Saturday, June 22, 2013

Bathrooms - Before and After



When you came in the side entry this is what you walked into.....
New Bathroom Before

This is what you see now........
New Bathroom After
New Bathroom After
Side Entry After
Side Entry After
There was only one bathroom before.........and this is it.......
Original Bathroom Before

Original Bathroom After

Original Bathroom After



Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Bedrooms Before and After

Master Bedroom Before
Master Bedroom After
Master Bedroom After

Bedroom #2 Before
Bedroom #2 After

Bedroom #3 Before

Bedroom #3 After

We spruced up each of the three bedrooms--removed wallpaper, closed doorways leading between each room, refinished the floors, added closet inserts, and painted.




Sunday, June 16, 2013

Living/Dining Before and After

The living and dining rooms are large and beautiful--and were covered in wallpaper.  Once we removed the wallpaper several problems were revealed.  The plaster was cracked and peeling and the ceilings were also in rough shape.  After much thought we decided to go ahead and have them professionally redone--good decision!  We refinished the hardwood floors, painted all the walls, ceilings and trim and replaced the light fixtures.

Dining Room Before

Living Room Before

Living Room Before

Living Room During

Dining Room During

Living Room During

Living Room During

Dining Room During

Dining Room After

Dining Room After

Dining Room After

Living Room After

Living Room After

Living Room After

Living Room After

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Kitchen Before and After

The kitchen was the most work and money--no surprise there.....



kitchen before

This picture actually looks better than it really was.  The cabinets were broken and unsalvagable so we had to start over......


Down to studs

New plumbing and electrical
 

Insulation--Remove soffets


As I mentioned before the cabinets came from Ikea.  I love their online planning tools and was able to plan out the kitchen at home before going to the store to purchase everything.





The layout stayed the same but with an added dishwasher and additional cabinets around the perimeter of the room.  The cart under the glass cabinet is on wheels and can be moved to serve as prep space or left under the cabinet for breakfast seating.

I love, love, love the appliances.  Lowes had an awesome sale Memorial Day weekend!  The sale was so good I was able to get the slide in range instead of the free-standing range I had originally planned for.  The refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave are Frigidaire Gallery and the range is Whirlpool Gold.  The vent hood came from Ikea.

Another one of my favorite features of the kitchen is the farm house sink--love it!  Oh-and I really like how the subway tile backsplash with the gray grout turned out too. 

The countertops are kind of their own story..... I have a contact in St. Louis who sells granite.  I had called him early on in the project and told him what we were doing and what my price range was.  Because there is no cut out sink this was an easy job to use remnants.  I told him what color family I was wanting and trusted him for the rest.  I didn't know what I was getting until he showed up to install it.  I LOVE IT and couldn't have picked out anything better myself.  It's called Dahlia White, but it has a bit of green quartz in it that is gorgeous!

We were really happy with how the kitchen turned out--it's functional, modern and pretty.



Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Exterior Before and After

Exterior Before
Exterior After
 
Side Exterior Before



Side Exterior After

 
 
The exterior of the house got a facelift too.  Curb appeal means a lot and although the house has a cute shape and style it had no landscaping or visual interest.  A power washer is a must in washing away years of dirt and grime.  It's amazing how much better things look just by being clean! 
 
Entry: We tore out/replaced the cracked, uneven sidewalks which made a HUGE difference!  The garage got a new door and new layer of gravel.  The side entry steps are new and painted to match the brown trim. And of course, I'm a big fan of hanging baskets and potted flowers.  The new, blue door helps say "Welcome" as you come home at night.  The front entry got a new storm door, new house numbers and mailbox. 
 
Landscaping: There was no landscaping to speak of....... When we took the sidewalk on the side of the house out it made a much larger area for plants.  Doug tore up sod on the left side of front entry to balance out the front.  We got our plants at Ace Hardware in town--boxwoods, daylilies, dward lilacs, spirea and a few other fillers made the area look really nice!  We couldn't have done this project without our good friends who came in and made it all happen that day!
 
Garage:  The garage is actually pretty new and in great shape.  It's an oversized one-car garage but the door needed replaced and it had a grass/weed driveway.




It.Is.Finished.

Blog and pictures to come as soon as we recover......