Our New House, For Real This Time!

Three months.
One hundred house tours.
Hundreds of dollars in gas money.
SIX OFFERS, and multiple other disappointments.

Let's face it. We were depressed. Life is hard when you have no place to settle in, to really call your own. We are so appreciative of the Browns taking us in and feeding us, but we are ready to be autonomous. So we are pleased to announce that we have found a home close to civilization that we love AND that we can afford. I love it when the inevitable collides.

Primary exterior pictures are below, but be prepared from the HOME REMODELING SERIES II, coming in about three weeks (or whenever we can close), consisting of before and after pictures like last time.

Yay! We have a home :)

I've got my paint samples ready and my list of doom* is in the works...
MUAHAHA-- be prepared, 29th Street!

*a list of doom consist of the nitpicky issues, either functionally or cosmetically that I have contrived based on a) my need for perfection and b) my desire to cure old things, including but not limited to: homes, furniture, artwork, etc. Oh, what a great stage of life we are in!

REMODELING SERIES: THE BATHROOMS

This first photo is of the guest bathroom. We were too poor to replace the tub itself, but I scrubbed it raw! We first completed the tile the same as the kitchen's (since they are connected) and, in the process, purchased a new "throne." That was my idea. Sitting on like a seventy-two year old toilet did not sound like my idea of a good time. Both Nick and I utilized this shower instead of the master shower while it was being fixed up (this lasted for approximately the first 7 months we lived here. Oh, the curse of unfinished projects!) The walls were already textured (THANK HEAVEN!) but we added the bright yellow paint! The finishing touch: tileboard in the shower.

This is the second bathroom we revamped, the master bath. As you can see, the previous owners had wonderful taste AND skill. We tore it up. To say the least. First, we painted the walls Cigar Bar (a lovely orangey red brown), chosen to compliment a gorgeous shower curtain we got as a wedding gift from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We then tiled the bathroom, and put in a new throne, like we did to the first bathroom. Like the guest bath, we used a tileboard to complete the shower area.

Oh ya! I forget! In both bathrooms, we replaced faucets and the tub/shower hardware. This is what took us the LONGEST because we kept running into problems with the plumbing. But my dear husband kept with it, and now we are good to go!
Since we already moved, I don't have photos of our the guest bath, but just know it was bright and yellow! Not a crazy yellow, just a cute yellow.
Here are the photos of our master bath, all finished and ready to go:

nosy little puppy!

This was the last post in my home remodel series. Get ready for a new adventure!

REMODELING SERIES: THE BEDROOM

First, I would just like to ask, WHAT THE HECK?

Who thinks it would be a good idea to use WOLVES in the bedroom wallpaper? Honestly people! GET SOME TASTE!

After seeing the before pictures, it's easy to tell that most of the needs are sheerly cosmetic, but there are a lot of them! I'll give you a list to show what we've done:

1. Painted. We used a light green from Lowe's Valspar collection.

2. New carpet. The blue just wasn't cutting it for me.

3. Painted the trim. Looking back we should have done this before the c arpet was installed, but honestly, we just didn't have the time-- we had to have the carpet in so we could move in!
4. Wainscoting. I have loved the look that gorgeous clean wainscoting provides- instant style!
5. New doors and blinds. Much needed!

After Pictures:

Not the cleanest my house has ever looked, but when you are in the process of moving, what else can you ask for? This room was one of my favorites after its completion-- I got some of the best sleep of my life here!

Only one more post to go one this remodeling series! Watch out for REMODELING SERIES II coming... whenever we find a house to live in!

REMODELING SERIES: THE NURSERY

It is funny looking back at this, becuase we had no idea we were going to have a baby. And we decided (probably by the goodness of God) to make this house a two-bedroom by inserting a dividing wall (which I already talking about in my post about the living room).

Now that we have little 4-month-old Rylan, we couldn't be happier that we have a room to put him in! Here's another funny part-- we painted it this bright blue before we even knew we were expecting! And he's a boy! Oh, the irony.

So anyways, since I'm crunched for time before the next remodel we are doing (beginning July 18!) I am going to take the lazy route and utilize a previous post I made about cute babies' rooms.

Here's the link:

Rylan's Room

It was so much fun getting to make the bedding with my mother-in-law, and now seeing it in use by my little man is even better! 

Stay tuned for only two more posts on the remodel in this house, one on our bedroom and the bathrooms! 

Thanks!

REMODELING SERIES: THE LAUNDRY ROOM

EW!

Nasty little room, but it's nothing a couple coats of paint and some new flooring can't fix!

Nick was so gracious to tile the place a neutral tan. Why neutral, you may ask. Wellllllllll, I have an excellent answer!

PURPLE WALLS!

Magnificent, aren't they? Purple has been my favorite color since I can remember (although I am a huge fan of almost any color done right!)

With some shelving....

and some additional decorating...

See my DIY laundry room update from this link!

 
The laundry room is transformed! Thank goodness too, because that dirty mint green just wasn't doing it for me...

REMODELING SERIES: THE DINING ROOM

Soooooo these pictures below show the bland dining room that rested in the center of our home when we moved in; one wall leads to the outside via sliding glass door, while the opposite wall used to be an awkward closet. We are still not sure of the purpose of the location of this closet.

First, we made this closet into the entrance to the room behind it, which is our bedroom. Like I said before, I am not sure why it was a closet in the first place. Then, we tore up that nasty church-basement carpet. Unfortunately, this was the last room finished even though it probably required the least amount of hands-on work.


One day I got motivated and painted the walls a complementary blue and tan pallet, and then it just took one more weekend to refinish the original hardwood flooring. We used a dark stain and I love it!  Though we had to hand-sand everything becuase the wood was so old we were afraid it would fall apart if we used anything more intense, we think it turned out great! See below:

Fuzzy picture, but I hope you can see the difference!

 Nick also wanted me to point out the chandelier-- excellent deal from Menard's!

 

REMODELING SERIES: THE KITCHEN

The kitchen is one of my favorite rooms of our home. Because I am the primary...or only...chef (if I could call myself that!) of the household, I feel like this is one of my domains. When we first looked at this house last March, we appreciated the layout and size of the kitchen, and yet disdained the farmhouse wallpaper and pink countertops. Sometimes I truly wonder what people are thinking!

Before photo:

Of course, we weren't huge fans of the yellowing appliances either, but this remodel is all about making the best out of what you've got!

First, we tore down that RIDICULOUS wallpaper. It took hours. I mean HOURS. Each peel only took off about a square inch and it was one of the most discouraging parts of the entire remodel. I remember thinking, This was supposed to be a one day thing, and it has turned into a four day job! If this is just supposed to be summer project, when in the world are we going to finish?!?!? If only I could have known how accurate that statement was! I textured over that nasty yellowed wall, and then painted it an enthralling blue, and was amazed at the transformation!

       The next step was to rip up the church-basement-esque carpet and Nick replaced it with porcelain tile from Lowe's. We left the cabinets as they were, and thanked our lucky stars that they had been redone by the previous owner and we didn't have to mess with that expense.

Nick doesn't have an opinion about a lot of things, so when he does, I listen-- and he wanted blue in the kitchen! I think he had seen a spectacular kitchen that was painted blue and wanted to replicate it. I actually really like the country blue that we chose as well, but that made choosing a tile that matched both our cabinets and our walls a little difficult-- UNTIL we stumbled upon some smokey gray blue tile that had some copper streaks through it that matched the cabinets perfectly! Yes, we loaded about 1000 pounds of that tile into my sedan and headed from Hutchinson, KS to Clay Center!

You can't see the copper much in this picture, but we liked how the blue paint brought out the blue in the tile as well.

A couple months later, (maybe like September-ish? See how long we dragged this out?) we painted the countertops black and bronze. That sounds gross right? Hahah it kind of does. It turned out beautifully! People always ask us if it's granite. Sometimes I tell them it is :) I had no idea you could paint laminate, but they make a special paint that you can layer according to your liking and get the granite look that you want!

After replacing the dirty white sink with a pristine black granite one and also replacing the faucet, the kitchen renovation was complete!

Th picture doesn't do it justice, I don't think. Maybe you just have to see it to believe it!
Our most recent project, now that we are moving (we procrastinated!!) was this beautiful leak in the ceiling! In the fall we patched the leak when we re-roofed the whole house and now it's just time to take this nasty sheet rock down and replace it!

YUCK

REMODELING SERIES: THE LIVING ROOM

I decided to start with the living room becuase it was one of the first rooms to be finished in the whole house. It actually even became sort of a refuge for me when all the other rooms seemed to be marked with chaos and clutter. The picture below was taken from the entrance to the home. I must admit, when I walked in and saw that arched doorway, I was immediately sold. I loved it! Since this home used to be a duplex, this first room is extremely large, which we thought was awkward.

See where there is that part of wall that hangs down? Basically the most drastic thing that we did to this room was to reinstate that wall, creating another bedroom.

THE DIVIDING WALL

LOOPY (after hours of work!)

 







 You can't tell from this picture, but the carpet was pretty shady, so we replaced it. The color scheme for this living room was a basic tan and deep red. Here is the finished product, standing from the same place as the picture above:

Nick also tiled the entryway in a rectangle shape just to avoid the brand new carpet getting dirty and gross because of constant coming and going. We later added crown molding to the ceiling. On the right is a picture of my bookshelf. I decided I didn't like how tacky it was looking so I made a simple curtain with coordinating fabric and a curtain rod.

Then, of course I had to add a picture of m adorable boy resting on the matching pillow I made. What a sweetie-poo!

REMODELING SERIES

So I am going to be doing a series of posts on how my husband and I remodeled our home. I have been meaning to do this for a long time, but the photos are all scattered around and it's chaotic in my life right now!

I'll take you room by room and show off our BEFORE and AFTER pics as well as reveal some home remodeling shortcuts we learned along the way!

We bought this house last April (2011) for only $26,000! We knew that it would take some time to fix everything that the house needed, but we had NO IDEA that it would take as much work as it has... and still not be entirely finished!

Through the trials of remodeling a house that you already live in (believe me- they are great and many) there were also the trials of me being an unmotivated pregnant person and the time crunch of expecting a baby only months away!

Anyways, I am amazed at the transformation our house has undergone (it's nearly unrecognizable!!!) on such a tight budget (thank you, Menards!) Hopefully you will become inspired! (Or not, it's up to you.)