House Tour - Before and After Photos

Check out our before and after photos from our completed ranch remodel...

KITCHEN:

 The first project was to tear out the ceiling fan and carpeting and put in new, hand-scraped maple hardwood flooring. The addition of a kitchen window gave us the extra light we needed in this dark space. With some new, white subway tile on the walls, gray cabinets and open, upper shelves instead of cabinets, we completely transformed this space. A more detailed post on the kitchen renovation is coming soon. 



BATHROOM:

Basically, we completely gutted this room and started over with a blank slate.


LIVING ROOM: 

We decided to keep the orange fireplace but some paint and new flooring really gives this space a whole new feel.



DINING ROOM:

Removing the dated light fixture, painting the walls and beams and continuing the hand-scraped maple in this area, completely updates this room.

Paint Chip Moving Cards

I saw a photo of paint chip moving cards on Pinterest and decided to try them out myself. The idea came from Hand Make My Day



I wanted to find the simplest method possible to put together these cards and get the announcements out in the mail ASAP. Who has time to deal with assembling something complicated during the moving process?!  Not me! Simple = good. Plus I could get my kids to help...even better!

The paint chip cards we used were not the same brand as the Hand Make My Day cards, so I modified the design to fit into my envelopes. Now for the details. It is extremely simple...

1. Print your moving announcement message onto white card stock (or any other paper you choose).
2. Cut the white card stock with your announcement message to 4.25" x 3.5"
3. My paint chips measured   6.25" x 5" with square edges. So I simply cut off a 0.5" strip (save the strip) from the 5" length to make a 6.25" x 4.5" card. This also made the paint chips fit nicely into my     6.5" x 4.75" white invitation envelopes.
4. Then I glued down the announcment message.
5. Finally, I glued the extra 0.5" strip to the top between our address and "We've Moved."
6. That's it! Now, I just have to stick them in an envelope and mail them out to all of my friends!

These is what my finished version looks like:

Dresser Refinishing Project

My daughter was in dire need of a dresser to store all of her clothes, and getting a new one wasn't in the budget. So I scoured Craigslist to see if I could find something I liked that was a bargain. I happened to find a maple gem that was solidly built and just needed some updating. This is a photo of a similar dresser "before" since I cannot for the life of me find my before photos (ah...the joys of finding things after you've moved - including which phone, camera, etc. the digital file was on!)

The process was pretty simple. I just used my husband's orbital sander to remove some of the shine and give the paint something to stick to. Then I filled the holes from the original drawer pulls with some wood filler and let it dry. Then I gave it one last sanding to smooth out the wood filler.

 Then I applied three coats of white paint and a couple of coats of Minwax poly in a satin finish (sorry - no painting pix).

My husband helped with measuring the center of the drawers and drilling the holes for the new knobs:



The final product - which is going to look FANTASTIC in my daughter's bedroom :)

Bathroom Remodel

We are almost done with the bathroom remodel! Let me show you some before photos...

Now during the renovation process....

 I must say removing the tile surround was a LOT easier than I thought it would be! You might notice that the original tub is white in this photo. I convinced my husband to let me try one of those epoxy bathtub painting kits. The results were less than desirable. Granted, I am not an expert at painting in the first place. So I probably shouldn't have even tried the kit. The second coat dried QUICKLY as I applied it and it showed every single brushstroke. It was AWFUL!!! At least I know not to try that again :)

Bye, bye wooden toilet seat and sticky square linoleum tiles!

Hello new white bathtub...

and Travertine tile floor!

 My husband installing the tile backer board.

AND the glass tile surround!

 One wall done!

 So close to being done!!! My husband and a friend grouted the tile surround last night. So I plan to have a true before and after photo in the very near future. I love progress!

minor delay

We have run into a minor delay...in updating the blog that is!  We have officially moved into our "project house," and we are struggling to find internet service. We are still working on the house, but I don't have a way to upload photos YET!  We should have internet service by the weekend. Hooray!

Progress...well, sort of

We have made lots of progress in the past couple of weeks. At least I call it progress anyway. A more accurate description  from most people may be complete chaos!  We have removed the cabinets from the kitchen as well as the carpeting in the great room and hallway. The carpet pad was glued down and had a bit of an attitude about coming out. At first we tried to scrape it out by hand. We quickly realized that this was going to take FOREVER. So after a trip to the experts at Lowe's, we discovered a nitfy scraper blade that attaches to my husband's Sawzall. Talk about a well spent $12!

Here is my dad and my son scraping away at the carpet pad:

This is my kitchen - or what is left of it anyway! We had to remove the drywall so we could access the plumbing for the bathroom and rewire the kitchen and install a new window in the kitchen (more light = fantastic!)

We also completely gutted the main bathroom. I managed to remove the wall tiles while listening to a lecture on my ipod. Gotta love modern technology :)  I also have to give credit to my mom and dad for helping to remove the mirror/light from the wall. This seemed like an easy talk. However, the wiring was hidden behind the top mirror panel - which happened to be glued down. Call me crazy, but I didn't want to risk breaking the mirror. Even though I am not a superstitious person, I honestly don't need seven years of bad luck! Either way, we managed to get it down. Hooray and thank you Mom and Dad!

Here are a few of the "during" photos of the bathroom (we are working on this room next, so watch for a post with some "after" shots soon!)

Vanity removed and flooring coming out...

Tile coming off the wall. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be!

New bathtub in place :)

Okay, so it's not all chaos and destruction around here. We have managed to make some progress in terms of that dark wood paneling in the great room as well as painting the ceiling in the great room. Not exactly earth shattering but at least we are starting to see it get a bit brighter. For the paneled walls, we removed the trim that covered the wood panels and filled the gaps with filler. We also caulked the gaps between the faux wood beams and the drywall on the ceiling so that when the white paint is applied, you won't see any dark spots or gaps. Oh, and we primed the paneled walls in the great room and hallway. Check it out (sorry about the terrible photo quality - the only thing I had handy was my cell phone and it was dark with all of the windows taped and covered with plastic!)

Progress!

Walls are primed!

Before Pix

Here are a few pix from the day we closed on the house. As you can see, it is a ranch style home and has lots of wood throughout. We are hoping to brighten it up a bit as all of that wood made it a little too dark for my taste.

GREAT ROOM - LIVING ROOM (I think the retro orange fireplace is kind of fun - although I'm not sure it is going to fit with what we have in mind. My husband wants to use this in his man cave at some point. Stay tuned on that one!)

GREAT ROOM - KITCHEN

HALLWAY

 DOWNSTAIRS OFFICE

DOWNSTAIRS FAMILY ROOM