facelift

Well, when we moved in we thought that our home could not get more charming! We were convinced that it was as cute as can be. I mean look at it (through our first time homeowners eyes)!

Blue shutters, pretty trees, a white mailbox... all the makings for the cutest house on the block! We looked right past the weeds, tress planted WAY to close to the house and the minor issues that could be easily remedied and just basked in the glow of our new home! (As, we think, everyone should for a time after receiving the keys to a new house, it's big stuff people!!)

Post weeding, adding some pumpkins and mums,
adding a flag and moving the house numbers!

Shortly after the glow dimmed a bit, we started to notice that the house looked like it had been painted with a roller and only one coat was used, there were minor fixes needed to the front, the trim could use a paint job and the whole house needed to be power washed. All long term projects and we were so thankful that nothing was an immediate need; we could concentrate on the inside of the house for a while. After we opened our home to a garage sale for the first three days of owning the place, we realized that the front stairs were very steep and would be dangerous come icy weather. We asked my dad (Lindsey's dad) what the easiest fix would be... "Tear the whole thing out", he said.

He was right, if you can see in this picture - the bottom step was cracked, the wood was aged, and things were sagging a bit - all in all, not really a safe situation. And while we have homeowners insurance, we are sure hoping never to have to use it!

I'd say it was about a month after receiving the keys before I got a call from my dad...

Lindsey: Hi, Dad!
Dad: Hi, Linds! I've got a quick question...
Lindsey: What's up?
Dad: Well, I was just wondering if I could have free reign on the front of your house?
Lindsey: I mean.... sure! 

So that's how it started, a simple phone call. I wasn't sure what I had just agreed to but since my dad does the most beautiful landscape work I have ever seen, I was so happy that he was willing to work on our first home! I knew whatever he came up with would be amazing!

When I got home from Eastern Market with Mom (not more than five hours after the phone call), this is what the house looked like. Dad does not waste any time!

After dealing with rain, permits, pouring concrete before it got too cold and then tenting the whole yard to keep warmth on the stairs (and the workers), major progress was made. It took about a month from the picture above to the picture below. Once the stairs were all set and firm, the walkway was a piece of cake (or so they made it seem)!

 

Rob and I are so thankful that we didn't have to DIY this project and that my Dad has such a vision when he works. I never would have thought that our house could support this type of walkway but boy, was I wrong! The bushes that came with the house were able to be replanted, along with one of the trees (leafless on the left) which makes the whole picture so much more pleasant and I think this design makes the house look bigger!

We are so thankful to my dad who has helped us learn how to do lots of projects, both big and small. Thank you Dad! 

Once the outside is all decorated for Christmas, we'll take an evening shot with the window open so you can see the tree inside too! 

Thanks for following our renovation, until next time - 

Lindsey

If anyone loves what my Dad did outside our home and would like to contact him about working on your home - please comment on this post with your email address and we would be happy to send you contact information for his company! You know you wanna :)

baseboards and caulking and tiling, oh my

Well we finally finished some projects that have been waiting in the wings; the end to two projects that honestly could have been finished weeks ago but it has been hard to get our butts in gear to finish. 

BUT WE FINALLY DID IT.

As you know, we put a walkway into an existing wall to create a dining room out of a bedroom right when we moved in. Doing this required us to take the baseboard moulding off the wall and well, it was never replaced. So now, almost two and a half months later, we replaced it. It's amazing how moulding can change a room (both living and dining room) and make it look complete! Project #1 COMPLETE!

The other project was completing the kitchen. We had replaced our cooktop and taken down the microwave which left an ugly un-tiled background for everyone to look at (for about a month and a half).

We looked around for tile to match the existing white but it's not just simple white tile, it's actually dimpled (you can tell in the picture above wherever the light hits the tile). This proved to be difficult to match, therefore, we just decided to get something that would "go" - it's ok in fashion, why not in your kitchen?

Since the space that needed to be covered was only about 34 inches by 6 inches we decided on a preset pattern that would match the existing tiles. The dark tile line of tile (as seen in photo above) is a forest-y green so we had to go with that family. We ended up with this seafoam, forest green, white and charcoal tile pattern.

We split each square into halves (6 inches high) and applied liquid nails to each individual tile (through the mesh on the back. 

We had to snap some of the tiles to make it fit better behind the cabinets: pliers and muscles were all it took to get the smaller tiles to break. Thankfully the breaks didn't have to be clean because they were only on the ends and were getting tucked away! 

Once everything fit properly, I was able to just start putting the tile up. We only ended up needing three sections, this was definitely an easy tile job. 

We had to add some random tiles and foam insulation so that the hood would seal properly. We didn't bother to grout these tiles since they would A) never be seen and B) were merely being used as placeholders.

After the tile was up and we let the adhesive set properly we mixed the grout and started sealing. We used grey grout since the existing tile was grouted in grey and we wanted to match as much as we could. We didn't even get close to using the half a bag (7lb bag) that we mixed even with the bathroom touch ups that we did - next time we'll know!

After about half an hour Rob sponged down the area to diminish any residue where there shouldn't be any. Once the wall was done it was all about the hood and therefore, I was tagged out of the renovation game - Rob and my Dad rewired, reinstalled and (thankfully) didn't even get electrocuted! ha!

The final step was to caulk around the new hood so that people - taller than myself - couldn't see the seam between the hood and the surrounding cabinet. 

In the end the tiling project ended up costing only about $30 and the only took about an hour (including waiting time)! I wouldn't call myself a pro or anything but it made me feel more comfortable for any future tiling endeavors! The guys might say that they will leave the electricity to the professionals from now on, but I think they did a great job! 

VOILA! 

Many thanks to Dad Brand for helping us with all our little projects!

p.s. the four dark dots on the tile in the "before" picture above were large sinkers and needed to be removed, leaving four large holes in the tile. I just added some caulk - as you can see in the after picture - and I am just waiting for it to completely set before removing the access! No more gaping holes in the nice tile! yay!

until next time, Lindsey

house flow and rugs

It's very fun to look around the house and start to see a cohesive flow from room to room. Each room has a piece of it's own that makes a pop but all in all the rooms work together (thank goodness!). We are beginning to feel settled here and most of our rooms are completely livable!

We haven't painted and the white walls are starting to bother me, but we have talked about it and we want to be very sure what color we want before we take the time to paint properly. Since it's such a task to really do a great job, we will probably wait for another month to paint the main areas. Bedrooms/sparerooms/basement might come earlier.

I just wanted to show you some of my favorite views in the house - from room to room so you can start to feel the flow like we do!

Photo 1: The first is from the living room to the dining room. The full view (more than just the floors) is much nicer but we aren't done decorating and I don't want to give anything away before we are finished. I love the way the two rugs look with the hardwood floors. Please don't mind the pukey green chair cushions, those are on our list.
Photo 2: The second photo is from the hallway entrance to the living room looking down the hall into the spare room. The hallway is shaping up with a couple of photos and art pieces and the spare room (sneak peak) is almost done! We will have a post about that room after all the spare boxes, etc. are moved out.


I also wanted to show you the rugs I have found for the house. I was never a big fan of area rugs but as soon as you buy a house with all wood floors you become a #1 fan almost immediately!! So far I have only paid full price for one of the rugs that we have in our home - honestly, a good price makes a lovely rug even lovelier still!

Row 1: Left - Dining Room Rug, Home Goods
             Right - Hallway Rug, Target
Row 2: Left - Kitchen Rug, Home Goods/Marshalls
             Right - Living Room Rug, Target (50% off!)
Row 3: Spare Room Rug - hand-me-down (FREE!)



For now, that's all we have to share but there is plenty more to come!

until then, Lindsey