Below are before &
Kitchen:
Ahhh, the kitchen. This room was original to the house, but it was clean so it stayed for a while. I really wanted to live in the house a bit before deciding what we were going to change. This is the kitchen on the day we moved in. It's not a large room at 11x10, but it was practically cut in half by the peninsula making it (barely) usable for one person. We knew that would eventually go, but we needed the counter space at the time so it stayed for now and got a coat of dark gray paint.
I liked the idea of the gray paint as a temporary fix, but it really made the room feel even smaller. Last spring I bought a new light fixture for the room since Eli had hit his head on the old one one too many times. This unofficially kickstarted the remodel of the whole space.
I knew that I wanted white cabinets & a wood floor. I debated keeping the original backsplash which was actually quite pretty, but certain spots were damaged & there was no way I'd be able to match it on the new open shelving wall. We salvaged the old cabinet frames & refaced the doors and drawers by adding a thin trim around the edges to give them a shaker style look. Everything got a fresh coat of "Simply White" Benjamin Moore paint & new butcher block countertops from IKEA. (The old ones were a butcher block laminate). I found 6x12" carrara marble tile on clearance for $3.99/sf in town, so bought enough for the backsplash & a whole wall behind some new open shelves. The peninsula was cut out & placed next to the pantry (under the shelves) & the microwave was built in to the cabinet by the range to free up much needed counter space. We had to tweak the cabinets under the sink to accommodate the love of my life (Domsjo farmhouse sink) from IKEA. We replaced the flooring in the kitchen, dining room, & hallway with some walnut stained engineered oak, plastered the ceiling, & hung new crown & baseboards. It's still a small room, but it's now functional & open enough for a few people to work & I have to say that I loooovvveeee the end result!
Our narrow (8ft wide) dining room had grimy, rotted patio doors, a horrible light fixture, & white carpet when we moved in. It's been a work in progress ever since. The first spring in the house we replaced the patio doors & light fixture. In the summer of 2011 we installed wood floors & built a new dining table. We still plan to hang crown moulding.
Living Room:
The living room is still very much a work in progress too. Recent additions are a new tv stand & white curtains to brighten the space up a bit. We have plans to add crown moulding & do something with the ceiling...whether that's adding wood planks or some sort of plaster texture to cover a few small cracks.
Main Level Bathroom:
What can I say about this room?!? It was so scary that we didn't shower in it for 6 months before we got around to renovating it...we showered in the basement bathroom, walking through sheetrock dust & debri to get there. From the pink sink & tub, faux marble vanity top, shiny gold & white flecked paneling, an overhead storage cabinet that was so high & deep that it was unusable, & stained (use your imagination) carpet over three layers of linoleum, this room was a disaster.
1200 gleaming white subway tiles, a lot of hard work, & 3 months later we were left with a clean & fresh oasis that didn't make you feel like you needed a hose-down when you stepped out. My handy dad built the vanity, mirror, & light box based off a little drawing I gave him. The mirror opens into a 7" deep medicine cabinet that houses curling irons, toothbrushes, etc. I laid all of the 1200 subway tiles while being 8 months pregnant! The bath tub was sprayed white by a friend's husband, but 2 years later it's peeling up. Hopefully this spring we'll be able to get in there to sand it down & repaint.
Grady's Room:
Grady's room was mainly cosmetic. The only major things we did were refinish the original wood floors, and install a chocolate brown tongue & groove ceiling. My mom & I painted the birch tree mural on three of the walls & painted the back of the built-in bookshelf brown to match the ceiling. I sprayed the existing lantern-y light fixture silver & added fabric to the glass panels to cast a soft glow in the room. I LOVE it! I made all of the window treatments myself, & the quilt was designed & made by my bff Angie's amazing mom!
Our Current Bedroom:
Our bedroom was also mostly cosmetic. Eli & his friend "Jilek" refinished the floors at the same time as Grady's room. On Valentine's Day weekend a couple of years ago, Eli was traveling for work so my parents & I painted the bedroom, made a new headboard, installed crown & plastered the ceiling, & hung the new(old) light fixture. This room will eventually be a spare bedroom once we get the master finished in the attic, so it probably won't get any more love until after that happens. For now it works!
Porch:
The porch might be one of my favorite places in the house! It was a true labor of love for us this summer, but was completely worth it. Here's what she looked like on the day we moved in:
And here's what it looks like now...screened in & bug free!
