We wanted to make the directv coax installation a bit more built-in than was previously done, and while I was at it I might as well run some cat6 to the TV area as well.  The beauty of the raised foundation is the ability to run all these cables without much fuss.

Before:

After:

Behind the tv:

The previous owners apparently liked the look of acoustic tiles.  They were in the entryway and in the hallway:

They came down pretty easy, but each was adhered with a big dollop of glue in each four corners of a tile.  The glue was hard as a rock and stuck well to the plaster.

Despite scraping, melting with acetone, and other methods, it would just not budge.  We knocked down the glue as well as we could and had to do a layer of drywall on top.

You may also notice another change from the above picture to the next next picture, the front bedroom had this odd second doorway and it just had to go.

And the end result:

The hallway looks pretty good too.  Thanks to Mom and Dad for all their help with the drywall work.

When we removed a built-in bookshelf that we didn’t want to keep, we noticed that there was framing for a window there already.

There was also the large bathroom window.  We want to change the layout of the bathroom in the future (yay raised foundation!) to put a bathtub against the outside wall.  When the cost came back almost equal for 1 window vs 2 windows we decided to go ahead.  So this window on the right side:

Was changed to a small one like in the other bathroom, a proper size for above a bathtub.  The other window is a double hung to match the other already-updated windows.  Stucco was reapplied:

And after painting with texcote, you can hardly tell there was anything done.  The living room feels less like a cave and we are happy with the change.

When we bought the house, 3 of the bedrooms, the hall and entryway had hardwood floors of various stain colors, and were in need of refinishing.  The previous owners also mentioned that the hardwood floor continued into the living and dining room, but they had put carpet over it long ago.  So the first day we owned the house, Aunt Vicki, Amy and I started to remove some gross, cat pee smelling carpet.

The first strip of carpet I removed looked very promising.  The floor looked beautiful under the carpet!

Amy, Aunt Vicki and I continued to remove it all, discovering that the previous owners cat really enjoyed urinating all over the place.

We wanted to have the bad spots fixed, which doubled the cost of the entire job, but we knew in the end it would be worth it.  You can see some of the 3 full days of repairs in the following picture.  There are others to the right of the fireplace, one in the entry way and one in the entry to the hallway as well.

The sanding begins!

You can hardly tell that every board on the left side of this room was replaced and feathered into the existing floor.

The stain goes on!

Squirrel!  (This was in the chronological order of pictures)

And after 3 coats of polyurathane the floor looks great.  It lightened a bit over time, but still is a red color that pops out all the wood grain.

This picture had bad lighting, it isn’t that dark, but still looks great.

With that done, we waited some time, and then could finally move in!  We plan to take good care of the floors and hopefully they will last a good long time.

Amy and I have settled down in a home in Whittier, CA.  The house is in a good neighborhood, is in good condition, and we have lots of ideas on what we would like to make out of it in the many years to come.