House to Home Pt. 1

So it appeared that my Man Gift to my Wife series was pretty popular.

You can check them out here:

Man Gift to My Wife Part 1
Man Gift to My Wife Part 2
Man Gift to My Wife Part 3
Man Gift to My Wife Part 4
Man Gift to My Wife Part 5

Because of our focus on budgeting and not spending I took the months of January and February to back off of some projects around the house, but I am back and ready to go. 

To kick off this new series I needed to give you a little background on what the office used to look like when Renae and I first moved into the house. This blog post will show you what the walk in attic looked like when we first saw the house, then when we were officially the homeowners, and then what we have done with it. 

Then in the second part I will highlight some of the things that I had to do to finish off the attic/office to make it “complete” (I use the quotes because every home owner knows that rarely ever is a project actually complete).

Enjoy the history and evolution of our attic into an office:

First time setting foot in the attic during our first house walk through.

The ugly chimney stack that gave us grief!

The stairs that attacked you on the way up to the attic.

I ran all new electric through the attic, and then with my dad's help (and 6 hours of fishing wire through walls) got it hooked into the panel box.

The next big step was adding the insulation. Made sure we put in the rafter baffles so we didn't mess up the nice roof.

Dad figuring out the three way switch while I rolled through the insulation.

The mess of a stair well.

I installed recessed lighting to give the soon-to-be office a crisp lighting option.

A few pictures of the other side before some insulation and major changes.

Had to frame out either end of the office with studs to hand the drywall.

Insulating, wiring and lighting complete...now it's time to hang drive.

Framing out the closet after some of the drywall was hung.

After the drywall was hung I had a friend come over and help me with the mudding. At this point I could do some small mud jobs...but nothing like this. He was awesome and made it look awesome!

I wanna say that he spent 5 or 6 days working there and honestly made some of my mistakes in hanging look great.

Primer is on!

Just seeing the room like this made me smile each morning I came up to do work.

Installed the Pergo flooring..pretty simple, just make sure you have the right tools.

Renae did an awesome job painting all of the trim that was going to be used.

Then that trim was ready to be put on.

A couple of shots of the painted room before the trim was installed.

Added an access panel for extra storage (screwed plywood panels on the other side for storage).

Hung the trim...had to have the chair rail...this is the project that made Renae fall in love with it!

The finished project (at least up to that point.

Me being proud of my accomplishments...notice the window...that will show up again soon!

Then we added some furniture to the office!

Now my man cave is only missing some small touch-ups, a flat screen tv, and my gaming systems.