Uncategorized Our Current House June 25, 2013

We moved in on April 26, 2013, so these photos are still very much “in process”:

On the exterior we’ve only gotten as far as the front door, removing the shutters and adding wood trim.  

I also painted the door itself and spray-painted the brass hardware.  We found the new light at The Restoration Hardware Outlet, it might be my favorite part.

Eventually we would like to have cement-board siding installed.  That will probably be the very last project we undertake in this house, though.  There is still plenty to be done inside!

The kitchen was one of the first rooms we worked on.  The appliances had been replaced recently, and the cabinets were in good shape, so we managed to do a budget makeover for only $3,500.

I painted the cabinets, we replaced the microwave with a range hood, changed out the cabinet hardware, tiled a new marble backsplash, and had granite countertops installed.

The majority of our budget went to the countertops, our only non-DIY splurge.  Omitting the standard 4″ granite backsplash by tiling the entire wall, as well as doing without an edge profile, saved enough to pay for the new range hood and faucet, though.

In the eat-in area of our kitchen, we replaced the ceiling fan with a pendant light fixture and built a shelving unit out of gas pipes and 1 x 12 for additional storage.

From the kitchen we moved to the dining room.  The golden-rod stripes had to go.  
We also replaced the chandelier with a pendant light and hung curtains to frame the picture window.  
This is the view from the kitchen:
The next big project was our massive built-in’s:

At twenty-seven inches deep they stop being a focal point and become an eyesore.  This is what they looked like for the first few months:

We still have a few pieces of trim to go, but this is the (almost) finished product: 

If you’re extra handy, there we have all sorts of how-to’s in on the projects and tutorials pages.

Let’s make our way upstairs, to Grant’s room.  We were in a blue period: 

It definitely brightened the room up.  The hardwood floors we are working on should make it even more fun for pushing his cars around.

We did a major renovation in the half bath.  I didn’t get any great before shots, so it’s hard to feel the full effect, but look at that wallpaper and use your imagination. 

Removing wallpaper stinks, so Jason and I got creative with paint and molding to cover it with a faux wainscoting effect.

Grant’s bathroom is in desperate need of an overhaul, but it isn’t first on our list of things to do.

I love old-school mosaic tile-which, at first sight, I thought this was.  Upon closer inspection, though, this tile has a strange finish, it’s almost glittery.  We will probably remove it at some point, maybe replace it with a more authentic mosaic. Anyway, I scrubbed the heck out of this bathroom with bleach, and then did a little mini-makeover, if you will.  I also ripped off a pretty sweet “Brush Your Teeth” sign from Land of Nod, via Photoshop.

We replaced the carpet on the stairs with new hardwood treads and risers.

We are in the process of putting hardwood floors in upstairs. The VERY slow process.

In our hallway and entry we had some gorgeous trim and molding.  We weren’t in love with the dual-tone paint, though, so one of our early projects was painting it white.

It brightened things up substantially.

Most people don’t go for flooring this light, I realize, but the dark flooring we installed in our last house scratched very easily.  We have a four year old dog who still has plenty of energy, so light floors are better around here.  We tend to be messy.
In the entry we changed out the light fixture, one of those “boob-lights” (if you have one, you know what I’m talking about) with a chandelier-style flush-mount.  We wanted something formal, but the door opened into the light, so we were limited by how tall it could be.  I found this flush-mount chandelier at Pottery Barn and searched eBay until I found someone selling it for half price.  (people buy things at the Pottery Barn Outlet and sell them on eBay, so if you find something you like at Pottery Barn it’s always worth a shot).  I made the “Hippies” sign on Photoshop, I was enamored with this picture, from Houzz:

At $695, it was out of my price range.  My Photoshop/Costco printing version came out to $30, including the frame.

We’re still working on the master bed and bath:
That’s it for now!  If you notice some pictures on the site of a room that looks like the place they take terrorists for questioning, that’s our basement.  It’s filled with saws and unfinished except for some random wood paneled walls in the middle of the room, and lots of flickering fluorescent lights.  It’s creepy, and I doubt anyone is itching for a peek in there.  Thanks for checking out our blog, I’ll be updating as we go along, so stop back by and maybe we will have put a piece of flooring in upstairs (probably not, though). 

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