Before and After - Kitchen

And you thought the kitchen was done? We finally added our sexy, orange, glass tile back splash and it...is....stunning!

For the last year it's looked like this:


Now this:


As a reminder, this is what it was when we purchased:


And here's the work in progress:






Thanks to Page Construction Service and my husband's exquisite taste.

Still to come - Scott's porch project!

Before and After - Bathroom

The guest bath is now complete thanks to the hard work of my husband and Page Construction Services.

Before:


After:



The photos of the final steps:




(see below for the tear out and the beginning of the restore).

Bathroom is Closer

Scott spent a weekend stripping wall paper....the textured fabric kind. Ick.
But, he did it:


Our disgusting bathtub was reglazed.
Before:


After (the photo has some shadow. It really does look great!):

(The tile was touched up and is drying)

New dry wall was added in some places:


and painted (Thanks Annie!):


And a new sub-floor went down (Thanks Ryan!):


Really putting it back together begins tomorrow! Meanwhile, Scott began a porch project which I'll blog about when I have more photos.

Hello, Old Friend

The snow is gone, spring flowers are popping up (what will they be?), we've ridded our garage of some furniture we no longer wanted and I have a mirror in my bathroom!



Absolutely stunning!!!

Another view (walking in to the room):



I now have a towel rack as well. Apologies for the bad iphone picture but it's easiest. Also, don't judge the 1 towel. I haven't even used this tub since the rack was installed. Maybe today calls for a bubble bath?



And, finally, a toilet paper holder. Living the life of luxury!



There is no way to take an interesting photo of the other things Ryan was able to cross off his list, however, the "bar" area now has a marmoleum floor to match the kitchen/family room area and the transitions from bamboo to marmoleum/marmoleum to marble are complete. He also added some trim above the fireplace.

Still no toilet in the "his" bath. Purchased one but the blue didn't match the original blue sink. Back to square one - trying to figure out how to make the original toilet work.

Still have walls to paint (sigh)and master bedroom furniture to buy as well. The next big round of remodeling will come when we re-do the hall bathroom, add the glass tile back splash in the kitchen, tear out the basement and remodel the walk-in closet.

Possibly today we'll hang the door on the "bar", maybe get serious about what shelves we'll hang in there so a few more boxes can be unpacked and, hopefully, we'll reorganize the garage.

I'll leave you with a photo of the tree which sets right outside our main window in our sun room. It's in the perfect location and is the backdrop for the whole room. It's just started to show it's Spring bloom:

Kitchen Pendant Light

It's been up for a while but I just realized I had not posted a photo. Isn't she pretty?



Scott found it on ebay, in London. It's a Fog and Morup design (Denmark). It had a black cord on it originally. Ryan swapped it out for the white one you see here. It'll be perfect once our orange back splash is up (we're thinking that will happen when the guest bathroom remodel happens, April-ish).

Please also notice - the trim is painted! YAY!

Coming soon (ie: when the purchases arrive) - photos of the vintage furniture Scott has been addicted to finding. If nothing else, at least it'll help us pick some wall colors!

Bathroom & Blinds

Hi friends....

Things have been slow since the new year. There were little things left to do that aren't very photo friendly...but it's another step toward a mostly finished project. Other than that we've been waiting for a few parts for one of the sinks and one of the toilets as well as waiting on some more funds to hit our bank account.

As of today, my husband (the weekend plumber) has the sink in my bathroom working. We now have two fully functioning bathrooms!

Here's the sink toilet combo:


And the dual flush toilet on it's own:


This toilet replaced the 1979 toilet which was added when this bathroom was added on. Our realtor, Joe Shoemaker, told us he saw this sink at Meridian (downtown) so we snatched it up so all 3 sinks in the house would match. All the guts were changed out of it and it now works!

Last weekend Scott's project was to hang the blinds on the kitchen window. It turned out to be a pretty lengthy project but it's lovely to be able to hide my PJs and bed-head from our neighbors in the morning.



And an up close photo:


Still to go:
Everything needs painted and/or touched up
Caulk (everywhere)
Kitchen back splash
Kitchen pendant light
At least one threshold (maybe more than 1)
White bathroom light and mirror
Blue bathroom toilet
Guest bathroom needs renovated (only room we didn't touch)
New storm doors
Window treatment in bathroom, sunroom, living room, entry way and on the doors (probably some sort of stick on film. We aren't sure yet).
Clean carpet glue off sunroom floor
Clean mortar off the fireplace facing
...and I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting

Once we paint, we can finally finish unpacking!

Successful Brunch

We had our first "party" at Sunny Ln. in the annual Hangover Brunch. It was a success (though when will I learn and buy some more plates so I can stop doing dishes during most of the brunch??) and so much more comfortable with so much more rooooom!

At 5pm on 12/31 we loaded up Ryan's truck with tons of the big trash which was still cluttering up the house. He pulled out of the drive way and Scott and I went to work trying to make the house ready. The sun room was still piled high with doors, old carpet, tools, a vanity, and much more. Luckily my best friend Matt arrived with his awesome family. Matt and Scott whipped the sun room in to shape for sure. I'm not exactly sure what Kristin and I did. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off so it's all a blur. There was much sweeping, I do remember that.

There's still much to be done (another pendant light to hang, trim, PAINT!, there's one toilet and one sink in different rooms that do not yet work, window treatments, at least one thresh hold, fireplace, hall bath, door bell) but the house was ready enough to start 2011 with some love. And everyone did LOVE it. Here are few pictures from the day which show it off:

Diane and Matt introduce Elise and Liam in the family room area (off the kitchen):


Mary checks out the buffet brunch options:


The sun room is enjoyed by some of my favorite people:


The Page family finally gets to see where their daddy has been all these evenings:


Casey and her youngins check out the fireplace:


The dinning room gets its first taste of food:


Pemby enjoys the Bloody Mary's in the bar area:


The Wilson's enjoy some play time in the yard:

Happy New Year!

There are 3 guys busy with nail guns, drills and saws running around trying to make this place mostly ready for my annual New Years Day Hangover Brunch. We've been moving furniture in so there will be places to sit. The kitchen is functional. However, the boxes will still be packed. As my husband so lovingly said to me last night: Well, honey, 6 months ago we just wanted to be IN this house.
Perspective.

I spent the morning giving the dog a bath (always needed before we have company) and cleaning windows. If you've been reading from the beginning, you know that's a big job:





I'm only 1/2 way done. My arm needed a break.

There's been quite a bit of progress this week. The bedrooms have trim, the dining room has trim, the garbage disposal is in working order (though the sink is backing up - plumber just pulled in! YAY!), bathroom vanities are up, Scott's medicine cabinet is up, outlets are tested and re-worked to be wired properly, some of our rooms and closets have doors once again and we can almost park a car in the garage since we've moved so much in to the house. Enough words....pictures!

My bathroom vanity (sink coming today, I think):


Scott's medicine cabinet and (now) working sink:


New entry way light is up....let me remind you of the old one first:


And, the new one:


And, finally....my bathtub is bubbling and all lit up. As of today I have a bathroom door as well. I'll be in that puppy ASAP!


We are SO excited to invite people in to our home tomorrow. We may not have paint on the walls and our stuff might be in boxes.....but that just gives everyone something to look forward to next year!

Photo updates

I struggle with posting photos as the items are finished and waiting to post all the photos of the room once complete. Not sure which is best....for tonight, an array of photos from the past few days....

Better photo of my tub. I really cannot WAIT to be in this thing. I have bath bombs ready to GO!:


Up close photo of the tile in my bath. Isn't it pretty?


It's a little bit ridiculous how happy I am with this cabinet. I seriously LOVE putting my dishes away. And look, there's room for food processor and kitchenaid mixer on that bottom shelf. Maybe even a slower cooker too! Oh, yeah!:


The original sink added in to Scott's updated bathroom:


The floating, bamboo vanity, hand made by Scott's pal:


It's quite hard to get a photo of a shower door. It's a sliding door but it slides on that poll at the top, between the two wheels.


It's constantly feeling more like a home and less like a construction zone. I tend to hang out in the kitchen since it's the most "done" area. It makes me feel happy.

Kitchen - Before and after

The kitchen is 95% done. Garbage disposal needs power. Trim needs added/repaired. Back splash needs added. Trim and a wall or 2 need paint. And we need to hang the window dressing. We do, however, have dishes in the cabinets, food in the fridge, fire on the cook top and water running from the sink. So, we might as well show you some before and after pics. Everyone's fav!

The day we bought it:


And now:


How far we've come! Since I haven't posted pics of the cook top close up:


First thing I cooked - sauteed spinach in sesame oil.

A quick trip down memory lane of getting to a working kitchen:














What an awesome Christmas present!