Friday, February 12, 2016
Downstairs bathroom
The water damage on the ceiling was evident to everyone but the previous homeowner. When negotiations came about, they "had never noticed" the ceiling peeling away... The lower half of the walls were covered in blue plastic tiles (see photo with Dad) and the lower window was initially covered by fisherman curtains- literally, a man fishing on the curtains..
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Barn Wood for EVERYONE
As I previously mentioned, we were able to snag a truck full of barn wood from friends of the Holsworth's before they burned down their barn this winter. Let the projects begin!
With a little soap and water and a light sanding, these pieces add the perfect character to our house. (Luckily I enjoy the rustic cozy theme of wood) We were able to use a small door from the barn to hang right over our fireplace. And we used the large barn door as our headboard behind our bed.
We considered rotating the barn door horizontally to give the illusion of a bigger room, but we were not up to the challenge of building a base/ drilling the door into our wall (since this is not our permanent master bedroom) so we simply slid the door behind our bed and there it stands.
For my first project, I made these arrows without any true direction ('punny') or ideas of where to put them. And then I thought- THAT TERRIBLE BATHROOM! They did not fit with the stained glass, so I prioritized that the arrows were more suitable in our home than the stained glass.
We considered rotating the barn door horizontally to give the illusion of a bigger room, but we were not up to the challenge of building a base/ drilling the door into our wall (since this is not our permanent master bedroom) so we simply slid the door behind our bed and there it stands.
My grandpa handed down his gardening wagon to us when we moved, and I have attempted to dress it up for each of the seasons, and I will admit that I think that this arrangement is my favorite. My paint pens did not take to the barn wood very well, therefore I simply used chalk to write my "welcome" letters, and viola! Our very own Welcome barn wood sign.
Since I had an adorable barn wood sign for the outside of our house, I needed to add some to the inside! My inspiration, once again, came from Pinterest. I sanded this sign a little more than the others to make the wood appear more brown than gray to match our kitchen, and I used chalk to create a weathered look of worn letters.
main floor bathroom
Where to begin with describing our main floor bathroom. When we first moved in, we immediately went to work to repair the water damage that was causing the ceiling to peel and warp. Up went fresh drywall and a coat of paint to get us through.
Next, a very harsh UP winter came, and froze our pipes countless times! Later, we found a space heater tucked into a crawl space below the bathroom that was used to keep the pipes from freezing. We used this with caution, and after speaking to Home Depot we decided it was best to hang a low-efficiency work light in the crawl space to emit enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing again. We made it through the winter, and this fall we decided to determine the root of our problem with this dreadful bathroom. Lane managed to fit into the crawl space, and I stood outside, and we could see each other- EYE TO EYE- there were gaps in our foundation large enough for us to practically hold hands. (And that is why our house never seemed to hold heat.......) Needless to say, we needed to fix this problem.
Again, our amazing network stepped in, and Lane's dad and brother reset our foundation for our bathroom.
Next, a very harsh UP winter came, and froze our pipes countless times! Later, we found a space heater tucked into a crawl space below the bathroom that was used to keep the pipes from freezing. We used this with caution, and after speaking to Home Depot we decided it was best to hang a low-efficiency work light in the crawl space to emit enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing again. We made it through the winter, and this fall we decided to determine the root of our problem with this dreadful bathroom. Lane managed to fit into the crawl space, and I stood outside, and we could see each other- EYE TO EYE- there were gaps in our foundation large enough for us to practically hold hands. (And that is why our house never seemed to hold heat.......) Needless to say, we needed to fix this problem.
Again, our amazing network stepped in, and Lane's dad and brother reset our foundation for our bathroom.
We are hopeful that this will not only save our heat this winter, but I am especially excited that the chances of critter coming through the basement is not greatly reduced! I'd say that is a success.
On to the aesthetics. Once the new drywall was up, I was lost in terms of a "theme" for this room. We hoped to keep the stained glass from the previous owners, but it was clear that it was not original to the home, and I couldn't find anything to match. I refused to use this room- even when it was an emergency- simply because it was "blah" and it did not fit with the rest of the house.
Friday, October 30, 2015
back hallway
The yellow tones in this house drove me crazy, the color accentuated the 25 years of dirt covering the walls. Ugh. So my mom and I got to work to clean up the filthy back hallway. Because our driveway curves around the back to the garage, this is our main entrance- it was driving me crazy to walk through this disaster each day.
Is it yellow? Is it dirt? My thoughts exactly.
We had a couple of gallons of neutral paint that we mixed together to cover this disaster.
Now I have a CLEAN space to welcome me as I enter our home each day. What a breath of fresh air.
best. upgrade. yet.
We were so very blessed to receive an abundance of wonderful and generous gifts for our wedding. We are so lucky to have the people that we do to support us as we begin this new chapter. My parents truly outdid themselves when they presented us with our brand new gas stove top. WHAT!
When we moved into the house, the kitchen was the one room we hardly had to touch- with updated appliances and endless cabinet space, we loved the kitchen. That is, except for the half-functioning glass cooktop. I LOVE to cook. Baking.. I can live without (even with my beautiful double ovens), but I live for cooking on the stove. This became a frustrating task because my glass stovetop only fit ONE 12 inch frying pan and a tiny saucepan at any given time- and even that was pushing it. Needless to say, the broken front burner also threw a wrench into the mix.
After about six months of putting up with the terrible stove, a water bottle "jumped" from the cabinet above, and cracked the front right corner of the glass. This further limited our ability to cook with any type of weight on our only functioning large burner. (See duct tape) Hmph. With our limited funds, we made do for the last year.. that is until we received our beautiful wedding gift.
My parents came to visit for the weekend to help us with the installation. My dad and Lane ran gas pipe from our furnace to the kitchen so that we could install our new baby. My mom and I supervised from in the living room, cozy by the fire... THANKS GUYS! By Saturday, we were able to cook grilled sandwiches on our beautiful new cook top.
On Sunday, we made a huge breakfast including pancakes on the lodge griddle that fits over two of the burners. Have I said it before? Best. Present. Ever. The transition from glass to gas has been flawless. :)
When we moved into the house, the kitchen was the one room we hardly had to touch- with updated appliances and endless cabinet space, we loved the kitchen. That is, except for the half-functioning glass cooktop. I LOVE to cook. Baking.. I can live without (even with my beautiful double ovens), but I live for cooking on the stove. This became a frustrating task because my glass stovetop only fit ONE 12 inch frying pan and a tiny saucepan at any given time- and even that was pushing it. Needless to say, the broken front burner also threw a wrench into the mix.
After about six months of putting up with the terrible stove, a water bottle "jumped" from the cabinet above, and cracked the front right corner of the glass. This further limited our ability to cook with any type of weight on our only functioning large burner. (See duct tape) Hmph. With our limited funds, we made do for the last year.. that is until we received our beautiful wedding gift.
My parents came to visit for the weekend to help us with the installation. My dad and Lane ran gas pipe from our furnace to the kitchen so that we could install our new baby. My mom and I supervised from in the living room, cozy by the fire... THANKS GUYS! By Saturday, we were able to cook grilled sandwiches on our beautiful new cook top.
On Sunday, we made a huge breakfast including pancakes on the lodge griddle that fits over two of the burners. Have I said it before? Best. Present. Ever. The transition from glass to gas has been flawless. :)
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