Construction-Unction What's Your Function?

Okay, so it doesn't exactly flow like conjunction, but that's what came to mind. Construction on our basement remodel/MIL suite begins tomorrow! John was supposed to start last Wednesday, but had a car restoration job he had to complete first. So, the target date was moved to Friday. THEN, Lowe's couldn't deliver the building materials until Monday.

Today, he called and said his wife had a migraine all weekend, so he had to take her to the doctor's office for a shot. He said he'll be here tomorrow morning. I don't begrudge him this, because I know how terrible migraines can be and I feel badly for his wife; I do, however, wish he'd already started. Howie says we have enough time built in that we don't have to sweat it, but you know me...I just want to get this all over with and move on (and move-in my MIL!).

The first thing he'll do is remove our garage door and its hardware, then frame in a wall where the door is. There will be a front door in the middle, plus a window on each side. He's putting in those nice tilt-in windows my MIL wants. Sure wish we could have the whole house re-done with them! In time...In time. Since we're dealing with a shorter-than-standard height due to the thick, metal header over the garage door, he had to go with 34" door rather than a 36" one with the lemon-wedge window. It's not the end of the world.

For now, we're going to have white siding on the new outside wall, but eventually we're going to put brick or stone up to the bottom of the windows and have a little ledge above the stone. Long-term, we'd like to have a balcony over her entrance, with the balcony acting as the roof to a screened-in porch for her. That's wayyyyy long-term, though. We really need to fence in the yard before we embark on anything like that!

Part of the construction we're having done includes a new tub for us upstairs. Woo-hooo! You can tell we're getting older; the thought of a new tub and surround really excites us! We're considering a big shower instead, though, one with two seats in it. It's a standard 60" width, like the tub we're taking out. Howie's back really pains him, and it would be easier for him with a built-in seat rather than having to work with one of those plastic tub seats. (Been there, done that, hate them).

Anyway, I can count on one hand the number of times I've taken a bath since we bought our house in 1999; we're just shower people, so why not put in what we'd best use? We figure we'll be here at least another 15 years, if not longer.

I'll be posting pictures in my gallery as things progress.