Let the Light Shine

Roof windows are awesome!!

Hole in the roof for the window

And I mean AWESOME! And yes, I said "roof window" not skylight! Our window actually opens. It has a crank that opens the window at an angle so we can get light and ventilation in an otherwise very dark bathroom. Here's a pic of it actually installed.





Originally, we had a window that was at the back of the attic. It was the window for the original attic fan. There were a few problems keeping the window there, however.
1. First of all, who wants a bathroom window that starts at your feet and goes to your chest. I guess you could anonymously walk around the bathroom naked without people looking in knowing who you are. They'd just see your body. Not really my thing though.
2. The window looked out onto our neighbor's backyard pool. Something I really don't want it to look out onto. And that kind of goes along with problem #1. Just think about it.
3. And the ultimate problem...that was the only place we could put the shower. Since it's an attic, the ceiling is highest in the middle and slopes downward. Because I have a somewhat tall husband, we have to have the shower in the center of the back bathroom wall.

This left us with an attic bathroom with no natural light. It felt like a cave. Our contractor recommended this Velux roof window and I couldn't be happier. It gives us the privacy we wanted with the natural light and ventilation that we needed. I love it! And, I don't know if you can see from the pictures but it looks onto this beautiful, old hickory tree in our side yard. It's leaves are green in these pictures but I can tell you that now it has these bright yellow leaves. I love having that tree to watch the seasons change. I can't wait to see snow on it's branches in winter.

Roof Window = Awesomeness

We have this awesome contractor. For example, the man knows we're on a tight budget so when he came across all this perfectly good insulation that he was ripping out at another job site, he called us and told us to bring the pick-up truck, haul it off, and it was ours. Saved him a trip to the dump and saved us a few hundred dollars.

We pretty much do everything he says, so when we were looking for a way to get some natural light in the master bathroom and he suggested a roof window, I said yes without even knowing what one is.

A roof window is an awesome invention and is NOT a skylight. It's an actual opening window on the roof. It cranks open at a 45 degree angle and lets in fresh air and tons of natural light to the bathroom. Ours is the Velux brand and looks a little like this one only smaller.

via FutureMinimalist

Here's ours. You can also get a gander at the free insulation we salvaged. Does this make us green? To reuse insulation and get an energy efficient window that will ventilate the bathroom so we don't have to run the fan as much?

On Your Mark, Get Set, DRYWALL!

As promised, here is an update and it just so happens to be about drywall. Did I ever think I would ever be writing about drywall? Um, no.

After the last real post where we ripped out all the walls in the attic, I only felt it appropriate to start there. It didn't take much time for the bare wood to be covered in that glorious stuff they call drywall. I could finally see actual living space starting to form. I may have ideas for what I want something to look like but I really suck at seeing it come together during the process. It's like I can only focus on what it should look like at the end. I get all confused during the middle parts. So you can imagine how excited I was when I could actually see how big rooms were going to be.

I do have to say I was pretty disappointed in the closet space. Our original plan had to be altered due to city codes. (I mean who really needs a door to the bathroom. Why can't you go through a giant closet to get there?) I ended up with a smaller closet that I have to share with Joe. In our current house, we have two master closets and his always has a funky smell coming from it. We've actually never had to share a closet before in our entire relationship. I'm a little worried. Not to mention our new closet is the size of one of our current master closets and mine is packed full. Again, I'm a little worried.

So here's some pictures...

What will be our new sitting room

Looking toward the stairs. You can see our hallway/closet on the left

Future Bedroom with our "Fat Fireman Window"

Future closet (hopefully we can get a handle on the "Joe Funk" before we move in

Bad pic of half of the bathroom. You can kind of see the shower to the left.

Going Backwards

When we bought the house it was considered three bedroom, one bathroom, with loft space. We've always thought of that "loft space" as a bedroom since that is how it was always used. Joe's grandparents had five children and three bedrooms was obviously not going to be enough. At some point in the 1950's, Grandad Lyon built stairs in the hallway and a bedroom in the attic space. It is a pretty odd layout but made the most sense for what they needed (a room for two boys). You walk up the stairs and then there are bedrooms on the left and right. It is all open. He also added a lot of built-ins. Built-in desks on either side. Built in closets, cubby holes, and night stands. He added quite a bit of storage with all the built ins. He didn't even use half of the attic space, just enough for what he needed to do.

Here are some pictures. This was right in the middle of clean up/pack up so it is a little messy.

It was good enough for what they needed at the time but it wasn't what we needed. We need a second bathroom. We need a closet that a person can fit inside. We need a place for us. So, we decided that this space would become our Master Suite complete with bedroom, sitting room, walk-in closet, and bathroom. We will be using almost the entire attic space meaning our suite will be the size of the current house!

We are DIYer's at heart but we know when we have no idea how to do something...when a project is just too big for us. This project is huge and we needed a contractor. In the end we decided it would just be easier to just demo the entire space and start over. The walls weren't drywall, they were a type of paneling. The insulation in the walls was typical of the 50's and just not good enough by today's standards. The ceilings were low and featured fluorescent lighting. We all agreed it just needed to go.

So far they have reinforced the current beams and framed out the new walls in the bedroom. We also took down the walls separating the two "bedrooms" to allow for more light and cross-ventilation. We're raising the ceilings to  eight feet in the center.

The next step is to work on the attic space that will become the new bathroom and closet. I didn't take a picture of it for some reason but it pretty much looks just like the above pics just no floor. They have to add cross beams to support the bathroom so that section is taking a little longer.

Things are finally starting to happen!!!