Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Bathrooms - Before and After
When you came in the side entry this is what you walked into.....
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| New Bathroom Before |
This is what you see now........
There was only one bathroom before.........and this is it.......
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| New Bathroom After |
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| New Bathroom After |
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| Side Entry After |
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| Side Entry After |
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| Original Bathroom Before |
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| Original Bathroom After |
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| Original Bathroom After |
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Bedrooms Before and After
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| Master Bedroom Before |
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| Master Bedroom After |
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| Master Bedroom After |
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| Bedroom #2 Before |
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| Bedroom #2 After |
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| Bedroom #3 Before |
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| 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.
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| Dining Room Before |
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| Living Room Before |
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| Living Room Before |
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| Living Room During |
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| Dining Room During |
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| Living Room During |
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| Living Room During |
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| Dining Room During |
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| Dining Room After |
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| Dining Room After |
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| Dining Room After |
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| Living Room After |
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| Living Room After |
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| Living Room After |
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| Living Room After |
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Kitchen Before and After
The kitchen was the most work and money--no surprise there.....
This picture actually looks better than it really was. The cabinets were broken and unsalvagable so we had to start over......
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.
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| kitchen before |
This picture actually looks better than it really was. The cabinets were broken and unsalvagable so we had to start over......
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| Down to studs |
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| New plumbing and electrical |
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| 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.
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
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| Exterior Before |
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| Exterior After |
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| Side Exterior Before |
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| 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.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Life keeps moving......
I had these great aspirations to take pictures and blog through this whole process. I failed to realize how exhausting the process would be and how busy we would be. We would be busy anyway as our travel schedule has been very unusually active. Since we started working on the house in February we have been to Florida on business, California to spend time with family and Texas to see friends. Add to that Aaron is playing in two golf tours right now. Golf is his passion and it is our priority to participate with him. College girl moved out of the dorm and into a subleased apartment for the summer so she can keep her job on campus and attend summer school. We have made it a priority not to let the house keep us from doing, going and being with our kids. So...... what that means is that progress still happens on the house because time is money..... but it happens during the week into the wee hours of the night sometimes. I walk out of the house at night exhausted and only remember about pictures and blogging when I wake up in the morning. The bathroom floors are done. The new shower is tiled. The new bathroom walls are painted. This week we are working on putting the innards and doors on the kitchen cabinets for countertops to be installed. New sidewalks are being poured and life goes on........ Oh--and we both still go to work every day :-)
Golfing with Aaron
Visiting friends in Texas
Spending time with family in Lake Tahoe
Orlando on business
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