not even started or are stuck at a half way point. I don't know if it bothers him or not, but it doesn't seem to. I think that makes me even more crazy!
We'll need to do a little painting and some finish work inside and then we can focus solely on the outside. The door from our kitchen will soon {I hope very soon!} open onto our new deck! The door and deck plans have evolved, actually quite rapidly from the first stages. We have known that we've always wanted a door out from our kitchen [even before we bought the house] because, until now, the only way to get to the backyard is to go through the garage.
At first we thought we'd go in stages...
1. Door with steps down to yard.
2. Bigger platform out to stairs so we have a little bit of a landing before stepping down.
3. 12x12 deck off the back.
4. Pergola on the deck (or at least in the backyard).
5. Bigger deck.
6. Screened in porch off the back.
7. Three season porch.
8. Four Season additional room off kitchen.
Well, one thing led to another and we have now jumped to stage 5! You know how it goes... "if we're going to do ______, we might as well do ________." We figured we might as well do a platform if we're going to do stairs. Then we thought we'd do a 12x12 deck if we're going to do the work of digging footings for a platform. After we measured out 12 feet by 12 feet, we thought it looked a little small. So, then, of course, if we're going to dig footings for a 12x12 deck, we might as well dig one more and add a little more wood! Then, we thought, we might add the porch at some point too. So, we actually dug extra footings and bought extra wood to make the deck foundation strong enough to add a roof later. And heck, while we're at it, lets add a pergola on the top! So, a lot of planning, sketching, phone calling, internet searching, and stopping at the City of Roseville Permit Office took place and now we're in the process of adding a deck!
We still have a lot of work to do, but we've got a good start thanks to friends and family over this past weekend. Now that the ledger is in and beams are up, we hope it will move a little faster.
