New addition

Today I'm back to share my latest project. I've been missing lately because of this side addition. We are adding a one bedroom, one full bathroom, living room, dining room, and full kitchen with direct single car garage access and private entrance. Its pretty much another unit but attached to our home.  Getting the plans drawn was a long and tiring process that involved going back and forth to the city multiple times but I finally got it done.

After plans were approved I started the grueling process of looking for contractors. All of the bids came in too high for me so I decided to be my own general contractor. I don't recommend anyone being their own contractor because it feels like a full time job in its own to coordinate everything but so far so good even with some hiccups.

So far we have gotten pass breaking ground, rough plumbing for bathroom and sink, pouring foundation, and framing is complete.

Below is the picture of the side of our home prior to start of the project.

The concrete contractor had to break up a block wall, relocate the pool equipment, and redo gas lines. 

Our back yard was a disaster for the longest time. Thank goodness it was outside and didn't bother us too much inside except for the noise. 

After foundation was poured everything looked so much cleaner.

After foundation, I had to hire a separate demolition contractor to remove the stucco on my wall. Stucco took two days to remove. 

Framing went up fairly quickly. Took under two weeks from start to finish even with some hiccups along the way. 

Here it is today with framing all complete. Just waiting on inspection to pass and we can start on the roofing. I have the electrician coming out on Wednesday to start while we wait for the framing inspection to pass. Hopefully it won't take too long.

The total square footage of our addition will be 490.  Cost so far for foundation and framing including all the supplies is $22K. My budget for completing the whole project is 40K. Right now, I'm right under $35K with all the other estimates in place. All the general contractors quoted me at least $50K to start and that doesn't include all the issues that we came across with gas lines and the pool equipment. I'm so excited to finally have this rental unit coming along. I will try my best to share details of everything as I go along.

Kitchen Reveal

Happy Easter everyone. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Today I want to share my kitchen makeover. When we first bought our home it came with a small dark and old kitchen.

Here are some pictures from the MLS. 

Behind the kitchen was an unpermitted bedroom right in the middle of the home. 

Fast forward many months. We had a contractor remove the unpermitted bedroom and the walls that were holding up our second floor. 

Slowly, as we started to remove all the dark cabinets and walls, things were starting to open up and look brighter.

This was the other angle after we laid new laminate flooring. 

Finally kitchen cabinets came in. 

Shortly after, quartz countertops went in. 

It took about a month for me to install all the backsplash. 

After the backsplash, the open shelves were being painted.

Finally, appliances were installed and finishing touches were added.

Total cost for a brand new kitchen 11x15 ft with 6ft x 52 inch quartz island, soft close white traditional style cabinets, carrera marble hexagon backsplash, appliances, knobs, and open shelves came out to be under $10,500. I'll do a cost breakdown in my next blog post.