I'm not the only one in our household bitten by the spring 'inspiration' bug. It's hammer time for Jimmyredhed as he gets antsy for destruction. I introduced our second bedroom renovation last week. We're into Week 2 of this enormous project. Jimmy and Alex (our housemate) have torn out all the walls and most of the ceiling. We have a contractor coming by tomorrow to install a second window in the space where we're removing the inset air condition. 30' ladders to the second story, anyone?! New insulation will come later in the week. Stay tuned!

The air conditioner will be removed and a window installed.

The closet is currently filled with debris.

Looking into the room from the closet.

Our goal for home renovations is t0 minimize 'waste' as much as possible. But there will always be some. At this point, we've found no reuse for broken drywall and 30+ year old insulation (though our house has barely any insulation!). We do utilize Freecycle and Craigslist to the best of our abilities. We gave away the drop ceiling and our wood paneling is pending pick up. Prior to the demolition, we were able to give away the dirty old carpets as well.

As we begin rebuilding, we buy used materials when possible and work to make our home more energy efficient. We're installing insulation and ceiling fans in each room to aid in this process. Jimmy is learning to do much of the work himself and we're hiring out the larger projects (cutting a new window!) to someone whom he can learn from.

Have you taken on a project of this magnitude? Did you DIY or hire it out?! I'd love to hear about it!