Well, here it is. My first post in FOREVER and the first post about our home makeover. Randy and I bought this cute little house…and maybe I should stop saying little because it’s bigger than it appears from the front. Anyway, we closed on the house about 3 weeks ago and the work began that day. But first….I will tell you a little about the house.
I have always wanted a cute “cottage”…I’ve always had an eye for vintage things, or things that are new but have that “old” look (even before it became so popular within the last few years). I’m a dreamer. I’ve always been a reader, which is probably why I’ve always been a dreamer. These kinds of homes are always in books…storybooks when the world must have been just a little bit sweeter. The perfect life exists somewhere in my dreams, and this is just one step closer! Maybe I’m too nostalgic…. But back to the house….lol. We wanted something old that we could fix up, but still be true to its character. This house was for sale by owner and the day we looked at it, we fell in love with it. I could drag this story out, but to make the story a little shorter, we met the owners and they are very kind people. They were hesitant in putting the house on the market as it has been in their family nearly since the home was built around 1928. The day we signed on it, there were tears on their part, and promises from us to take care of it and an open invitation for visits if they’d like. They grew up in this house, and I can only imagine the whirl of emotions they felt that day, handing the keys over. But from the very first day Randy and I sat foot in the house, it just felt like HOME.
Everything in the house has been taken care of. There’s original light fixtures, bathroom fixtures…a beautiful fireplace and gorgeous woodwork in the living and dining rooms that has not been painted over. The walls are solid wood and under the carpet is hardwood floors throughout the house. This is not the kind of house you run across every day.
So, now we embrace the project! Time to remodel! I intend to post pictures here often. Hopefully, I can keep up with it! So far, we (we means mostly Randy, some help from Andre, and a teensy weensy bit of help from me…ha!) have pulled up all the shrubs that were not the greatest from the yard, we have torn out a couple of walls, put a wall where a door was and just began the texturing. Yesterday, my input came in a bit more with picking some paint colors! 🙂
I could go on and on, but I will post some pictures because if you’re reading this, I know you’re tired of my rambling and would rather see the pics!
Here’s the front of the house just after all the shrubs had been dug up. The only picture I got prior to that was on my iphone. I won’t tell you everything we are going to do in the first post, but we do intend to paint the brick. We were hesitant at first, but we’ve looked at several houses that have been painted and they are beautiful. We are thinking a light grayish color.
This is the garage and apartment in the back yard. We have a couple of ideas we are thinking on for what we’ll do with this.
Here’s the sideview down the driveway. I think backing out from the garage may take some getting used to!
This is a look at the back yard from the alley.
Hopefully, I’m going to be getting a little wider angle lens soon. You can’t really see the full room in these next pictures, but you get the idea. This is the breakfast area the way it looked from the beginning. Sorry it’s a little blurry!
Here it is now with the wall between the kitchen and breakfast area knocked out. We are building a utility room in the end of the existing kitchen, so we knocked the wall out to extend the kitchen. We won’t lose any eating space because we are adding a small bar that will be attached to the kitchen cabinets and counter.
Somehow,I didn’t get a picture inside the dining room…just from right outside the door. But here it is…and the next picture is of dining room with the wall knocked out. We will be adding decorative posts here to support the wall. We plan to build a staircase to the attic and it will empty out where this wall has been knocked out.
And that is enough for one post! Hopefully, I’ll have more to post soon. We should be doing some painting tomorrow or next week. Have a great weekend!
~kassie
Audrey says
Exciting!!
Keith and Carla says
How exciting! I love to go through houses and imagine what we could do to them to make them over – can't wait for more pictures as yours progresses. Love the archways and style of the house by the way…
JAMES says
loe this house…esp the dual chimney and arch ways
Michelle says
So exciting!! I really love everything about houses and can't wait to see the progress on your dream cottage:)
Carla Blanchard says
So excited for you! I know it is all going to turn out so well! Best wishes and I still want to come over when it is finished 🙂
Chandra says
Oh. My. Goodness. In love. I'm absolutely in love with your house. Thanks so much for commenting on my blog and leaving your blog's address! I'm having so much fun browsing around!
Chandra
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