house tour: part five

i realized the other day, that

i hadn't done a house tour in a long time.

the last time i did a video was february.

dang!  

where'd the time go?

since my house was picked up and 

brette was in school, i figured now 

was as good of time as any. 

but as always, i recommend watching my first house tour 

so you get a good picture of how far we've come. 

(2 months after purchase)

this tour is in two parts because i 

had to lug my kid upstairs so i stopped recording.

the biggest thing you'll notice should be 

the new decorations or furnishings

new couch downstairs,

no more baby crap out,

new curtains,

the family room walls are done.

new bed in B's room.

curtains in our room.

we didn't really have a big project completed this year

besides the family room because we focused on the outside.

(it's still not done, but i'm waiting on warmer weather.)

i'm just happy there's no more wood rot and i 

don't have to look at that heinous color every time i pull up.

i'm really really really hoping

we can knock out the entry and 

back bathroom in the next month.

i would give anything to finish the inside.

i made ronnie promise to work on 

the walls in the next couple months 

while its too cold to be outside.

i really really really hope he does it.

of course one day, i'd still like to redo

every single bathroom in the house.

the girl's needs a new tile floor,

our needs a total revamp and the 

downstairs one needs a new floor and counter.

one day.

ps- if you go back to look at the video from last

february you will be shocked with reid's growth.

i just love it. 

pss- the pillow that sits in the hallway is to block the

dogs from jumping through the railing to get upstairs and

pee on our carpet. the dogs are banned from the upstairs until bedtime.

home tour

i thought before i show off my "not quite finished, but still proud of the progress" basement - i could start with a house tour.  ronzo and i bought our house three years ago last spring.  i'm pretty sure we'll be done with all the improvements by our four year anniversary.  we're getting down to the nitty-gritty.

before diving in, i suggest taking a look at the house when we bought it.

not a beauty, but it had definite potential.

ronnie didn't see it.

but i loved it and he took my word for it.

so after a LOT of:

diy - learn as you go - leave it up to ronnie to fix it

we are here...

(the front outside - ranch style home built in 1979)

(the kitchen)

(we actually put in new counter tops, hardware,

and painted all the cabinets white)

(this is standing in front of the fridge looking down the hall.)

(and the double door in the picture above opens up into a laundry room)

(turn back around into the kitchen - the door on the right leads to the dining room)

(dining room.  new paint, new fixture, new wood floors)

(the living room.  everything was painted, including staining those beams.

and at first, the color was yellow from the bottom color of the dining room, but i didn't like it, so we repainted with green)

(this is the point of view of the living room if standing in the dining room)

(looking back into the dining room and kitchen. pay no attention to the halloween decorations or the dog toy in the middle of the floor.)

(in the living room looking toward the entry way)

(the entry way - to the right is the front door and to the left is the hallway leading to all the bedrooms and bathrooms.)

(here's a better look down the hallway.)

(the first door you see above on the right is a linen closet, the second leads to this: the office)

 (and across from the office is our guest bathroom - we tiled everything, added new counter tops and new fixtures)

 (down the hall to the left is the master bedroom and bath - this is an old picture because...)

(we now have a king size bed and new headboard)

ps- this room is in need of some decoration.  it's the last project on my list.

(this shows where the master bath is - don't mind the unmade bed)

(or the dog curled up ready for bed.)



(now our old headboard is in the guest bedroom which is across the hall from the master bedroom)

(our deck - the door outside is in the living room.)

(and here's the last shot - - the back of the house)

so there you have it.  next stop? a tour of the basement. 

sorry for all the crazy pictures - day, night, halloween, spring, but you get the point, yes?

house tour: part four

i'm going to go ahead and apologize.

i feel like my mind is all over the place in this video.

1. i refer to valentine's day as halloween.

2. brette is running around like a crazy girl in the background.

and 3. i don't really talk about the things we've done,

b u t

i'm not reshooting it, so this is as good as it gets right now.

please also excuse the flushing toilet you'll hear.

brette used the bathroom mid-shot. oh geez.

 

i am excited that we actually have complete rooms

done this time around.

the living room, dining room

and kitchen are all done.

that feels good.

we're currently working on the family room and

after that will be the entry way and back bathroom.

i tried to be sneaky and get a quote for a guy to

come in and do the skim-coating on the entry and

bathroom just to get it done fast but

once i laid out the price and the plan to ronnie, he

shut it down.

whatever.  just trying to help.

 

so anyway.

once again, here's our little house tour after

another five months.

 

 

 i get so excited to see the progress.

it's also trippy to go back and see how

much brette has grown and have reid be a part of it.

i hope these girls love growing up in this house.

they better, as much work as its been.

until next time... july.

 

original purchase

two months after

five months later

ten months later

 

 

house tour - part three

here we are,

another five months down the road

and definitely not finished like i thought we would be.

i should never use the word "finished."

this house might never be completely done,

but i at least thought we'd have all our walls done by now.

instead, we actually don't have any walls done.

w t f

 

there has been progress made though.

trim done in kitchen, living room, dining room.

wood planks up in dining room and living room.

decorating done upstairs.

not to mention, we became a family of four.

trying to do all this work with two young kids in

the house is no small feat.

and when i take a look at our first video,
(already two months into renovations)

i'm thankful we've come as far as we have.

 

if you'd like to go down memory lane with our house
read this.  and see original photos here.
 

here we are today.



i just need patience.

well, patience and a hired hand.

and in a few weeks,

we will have officially owned this home for a year,

even though we've only been moved in since february

because of all the construction.

 

things will probably be looking much better by next fall and

i'm excited for all our upcoming/ongoing projects.

 

1. wood plank family room

2. skim coat entry way/ back bathroom walls

3. fix/paint trim in entry way/family room/back bathroom

4. paint all the downstairs walls

5. hang pendant lights over kitchen island

6. build shelving unit for living room

7. white wash brick on downstairs fireplace

8. new countertops in master bath and sewing desk

9. tile all bathroom floors

10. crown molding in master bedroom

11. hang ceiling fan in master bedroom.

12. build bench/cubbies/coat rack by back door

and maybe one day

13. reconfigure and replace master bathroom

 

and that's just the inside.

we also need to

 

1. replace rotten siding

2. repaint house and shed

3. add addition parking

4. cut down trees

5. rip out shrubs/weeds/flower beds

6. level the ground and plant grass

7. add landscaping

and maybe one day

8. build a shop

 

whew.

we have a long ways to go.

and we probably need a winning lottery ticket,

but i have great things in store for this house

and i love getting to see it come to life.

 

 

 

one thing leads to another

my basement is now cleaned out. 

everything put in place.

(except some wall art that i'm still not quite sure what to do with)

so now that i feel much better about my basement's organization - - i feel much worse about it's style.

and it's looking a lot better than it did here, but it still has no design.  no color pallet. no warm fuzzies.

i basically hate everything about it.

we never painted the trim white like we did the rest of the house.

the walls are not repaired or painted.

the mauve carpet (which i feel is the worst thing) is straight from 1993 - - i'm guessing.

and i hate mauve.

so now i have a project list a mile long. 

paint, paint, new doors, paint, build a bar, paint, new carpet.

i think i might start with the wall color and move to white trim.  hopefully somewhere in there i can persuade ronnie that new carpet is a must and it should be done as soon as possible.  so far, he is hating the idea. but i'll keep on him.

in my design plan i am thinking gray walls and white trim with a shabby chic feel. 

on YHL they visited a young couple in DC for a house tour.

basically their whole house was painted gray with white trim.  i love the fresh light feel, while staying so neutral without going to cream/khaki/beige.  this is my goal.  this is their house:

of course all my current furniture from upstairs will move down. 

in my dream world this would be my basement couch. (via restoration hardware)

but this is what will really be there.

i have so many ideas on how to bring in the cottage (shabby chic) look:

idea 1: hang old window frames as art.

idea 2: use old doors as a headboard.

idea 3: use old shutters for the bar

idea 3: use mason jars as candle holders

are you seeing a pattern?  basically, take old things and put them everywhere. then add a feminine touch. 

yes, i came up with that myself.

we have no plans (so far) this weekend except for a double date to a hockey game - - i'm hoping to start painting. cross your fingers and say a prayer.

         

busy bees

we had a busy weekend.

it started friday night after work.

i met up with my best friends to go out to dinner for kass's birthday.

we caught up on our lives and literally,

laughed until tears were rolling down.

everything was funny. especially this.

then saturday brian and jaime offered to

take brette to a bug exhibit at union station.

it was so helpful to get several uninterrupted hours

working on the house and B got to spend the day with her cousins.

i'm sure she loved that way more than watching us remove wallpaper.

 she was dropped off in time to head to dinner with

ronnie's side of the family.

we hadn't seen them in awhile so i made sure

to ask them to dinner just so we can see our family 

in the mists of our huge house renovation.

they hadn't seen our house yet, so after dinner we gave them the grand tour.

the house is a mess, so i'm excited to have them see the finished product

when its said and done.

i'm sure it seems a bit crazy right now.

on sunday we headed back up to the house and 

ronnie finished a project i have been hounding him about.

he took down the cabinets in between the kitchen and the family room.

i wanted this done right after the wall in the kitchen was taken down.

i think after a month of whining about it,

he finally gave in.

what a difference it makes! 

i love it.

and i'm pretty sure ronnie loves it too.

here is a before shot:

 

and after:

  

before:

 and after:

i love how it opens the kitchen up to the family room

and makes it feel like one room.

and now when i stand in the kitchen i can see 

basically the whole downstairs.

just what i wanted.

 

you wanna step outside?

 

my goal has always been to get the inside

 of our house done and then move on to the outside.

but as luck would have it,

we are STILL NOT DONE with the freaking walls,

and since its spring, ronnie would like to

start working on the outside

while the weather is nice.

of course he does. (eye roll)

when we bought the house we both

agreed that we would hire someone to

replace the rotten siding and paint.

we didn't want to mess with all that,

especially after everything we've done

ourselves to the inside.

then ronnie got a wild hair up his ass and informed

me that he and cale are going to be doing the siding.

of course he is. (eye roll)

i'm not happy.

sure, sure, it saves us some money,

but i just want it over with. and fast.

and let's be honest,

nothing ronnie does is fast.

so i made them a deal:

it has to be done by the end of may.

they promised me it would be.

so far, i'm still waiting.

of course i am. (eye roll)

but i did move forward with the painters.

i've been in contact with three different

people to get some estimates and

hopefully as soon as the new siding is up,

the painters will swoop in and complete the look.

i'm excited.

 

but i realized that i've never really shown

the outside of our house.

so here you go... a tour and some pics.

sorry, about the wind.

i didn't realize it was going to be so loud.

 

 

 

 (this is where ronnie and cale are building a gate around the stairs

 to our basement so the girls aren't at risk of falling.)

 

 

to be continued...