Ch-ch-ch-changes

"Hello, Bowling Alley? This is the Huffakers. We'd just like you to know that if you ever get swamped, we've got two hallways that can work in a pinch. All we need is the pins. Thanks!"

Yes, seriously. We've got two REALLY long hallways here at the Haven. The photo above is the upstairs hallway, taken from about halfway down the hall. Double that for the actual hall length.

But you have to remember that this house started out as an 8-bedroom house (only 5 legal, with egress windows), and these halls accessed those rooms. When you stand at one end, it kind of has the feeling of a hotel hallway. An earlier remodel (before we moved in) resulted in two of those bedrooms being consolidated into one..... which is Alyssa's room:

This is Alyssa's room, with the entry door in the middle of the picture, closet on the left. The big blank wall on the right is where Emma's crib used to be (see previous post!). Now you know why Emma was sharing a room with Alyssa.

And can I just say now, for the record, that Todd and I are doomed to be Do-It-Yourselfers? Other people purchase houses as-is, in turn-key status, and think nothing of it. We have never bought a house that didn't need some updating work. It must be our destiny.

Or the fact that we know we can do it, and by making our changes, we not only add value, but make the house fit our needs as well.

So, in between bathroom remodels (and we've already got plans in the works for the next bathroom -- since EVERY bathroom in this house needed a remodel!)..... we've come up with a brilliant little project that will cannibalize part of the The Green Mile, um.... I mean, the hall. All credit for this gem of an idea goes to Todd, who conceptualized the whole thing. I had to restrain myself from jumping up and down when he explained it to me.

What you're seeing (besides Todd marking the wall with the level!) is the wall of Alyssa's room on the left, with the door at the end of the hall. The built-in cabinetry at the end of the hall, and behind Todd on the right is the doorway into our bedroom.

After marking, comes cutting:

(Cam the Man is operating the shop vac, trying to neutralize the dust as much as possible!) Which brings us to the current state of construction.

So here's the Grand Plan. In the following photo, you can see the new hole-in-the-wall, which will be the new entrance into Alyssa's room. The built-in-cabinet will move up the hall (toward you), and the new "end of the hall" will have Alyssa's new entrance opposite our bedroom door, with the built-in cabinet (we're not losing that) between them.

The space between the cabinet's old location and the new location will become Alyssa's new bedroom closet -- a walk-in. (After just two ball-gown style prom dresses, her current closet is overloaded. We still have two more years of high school for her, plus two sisters -- I'm foreseeing a lot of formals!) Her old bedroom door will be the door to the closet.

The space BEHIND this built-in cabinet is Alyssa's old closet (scroll back to the second photo, far left!), which is back-to-back with Todd's closet in our bedroom. The old closet will be walled-off on Alyssa's side, and the wall between the closets will be removed, giving Todd a closet that's twice the size of his current closet. Did that make sense?

The total end result will be a shorter hallway (no loss there!), a walk-in closet for Alys, and a larger closet for Todd. Everybody wins!!

Except......

Wait. This has no effect on MY closet.....

Wait a minute.......................!!