transformations: upstairs

If you are observant, you may notice that the post title has changed. With the momentous, can't-turn-back-now changes that happened yesterday, we decided that we could no longer call our second floor "the attic". Henceforth, it shall be known as "the upstairs". Yippee!

Let's back up. The before:

The attic door, which opened into the downstairs hallway. 

To the left is our living room, and down the hall to the right is the kitchen.

If you can look past the construction debris, you will see the staircase that led to the attic curving up to the right. 

The old staircase was fine, it was just narrow and steep. Short of moving walls, we couldn't change the width. We did decide (with the "recommendation" of the city inspector) to rebuild the staircase and lower the rise on each step.

On Monday morning before work, Curtis hung up plastic sheeting to block off the inevitable plaster dust that would soon be flying everywhere. Annabelle looked on enthusiastically. Little did we know, it would be 4 more days before they would actually tear down the walls. But yesterday at 7:00am, the fun began!

Two hours later, as the kids and I were finally ready to escape to my parents' house, I sneaked a peak.

It was crazy how quickly things were moving!

That was nothing compared to what it looked like at the end of the day. 

Are you ready for this?

Ta-daaaaah! 

Our new open staircase to "the upstairs".

 

 They reused the old stair treads and some plywood as temporary stairs so that the construction traffic wouldn't mess up the permanent stairs. Thoughtful, wasn't it?

We think it looks great, and it seems to really open up the space dramatically. Our hope is that, when it is all said and done, the downstairs and upstairs will feel like one continuous space. 

This is a big step in the right direction!