home about shop locally featured our homes
Showing posts with label home renovations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home renovations. Show all posts

2.18.2014

New Stairs

When we bought our house, I knew I wanted to change the half-drywall railing into a real bannister, but unfortunately that meant having look at this unfinished project for almost a year. The old nasty carpet from the previous owners remained and no bannister. 

Once Philip had time to do this project, we found an old beat up newel post that he was able to make sturdier, but still had old character to it. We got it from an architectural salvage shop in NH for $99. I feel like that's robbery, but we had looked for a long time and that was cheap compared to most. 

I can't really tell you what Philip did. He could if you want to know, but here is our new old newel post and beautiful stair treads and bannister...


Still a lot to do, but check one thing off the list!

1.17.2013

feeling settled.

what does it take for you to feel settled somewhere?

i have moved quite a few times in my life, like most people in their twenties i would guess. college, post-college at least allows for a few moves. at times i feel fairly settled in our new place, but then sometimes i get really irritated that i am using a cardboard box as my night stand.

i am not sure how bloggers like young house love live with a portion of their house feeling not like you want it to feel and just having to wait until you have time to do the next thing.

we are making progress. yes. remind me that.

our living room. rug still not staying. just something old to fill the space for now. still to do: add a mantle, mount tv above mantle. figure out what to do with the fabric on the chair.


ugh. this will change within the next month i think. finish the hardwoods on the stairs. table the discussion on putting in a real railing for now. we also have a nice coat closet, but honestly, i don't like having to hang up coats all the time. we may consider opening it up and doing a bench and cubbies and hooks.


dining room is feeling a little better. still need a buffet or china cabinet, but i think we have settled on a rug. it is thin, but cute. from here









started to feel settled, but certainly not there yet. hopefully i will find some settledness in the progress we have made. craft room pics coming soon!

xo

1.08.2013

house update. first floor.

hello old friend...it has felt like a while since i have blogged. we have been so consumed by out house - it has been exhausting, but i wanted to share what we have done so far. i think we are coming out of the exhausting renovation stage, but not out of the dark yet.

so the background on our house - or townhouse, rather. 3 story townhouse - short sale (which went surprsingly quick!) we started work at the end of november. the house was filthy from not being kept up by renters, but the entire house was gutted in 2004 - so most everything was up to date, just not clean. 

the first thing that had to go was the carpets. but first we painted. or my sweet, hard working husband and some friends painted while i chased around the crazy baby man. 

after painting, we ripped up the carpets, and installed unfinished oak floors. i want to say 3 1/4inch. 
loft room
 here are the floors finished. we worked fast. or let me say again, philip worked fast.
floor stain: minwax  honey
 for the past week we have been living in a mess. while we left for christmas, the floors set. when we arrived back from virginia, we (and fabulous friends) moved everything into their proper rooms. however, we got rid of a lot of things we no longer wanted so there is just some settling, purchasing, decorating that needs to happen.

this weekend we started to make some decisions. finally hung some pictures in the kitchen. my weekly food menu is on the board. hopefully this will help me plan food wise for the week. i made the print.
we will eventually replace these counters. not that i don't love the "i already look like i have stuff spilled on the counter already so you can't tell when you spill something" look
these are the stairs heading up from the living room. so we did not do the floors on the main floor yet because we may alter the floor plan. but i also might want to put a real bannister in. however. i am not really fond of looking at the old dirty carpet.
wall color: benjamin moore :  moonshine
living room pic. the changes we still plan to make are: covering the built-in and installing a real fireplace mantel (hopefully old mantel), and then mount the tv above the fireplace. 

please note that i purchased the couch in the picture on craiglist for $20. please note that it is a restoration hardware couch in great condition. insert happy dance. most of the things in our living room probably are not staying there. we are just sorting it all out. 

below is the kitchen - dining room. do you like our boxspring that we could not get up the staircase? also, that lovely chair is a side of the road find. i am going to reupholster it. i may have to do the same fabric though because that orange is really growing on me.

that's all for now - i'll share more pictures soon! 

2.27.2011

bathroom update.

We finished this bathroom quite awhile ago, but I never had a chance to post the pictures. So here they are...

Mirror from Walmart, Sink and countertop from Lowe's...we are frugal diy-ers...what can i say?...


Target shower curtain, TJ Maxx Rug


I went with an old school tile on the floor. I just like the look of the old tile. 

If you want a refresher on the old bathroom look here


2.20.2011

i'm still here.

My sister asked if my blog had died. No. It hasn't. I just have been busy and haven't been able to carve out anytime to blog/I haven't felt like I have had anything to say. Here are a few pictures to catch you up. 

Big news! The island is almost finished. And I love it! I was nervous about the butcher block and if we were making the right decision. Also nervous because Philip found a deal online. He tends to do this and it usually works out fine, but I was nervous that I wouldn't like it. We are really happy with it & with some paint, caulking & oil for the countertop it will be ready to go in a few days. 

I still need to find some stools though...


In other news, we had a lovely little snow a few weeks ago & it was a gift to me. I missed the big snow in Virginia Beach over Christmas so I enjoyed having a day off school & sleeping in. Fortunately it melted quickly & we've had a few warm days lately....hopefully more to come! 


That's all for now...enjoy your week!

2.06.2011

new tab

I just wanted to draw your attention to the new tab above - {our home to do list} These are projects Philip and I still want to do. Some are listed that we have already done & have the links to them. I like that it gives me an idea of what we have done and what we still have left to do.

If you notice - install butcher block counter top is still not checked off. I am going crazy! Well not really, but it is really annoying to have a kitchen island and not be able to put things on it. We are ordering the countertop this week - yahoo! So I'll have pictures soon.


Enjoy your Sunday! 

12.30.2010

holy dishwasher!

We have been hard at work again. Still a lot to do on the kitchen. 
Philip finished up the wiring today and the dishwasher is running! 


It has been tough living like this...We thought our counter space was limited before...


And now it's running! Yahoo! No leaks yet!


12.16.2010

We are going to blog.

I have decided that with all of Philip's do-it-yourself home stuff + all my do-it-yourself craftiness + the cuteness of Lucy + other things that I can't think of right now, that we should really blog. I know - the crowds go wild! (insert rooaarrrr...) So here we go. Philip is currently nailing in hardwood floors to our kitchen and putting in an island with a dishwasher. Just a refresher, this is what our kitchen most recently has looked like...

Painted cabinets, new hardware, subway tile backsplash + tile countertop, yellow walls....yet that terrible linoleum has continued to haunt us. By tomorrow I should have some updated pictures, woo hoo!