Checking on the remodel

After my friend Amy’s visit and our fun time at the Balloon Fiesta, John and I took another quick trip back to Tucson to check on the remodel again (this commute is getting to be a big pain in the butt). It had been three weeks since we had gone out in September, and we couldn’t really tell that there had been much progress. Here’s where we were as of October 8.

A little bit more tile had been installed. The tile looks great, although it’s hard to notice past all the stuff that isn’t done yet.

The new sliding doors and the new back door to the garage had already been in for awhile, and are still not trimmed yet.

This next picture is the sliding glass door from the main bedroom suite out to the backyard. We’re going to try to do a minimal trim around it rather than slapping big clunky 1×4’s all around the edges. But obviously that orange filler foam is going to need to be covered up. (This photo is from standing outside looking in; the pool is just reflecting in the glass.)

Look – an incorporated doggie door in the lower corner! It looks small, but our only choices were small or huge. Biska is full grown at 25 pounds, so as long as we don’t go and adopt a big dog, we’re good.

The next photo is the new sliding glass door from the back porch to the family/dining area. We got a 8″ wide slider, which is significantly larger than the one it is replacing. We were able to enlarge the opening fairly easily because this is one of the few exterior walls that’s not adobe brick. It’s not brick because it was originally an Arizona room with no back wall. Then when it was enclosed at some point, they just used drywall and wood siding. That made it easier for us to expand the opening. Eventually we plan to stucco the back wall, which will look better with the brick walls than the siding does. I assume stucco would be cheaper than bricking it, although bricking it is an option. My contractor thinks we can still get that burnt adobe brick, even though it’s not usually used anymore. It would be nice if we could get it in 3″ thick rather than 6″, because we would want to retain the stick framing in order to add insulation. Our 6″ thick brick adobe walls have no insulation because there is no hollow wall space to put it into.

I don’t know what to call this room that goes out onto the back patio. We’ve taken to calling it the Arizona room because that’s what it was originally, before this back wall was installed. The previous owners had their refrigerator here (because there was no place for it in the kitchen) and they had a couch pushed awkwardly across half the entryway.

When we moved in, at first it we made it John’s office because it was his favorite room in the house. He loved the interior brick walls, unpainted beam ceilings, and he liked working in the main part of the house near the patio. But when he’s having conference calls all day, I feel inhibited about clattering away in the kitchen. That’s when we decided to make it a dining room. It would make an excellent dining room, but I’d also really like to have a family room near the kitchen. If it were just John and I, we don’t really need both a family room and a living room. But I have some non-dog-friendly (and non-kid-friendly) furniture, artwork, house plants, and my handpan that I would like to keep in the living room, that I can close off with French doors.

I’d like to have a more casual, kid and dog friendly space with a TV near the kitchen/dining area. My husband needs TV time with the dog! (Since the poor guy can rarely get me sat down to watch TV with him.) That means a dog-friendly couch. Plus my little nieces need a peanut-butter-friendly couch in front of a TV! (Right, Emily?)

So now we’ve been talking about making the Arizona room into a family room, which means I would not have a separate dining room. There’s room to put the dining table in the open part of the kitchen, close to where we had it originally, which would mean I wouldn’t also have a breakfast nook. I don’t actually need a dining room and a breakfast nook. We really just need one table. Although I have a second dining table that I’d like to find a place for, somewhere. Tables are always so handy – but this house is not large.

Meanwhile, the new cabinets had been moved in from the garage and unpacked, but not installed.

We continue to be very pleased with the color of the new cabinets up against the new floor tile. They are soft, warm, earthy colors without just being beige, beige, and more beige. Beige has become dated, but the cool grays, blacks & whites that everyone else is installing right now doesn’t match our casual southwest, rustic, Mexican, and handmade furniture and artwork. With these earth tones I think our southwest style decor will match the house, without having to resort to splashing bright primary colors on the walls or something over-the-top like that.

It’s a challenge trying to remodel in a style that’s not popular – it’s hard to find materials – there’s just not a lot of choices. The primary style right now is a minimalistic gray-tone, simple, cool and sparse. John hates that style – it’s not warm and homey. And I don’t want to have to replace all our New Mexico style furniture and artwork!

It’s coming together. And best of all, the new window is in! I love the new window! It’s expensive and difficult to put new windows in adobe brick due to support issues. But we had one spot where a new window would be easy – this nicho on the outside of the house.

Part of me was reluctant to remove a traditional and authentic detail. This nicho with an electric outlet was built to hold a religious statue that lights up at night. I’m personally all in favor of cultural appropriation, but we didn’t want a lighted figurine of a Catholic saint in our front yard. I realized that the existing brickwork would make installing a much-needed living room window a cinch.

Here’s the living room as our contractor was preparing to cut out the window:

And here’s the new window!

It faces east and will get the morning light. The palm tree shades it and provides privacy from the street. We are on a corner, so we have two street sides. We intend to continue to add landscaping for increased privacy, because we like to leave the blinds open during the day, and we have a lot of people walking by on their way to the bike path that’s nearby.

I don’t think I’ll put a blind on this window for daily use, but I have a few artsy ideas for in case we do want to occasionally block it when we’re away. Or if we’re using the living room to accommodate extra guests during the holidays.

These photos are from when we were out there a week ago. We continue to be discouraged by the slow progress even though we are happy with the quality of what’s been done so far. We decided we should go out more regularly to keep a better eye on things, even though it’s a big trip. We’re going to go again this coming weekend, so I should have updated photos next week. Hopefully there will be more progress to report. I am getting excited about moving back to Tucson and trying not to be impatient!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

Kristina’s Website: Life Coaching for Adults with Autism