Down and Dirty House Tour

Here is a little progress update for each of the rooms in our house.  To amuse yourself, see if you can count how many different types of flooring there originally were throughout the house.  Answer below!

Exterior Before:

Exterior Progress:

What we have done:

• Removed the old siding on 2nd floor and put in board and batten
• Painted upper board and batten (Raindance by Benjamin Moore color-matched by Sherwin Williams) and lower siding (Rushing River by Benjamin Moore color-matched by Sherwin Williams)
• Removed chimney on left side of house
• Ripped out and rearrange garden beds (not pictured here)

Things we plan to do:

• Put in gravel for driveway
• Build a low deck all along left side
• Add shutters to front windows
• New gutters
• Steel roof

Porch Before:

Porch Progress:

This is a bit of a spoiler since we haven't gotten to blogging about this built-in Andy just finished!

Things we have done:

• Built-in storage
• Painted all walls and trim white
• Removed coat hooks
• Painted ceiling blue (Flint Smoke by Behr)

Things we plan to do:

• Wallpaper/stencil/paint far wall
• Repair all screens
• Replace light with fan/light
• New door from interior to exterior
• Possibly cover bottom cubbies with fabric

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen Progress:

Things we have done:

• Removed curtains
• Painted ceiling white
• Painted walls (Flint Smoke by Behr)
• Painted cabinets (Spanish Olive by Glidden)
• Painted handles black
• Removed paint from hinges (previous owners had painted all 30 of them faux wood!)
• Replaced light (can't see it here but we got a great one!)
• Replaced fridge (took this from our old house)
• Replaced stove (took this from our old house)

Things we plan to do:

• Paint trim/windows/doors white
• Rip-up linoleum and refinish hardwood (we hope is still under)
• Tear down wall leading to dining room and move stove
• Build a peninsula or island
• New counter tops (thinking wood or concrete...)
• New blackspash (hard to see but the blacksplash now just continues from the counter tops)

Dining Room Before:

Dining Room Progress:

Things we have done:

• Painted ceiling white
• Painted walls blue (Flint Smoke by Behr)
• Took down blinds

Things we plan to do:

• Open up wall from kitchen
• Rip-up linoleum and refinish hardwood (we hope is still under but are not too optimistic here)
• Paint trim/doors/windows white
• New light fixture

Living Room Before:

Living Room Progress:

Things we have done:

• Painted ceiling white
• Painted walls blue (Flint Smoke by Behr)
• Took down curtains
• Replaced ceiling fan (the new one is a flat black)
• Tore up carpeting and refinished hardwood floors

Things we plan to do:

• Widen doorway from kitchen
• Paint trim/doors/windows white

Kids' Playroom Before:

Kids' Playroom Progress:

Things we have done:

• Painted ceiling white
• Painted walls taupe-ish color (Puddle by Behr)
• Took down curtains
• Replaced light

Things we plan to do:

• NEW CARPET!!!! (this is top of our to-do list)
• Paint trim/doors/windows white
• Put in a double sliding door to deck

Master Bedroom Before:

Master Bedroom After:

Things we have done:

• Painted dark wall purple/grey color (Milestone by Behr)
• Painted light walls grey (Manhattan Mist by Behr)

Things we plan to do:

• NEW CARPET!!!! (this is top of our to-do list)
• Possibly repaint Manhattan Mist color... not loving it
• Paint trim/doors/windows white
• Curtains?  Blinds?
• New ceiling fan
• Paint ceiling
• Paint/wallpaper closet doors

1st Floor Bathroom Before:

 1st Floor Bathroom Progress:

Things we have done:

• Painted walls purple/grey color (Milestone by Behr)
• New ceiling light
• New shower curtain
• Removed some of the handicap bars

Things we plan to do:

• Phase 1:  paint vanity, new handles, new hardware, wood frame around mirror, new light above mirror, paint or wallpaper closet doors, new sink (scouring ReStores for a white one), paint trim/doors white, take down rest of handicap bars (possibly wait for this until the kiddos are potty-trained because they surprisingly come in handy!)
• Phase 2:  New floors (maybe ceramic tile?), big walk-in shower with rain shower head, possible new layout

Laundry Room Before:

Laundry Room Progress:

Things we have done:

• Painted walls and ceiling white
• Replaced washer
• Tore out ceiling drywall to replace upstairs bathroom plumbing 
• Moved and painted coat hooks from porch

Things we plan to do:

• Replace dryer
• Move utility sink next to washer
• Build built-in cabinet above laundry
• Build bench, cubbies and coat hooks on opposite wall of washer/dryer
• Paint trim/doors/windows white
• Tear up linoleum and refinish wood floor (**crossing fingers**) underneath

Upstairs Office/Craft Nooks and Hall Before:

Upstairs Office/Craft Nooks and Hall Progress:

Things we have done:

• Painted walls and ceiling white and green (Spring Cactus by Glidden)
• Made the stair wall a half wall
• Tore out closet for office nook
• Widened doorway to craft area
• Tore-up linoleum and painted wood floors

Things we plan to do:

• Paint all trim white
• Finish craft room- quilting table and built-in storage
• New light for craft room and 2 hallway lights

2nd Floor Bathroom Before:

2nd Floor Bathroom Progress:

Things we have done:

• Put our junk in

Things we plan to do:

• Phase 1- Paint (This is the only room we haven't touched and I am stumped picking a color to "go" with the avocado tile and the flow with the rest of the house), new light with switch (a very dangerous pull cord above the sink right now), new medicine cabinet/mirror
• Phase 2- Total tear-out and new layout, new floors, move doorway, double sink, tub with shower

F's Bedroom Before:

F's Bedroom Progress:

Things we have done:

• Painted ceiling (Arctic Ocean by Behr)
• Painted walls (Ancient Pewter by Behr)
• Moved ceiling fan from living room and painted hardware silver and put on new globes
• Tore out carpet and laid square tiles (classroom tiles)
• Painted all off-white trim/doors/windows white

Things we plan to do:

• Build and organizer/shelving system for closet with a possible double door
• Window coverings/blinds

E's Bedroom Before:

This room is affectionately referred to as the "Hobbit" room because of the silly little door.  When we first looked at this house, E immediately took a dive on the old cot still in the room.  She got a good scrubbing in the tub that night...

E's Bedroom Progress:

Things we have done:

• Painted white 
• Painted walls (Phantom Mist by Behr and Memories by Behr on window wall)
• Put in new ceiling fan
• Tore out carpet and laid square tiles (classroom tiles)
• Painted all off-white trim/doors/windows white
• Put up removable, sticker-like flowers
• Replaced window
• Put up curtain

Things we plan to do:

• Tear out paneling and insulate and drywall
• Build bookcases in flat parts of walls
• Build built-in two twin beds on either side of window
• Build built-in wardrobe next to door
• Put in 2 dormer windows in slanted walls

So, that is it!  Looking back, I am sort of surprised we even bought the house though I am really glad we did.  It has already come a long way and I am so excited to see all the potential that is there.  Did you tally up how many different floors the house started with?  If you got 9 you are correct!!  We are down to 8 different floors now and hopefully working toward lowering that number yearly!

Our House Floor Plan

To get a better feel for the layout of our house as we share our remolding and house projects, I created a basic floor plan model.  I will not share how many times I had to remeasure rooms and start over completely because it got embarrassingly ridiculous and I broke my tape measure in the process.  Nonetheless, I am pretty impressed with my final result, though I know Andy will complain that the dimensions are not perfect to his engineer eye.  Kiddos are waking up from nap soon, so I am calling it good enough!

First Floor:

If you have not been in our house, one thing you will notice right away from the layout is it forms a big circle.  The kids love chasing each other around the house.  I don't mind the circle, though Andy and I often find ourselves taking the "long route" to rooms.  The bathroom feels like the center of the circle and when we have guests it is always confusing whether or not to leave doors open so no one gets a surprise visit while in the bathroom.  Also, there are a million doors.  Three to the outside and countless between rooms.  Right we we moved in, we took down the door from the kitchen to the laundry and that has helped some.

Some of our thoughts/dreams for 1st floor floor-plan renovations:

• Demo wall between kitchen and dining nook (some days I find myself creeping toward Andy's shop to find a sledgehammer... the only thing stopping us now is Andy has to deal with the load bearing issue and then we have to deal with new flooring)
• Widen doorway from kitchen to living room
• Add an addition to make the dining area as wide as the living room
• Put a barn door or pocket door from laundry to bathroom for more laundry room lay-out options

2nd Floor:

On the first floor, the master bedroom and kids' playroom are and addition so the upstairs is only above the original part of the house.  The room sizes are pretty good.  The big issue here is E's room is an attic conversion so when you walk from the hallway to her room you step down into it.  We call it the hobbit room because the door going into it is so little.  Our first big demo happened up here- The office nook was originally a large, useless closet (with mildew).  Andy opened it up to create a space for an office desk and computer.  He also widened the doorway to the craft nook and took down the floor to ceiling wall next to the stairs going to Esther's hallway.  It is much lighter and more open up here now and it looks less like attic space.

Some of our thoughts/dreams for 2nd floor floor-plan renovations:

• Tear down E's walls (evicting the mice we hear running around there) and insulate and drywall
• Put in dormer windows in E's room
• Put 3rd bedroom addition over porch area (next to E's room)
• Put master bedroom/bathroom addition over downstairs playroom/bedroom (this is probably a never happen, but it is nice to dream!)

Ice, Ice Baby

One of our small gardening projects this spring was putting in an herb garden.  I cleared out the old garden around the house and moved everything around, creating a nice spot for herbs right next to the side door.

I kept it really simple, just putting in the herbs we use most- chives, parsley, 2 kinds of basil, 2 kinds of thyme, mint and sage.  I also planted some lavender and hyssop in the back to add some color and height.  All the herbs were from one of my favorite Decorah spots- Seed Savers Exchange.  We have been using the herbs frequently in meals and vinaigrette but they have grown tremendously and needed some serious trimming.  Instead of letting a lot of good herbs go to waste, I decided to try herb ice cubes.  Extremely simple and took about an afternoon.  I cut down each plant by half and washed them thoroughly.

Make sure you dry the herbs really well or they will become a mess when you cut them.  I chopped each herb into small pieces.

Once they were chopped, I put 1 tablespoon into each ice cube tray compartment and filled with water.

A quick trip to the freezer and MAGIC!  Frozen 1T amounts of herbs ready to go!

I popped the frozen cubes into labeled baggies and threw these into the freezer for use later.

The best part was I was able to use one of my ice cubes a few days later in a recipe.  I was so nice just taking one cube out of the freezer instead of spending the time washing and cutting herbs.  A very successful way to save herbs!  Now, any suggestions on ways to preserve (freeze, can, dry, etc) my lettuce, cabbage and kale plants?  They are getting out of control and we can only eat so much of salad and kale chips!!!