I really need to back up a little bit here and explain exactly WHY we are making some major changes around here. Maybe it's the catalyst for change that needs explaining rather than the reasons. Now, it's going to sound like I'm blaming Rob here and I might come across as a little resentful so just know that that is not my intention. Sort of.
I'll explain and then you decide.
Last March Rob bought a Mustang. He's worked hard and driven vehicles that scare small children for years and years so I didn't really have an issue with that. My mistake was in thinking that the Mustang would just be a car. But it's not. It's Precious. . .
Unlike every other vehicle we've ever owned together, the mustang needed to be garaged. We've never used our garage in that capacity because it has always had other uses: a daycare, a shop, a storage unit and most recently, a "playroom". When we built the house, we finished the garage to be an actual room that we could use as an extension of our house. It's insulated, painted, has 2 doors and a picture window. It didn't even know it WAS a garage. Until the day the Mustang came home.
I guess I should have just known that this would be the case, but for some reason it didn't hit me until Rob opened the garage door, moved everything that was in the way into the attached family room and pulled in the Mustang. Marriage is all about compromise, right? So all I could do was walk out, close the door on the family room and change my plan.
BUT Rob did what Rob does and came up with a new plan. A compromise. He would build Zach a house out back, extend Gloria's room to include Zach's old room and we would finish the family room so we could really enjoy it. The point to this is that the kids would have enough room in their bedrooms to house all of the "stuff" that had been collecting in the "garage".
The project, like all big projects, has happened (and continues to happen) in phases.
Phase 1 consisted of building Zach's "house" out back and it has worked out great. We managed to fit it in between all of the busy-ness of last summer and fall so it's pretty much completed. It still needs some shelves and a little trim but he's been very happy with his new space.
Phase 2 consisted of me throwing away, giving away and packing away three rooms full of stuff that have collected over the last decade (and beyond) so that we could begin the remodel of the other rooms.
Phase 3 (which has begun but is not completed) was painting and prepping the family room so that we can actually use it as a family room. The painting is done, the carpeting has been removed and the drapes have been purchased that will hide the mustang side of the garage from the family room (or vice versa?). We still need to switch out the lighting, put in some kind of floor covering and put in the furniture including the flat panel that Rob bought a few months ago that is still in the box.
Phase 4 is the transformation of Gloria's and Zach's small bedrooms into one large room for Gloria.
Phase 5 will be replacing all of the flooring in the house except the master bedroom and the bathrooms with Pergo-style hardwood flooring.
We've moved on to Phase 4 this week and started on Gloria's new room.
Gloria's room has been pretty much the same since the day she came home from the hospital. Other than changes in furniture and "stuff", the room has essentially stayed the same. In fact, while I was still pregnant with Gloria, my sister spent many pain-staking hours creating these lovely stencils on all of the walls:
They've been covered by posters and drawings over the years so I almost forgot they were there . . . 
After I emptied the room and we cleared everything off of the walls, the destruction began, starting with the closet. . .
We are replacing the carpeting with hardwood flooring, so the carpeting came up next. . .
In order to join the two bedrooms together, Rob decided to go through the closet in Zach's old room and make a nice cased in opening so that it would have the feel of one large room. . .
When Gloria got home from school, she surveyed the project and gave her stamp of approval. . .
We still have a VERY long way to go on this multi-faceted project, but we're much further along than I ever expected we'd be, so that's something!
PS This post almost didn't happen due to the fact that I HATE the new Blogger editor and it makes blogging much more difficult than it needs to be. I hope the bugs get worked out soon!!
PSS I'll be Mobile blogging again this weekend as we head up to Hayden Lake for our final Quiz Meet! Should be interesting. . .
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