Renovation ... where to begin? when will it end?

This what my house looked like shortly after purchase.  Creaky, but intact.  The sunroom, formerly a porch, enclosed some decades ago, was drafty.  The entry, complete with cracked and duct-taped windows, was ugly.  Russ and I decided to begin renovations there. 



The sunroom was one of my favorite spaces in the house.  Once insulated, it had the potential to be a cozy sitting room (Hopefully, I'll remember to insert a pretty pre-demolition picture.)  In the interim, it was used as a coat room during parties and it became Smokey's room when he joined our family (This picture of his original "bed" has since been un-stuffed and re-created 4 times to date).

Russ and I prepped the space by removing the wood molding around the doors and windows.  Demolition of the sunroom and entry took place over Memorial Day weekend (it was a loooooong weekend). We had a lot of man-power and we started in on the living room too ... our first attempt to make Project #1 never-ending.  Windows, doors, floors, walls, and ceilings were all removed.  Plaster dust coated everything.  The wood slats were dry and splintered.  The insulation looked like dirty sheep wool.  I couldn't get it out of my house fast enough. We put in long sweaty hours.  I kept the guys powered with steaks, burgers, hot dogs and plenty of beer. By the end of the weekend, this was home.

June was a slow slog waiting for permits to come through and accompanied by only minor visual improvement.  The gray-ish white columns were a pleasant surprise, but my desire to keep them and keep the space enclosed resulted in some creative waterproofing/insulating design fabrication by Russ. We painted, sanded and sealed the columns with two types of material.  We shopped for windows and doors (HD promptly messed up the door order!)

In July, Russ cut in windows, installed one window and add Tyvek home warp. 

Each weekend we took a few more steps toward completion and I ran PR from the sidewalk to keep the inquiring neighbors abreast of our development and off the phone with the city's building & permits department. 

The last weekend of July, my new washer and dryer arrived. The laundry was also drafty, drippy and in need of light demolition.  Yesterday light demolition turned into major demolition and a much larger project than we can tackle this summer.  Russ will patch it and make it pretty, but its a project to be revisited on a much larger scale.  The entry and sun room is enough to take on this season!  I am doubtful the over-zealous demolition project started in the living room will be put back together and painted before the end of summer.

I've learned so much about how a house is put together (in order to take it apart), how to use power tools (I love the power sander), and how difficult it is to work on "contractor time!"