Office

Office

This room had a drop ceiling as well when we bought the house. We took down the ceiling the day we closed. Luckily, the previous owners had not cut the woodwork when they installed the ceiling, as they do sometimes. We had a lot of patching that had to be done on the walls. Paul is working on getting a cable line and phone line run into this room. There is no phone line anywhere upstairs. Karen and Jeff painted this room for us. Jeff says it is just the right color for a nursery but trust me, it is an office at this time. We had a mix up about the paint color. I wanted a light color in this room because it gets very little natural light. My mom had bought a can of light yellow paint on clearance so we were going to use it in this room. Karen realized the paint was really bad when she started painting so she went out and bought the same color in a better quality. She felt bad when I told her I had not really picked out the color originally but it looks fine and it serves its purpose. This room is the tool room for the time being.

Bathroom

Bathroom

The bathroom is probably the room that we have done the most work. One of the first things I noticed about the bathroom was the very dinky tub and shower. I love taking baths so this tub was just not going to do. The other problem with the bathroom was the fact that there was a wood frame window in the middle of the shower. Paul and I assumed this would cause problems later with rotting. We ended up taking out the tub and shower. Paul also took out the half wall in the bathroom where the shower plumbing ran. (He loves demolition.) We had to take out parts of the floor and pour new concrete. Paul and his dad also worked very hard to level the bathroom floor for the new tile. We bought a claw foot tub from another rehabber. Paul, Brian, and Steve carried the tub upstairs. Paul and I had to strip as much of the old paint off the outside of the tub and repainted it white. We also sprayed the feet chrome. Paul and his dad added the shower attachment and now the window is not a problem. There had been a textured finish on the upper half of the walls at some point but it was no longer consistent. Paul and I retextured the walls and ceiling, which was a very messy process. My mom, sister, and I painted the walls green and repainted all the woodwork. Mama and I also hung the new towel racks and glass shelf. The bathroom is basically done now except for a few small tasks.

Bedroom

Bedroom

The bedroom was a disaster when we bought the house. The two windows had water damage and needed to be replaced. The previous owner had already bought the windows and left them at the house, uninstalled. There was also a bunch of random stuff for the bathroom in the bedroom, including new plastic pieces for the shower. The radiator in the bedroom had been painted blue and purple. The closets in the bedrooms were added later. The original closet is still in the new closet. The new closet is very large and will work much better than what they had 100 years ago. One of the first things Paul and his dad did together at the house was installing the new windows. They also had to repair some woodwork. Paul spray painted the radiator white. I had to repair a few parts of the walls that had water damage. I also caulked between the walls and the drywall ceiling, that was put in some time before we bought the house. I painted the bedroom blue, which apparently Paul does not like. Of course, he did not tell me this before we bought the paint. In the closet, there is a tiny room (3 x 3) above the old closet. Paul installed drywall and finished that area. We painted the rest of the closet and installed our new closet system. It is so pretty! Paul was trying to refinish the closet doors but they are not turning out so well. At this point, I think we may just use fabric panels for doors right now and maybe buy new closet doors at some point. There is not too much left to do in the bedroom. Mostly touch up paint and refinishing floors.

Kitchen/Butler's Pantry

Kitchen/Butler's Pantry

The kitchen had been updated a bit before we bought the house. There was a fairly new pink tile floor in the kitchen and butler's pantry. There were also a few new cabinets and countertop. We didn't really begin working in this room for a while. We did buy a refrigerator and stove last summer. (Which are now paid off!) I switched the refrigerator doors so they opened the correct way. Paul and I wanted to add more cabinets and countertop to the kitchen but we could not figure out where the previous homeowner bought what was already there. We found similar looking unfinished cabinets at Lowe's. We finished them ourselves in our basement. We also bought new countertop, a new sink, and a new faucet. We added cabinets, countertop, and a dishwasher in the butler's pantry as well. The dishwasher is not really blue. It still has its protective film on it. Paul and his dad installed an above range microwave and a ceiling fan. We put all new hardware on the cabinets. My mom and I painted these rooms yellow (butterfly bush to be exact). Paul and his dad installed new thresholds. Paul also changed the locks and handle on the back door and worked to tighten the seals around the back door. There was a lot of water and air that would come through the gaps on the bottom and sides of the door. Shortly after we moved into the house, we noticed that the grout in the kitchens was cracking. The house is probably very unlevel because it has been settling for 100 years. We don't think the floors were properly leveled when they installed the tile floors. We have therefore sawed out all the cracked grout and regrouted both kitchens. We're not sure how long it will last but that is the best solution for now. We still have a few things to be done in these rooms but nothing too big.

Dining Room

Dining Room

The dining room did not need much work. There were a few parts of the wall that had to be patched. Tessa helped me paint this room. I really wanted a red dining room. I thought red would be a very dramatic color and appropriate for a dining room. Paul was not really into the red idea. He was very kind though and allowed me to paint one wall red. We compromised! The other walls are a sandy color which we will also use in the hallway and downstairs apartment. We also installed the new chandelier in place of the ugly ceiling fan.

Living Room

Living Room

The first thing we did at the house was take down the mirror above the fireplace. I hated that mirror and have a framed mirror that I prefer above the fireplace. We also had to take down the wallpaper behind the mirror that had been there for who knows how many years. Paul patched the wall after we got all the wallpaper off. We also took down the wooden valances above the windows. I chose the paint color to work with the green marble in the fireplace. It is a slightly different green color than the bathroom. Karen pretty much painted this room for us.

2nd Floor

2nd Floor

These are the pictures from the 2nd floor the day we closed. There are six rooms upstairs. This is where we have working the most this past year, almost year and a half. It is hard to remember everything we have done. I'll break it down by room.

These are pictures of the 1st floor apartment, again from the day we closed on the house. Lots has been done since then. The first thing we did was take up the 70's brown shag carpet from the living room, dining room, and bedroom. We also had to pull up the carpet pad and all the staples. Every person who helped with that project was blowing green dust out of their noses for days. We also had to take up the ugly floor tile and backboard from the hallway. There were hundreds of nails in the floor to keep the backboard down. In the 2nd bedroom we took down the drop ceiling that had been added at some point. All of the plumbing in the bathroom has also been redone. Shortly after we bought the house, we discovered there was a "crack in the stack." This is about the time Paul starting putting "holes" in the wall. This is also the time that Paul and I had to redefine the word "holes." I informed Paul that when more than half of the wall is missing, this can no longer be called a "hole." He must warn me by saying he has taken the wall off. We added a shower attachment in the bathroom as well. When we moved into the 1st floor after the wedding, we did not have hot water for about 1 week. We had to shower at other people's houses and do our dishes in the basement. For my first married birthday, I received a hot water heater from my husband. This was quite a different gift than what I was used to receiving. I knew I was an adult now! However, there was nothing in the world that I wanted more than hot water. This is about all the work that has been done on the 1st floor at this point. We have focused our energy much more on the 2nd floor so that we can move upstairs. I will post some after pictures of the 1st floor soon....

First Day

This is a picture of our house the day we closed. Look at that proud homeowner! If only we knew what was to come...

let's try this again

maureen wanted to be included so i revised the address and deleted my previous blog. it is her house too.

it is my hope to post pictures of the work at the house. unfortunately, we didn't take as many 'before' pictures as we would have liked--probably because we were too busy working to take any pictures. we're just over a year of being property owners - we closed at the end of june 2006 and had moved in around september

time permitting, i'll be posting pictures of the house and work for all to see. i just took some of the yard and will go take a some of the 2nd fl later this week.