This document summarizes the multi-year process of designing and building an addition onto a house through a series of photos taken during construction. It began with gutting the existing mudroom and digging the crawl space and foundation. Over several months, the walls and roof went up, windows and doors were installed, and the interior work began by turning the existing kitchen into a butler's pantry. The timelapse photos show the progression from demolition to framing to exterior finishes to interior renovations.

1. Welcome to the photo timeline of our addition. We began
designing it in 2008, and it has taken 4 years to design, trash,
redesign and oh yeah, fund.
Hope you enjoy!

2. This is the front of our house. We’ve spend years getting the gardens updated. Nothing will
really change with this view, which is good. All the fun will happen out back … lets take a look.

3. Here’s the back of our house. Little mudroom off to the right (remember that view), a small brick
patio with room for the grill and some plantings and enough yard (you can’t see) to toss the
football around. Yes, all of this soon to change … and for the better we think.

4. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
And so our Journey begins. As you can see, we’re taking down that mudroom (yes, we threw a
Knock It Down party, those are sledgehammer holes) and we’re building a kitchen / TV room
addition, about 18x26 right across the back. We’re also converting a small bedroom into that
much-needed second full bath.

5. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
One of the first things that happened was our mudroom was gutted. This had a tiny powder
room in it which became the focus of some creative haiku prior to us smashing the heck out of
it. The above destruction was NOT from the party, but from the contractors. Just to be clear

6. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
My hope was to take a picture from this exact spot as often as possible, to see the build
happen. (I hate when HGTV does before & after shots from different spots). So, mudroom
came down (rubble in foreground) and crawlspace starting to get dug.

7. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
Close-up of the crawl space and future foundation. Black tarp at top-center is covering up our
entry to our existing kitchen (future ‘butler pantry’). I like that my Bilco door looks to be
levitating. That will soon go.

8. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
Different view of the foundation. Here you can see the waterproofing that went around the
outside. Also notice the nice mound of dirt in the back. They took out 4 truck loads of dirt, and
left that for backfilling and grading – see next picture.

9. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
Foundation walls and “rat slab” poured. First mid-construction change – needed 2 additional
courses of block because the yard about 18” higher in the back. So they needed additional
foundation height for when they graded properly. Nice jury-rigged gutters, eh?

10. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
Now into October - foundation built, waterproofed and backfilled, what’s next? Start to build
stuff. Can’t build stuff without lumber. Notice those yellow-ish boards bottom-right? Those are
LVLs, massive joists and rafters. We’ve been told we could land a helicopter on our addition.

11. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
A view from directly in the back; flooring is down and walls are starting to go up, very exciting. It
felt like we went from one big hole to a room in 3 days. That rubble is what was left of our Bilco
doors to the basement.

12. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
Back to the vantage point (now that the Port-O-John is moved). Walls are up and roofing rafters
are in. Second mid-construction change: an overhang. Going with a flat roof was not our ideal
design, and when we saw the overhanging rafters before they were cut to their planned 4”
overhang, we decided to go with 18” to make it look less like a box.

13. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
New view, from the opposite corner. Roofing is installed and the house wrap is on. Nearly
water tight (did someone mention hurricane?). It is really starting to look closer to that finished
product. We’re opting for gray siding opposed to trying to match the house white.

14. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
Windows and door installed. Yard graded again and seed and hay down. Pretty mushy from
the weather, so walking on planks. We’re planning on some nice down-lighting in the overhang
and flanking kitchen window on right with some “barn lighting”. We’ll see how it really ends up.

15. Now we are starting to “feel” the construction. Wasn’t so bad
when everything was happening outside. But now, we’ve lost
the kitchen and relocated everything to our dining room.
For inside, the kitchen gets repurposed and a small bedroom
goes to a hallway and bathroom.

16. Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
November started to focus inside. This WAS our kitchen. Small and galley-style. Now, nuthin’
but studs and lath. Opening up the doorway to dining room, adding a closet (right) and it will
eventually be our butler pantry. Just waiting for that butler now.