Thursday, December 27, 2012

Hello from Virginia and a house tour

Hello from Virginia! 
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We closed on our new old home about a week and a half ago and have been busy unpacking boxes, settling in, meeting our new neighbors, and of course, celebrating Christmas in the middle of it all.  It’s been busy and fun and overwhelming all at once.  But we are happy and excited about our new life up here.
The home we bought is a mid-century Ranch.  It is in wonderful condition and was very well loved by it’s previous owners, but there are a lot of updates that we plan to do to make it home for us.  I’ll start off by giving you guys a little tour of how it looked when we moved in.
When you first walk in the front door, you are facing straight into the living room area. (If you turn to the right immediately, you are looking into the eat-in kitchen area).  I love all the windows overlooking our backyard and the natural light that floods into this room.
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Same room, different angle.  Standing in the dining room area, facing the living room.  That hallway goes to the bedrooms.
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Continuing around through the dining room, here is the view into the kitchen.  I’m loving that brick wall and the character it adds to the area.  I’m undecided on whether I will paint it white or leave it as is.  Your opinions? 
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The cabinets will definitely be painted white or replaced with new white cabinets. Also, imagine butcher block counter tops, stainless steel appliances, a farmhouse sink, and subway tile backsplash. And new floors!
Kinda like this:
Kitchen. i like!
via here
or this
Butcher block counters
via here
But right now, it looks like this.
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Other side
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Master
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Master Bath
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Boys Room
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Peyton’s room
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Kids Bath
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That sliding door on the bathtub has already come down.
I did not take as many pictures in the walk-out basement.  There is a large living area down there, guest room, full bath, small room, laundry room, and workroom. 
Basement Fireplace (It will be painted white!)
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As soon as we finished closing on the house, we started ripping up the carpet in the main living area, dining room, hallway, and bedrooms to reveal the hardwoods underneath.  We wanted to get it up and out of the house before the movers delivered our stuff a few days later. 
We started in the Master.
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Ta-da!
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Tyson and Peyton helped with the labor.  Going into this project, we really had no idea how much work it would be or how long it would take.  But we got all the carpet ripped up and out of the house in one afternoon.
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The most tedious and time consuming part was then pulling up all the staples and the tack board that goes around the edge. But it was so worth all the hard work. The difference the exposed hardwoods make is dramatic.
Overall, we are extremely pleased with the condition of the hardwoods. There are some areas that aren’t perfect. It could definitely be sanded down and refinished, but there is nothing that bothers us enough to do that right now. With three kids and a dog that scratches the floors with his claws, we decided to just embrace the flaws as character. They’re old and creaky and I love them.
Here are a few pictures of the space afterwards.
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Since then, we’ve done a few other things on our (very lengthy) to-do list. 
On Christmas day, on a whim (as in, I saw a small piece of wallpaper that was beginning to peel up from the wall), I started ripping down the ancient wallpaper in the kitchen. 
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We got it all down, but still have a long way to go in there. 
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As my father-in-law says, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Small steps, one thing at a time, and we will eventually get there. I just have a hard time being patient in the process though. 
I plan to “try” to keep this blog updated with all our home improvement projects.  We’ll see how that goes.
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!  And Happy New Year to you too!

7 comments:

  1. Love your new home! It's so perfect! Can't wait to read as you journey along. ...and I want more details on removing a shower door. We've been going back & forth with to do that in kids bath or not. Keep it all coming! Can't wait to see it a year from now!

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  2. Can't wait to see all the fun ways your going to make this house your home. I love the brick in the kitchen and my two cents is to leave it for now. You can always paint it later! I love the character it brings to the room. Your house looks more settled after a week than I feel in our house right now!

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  3. Ok, so I just got done writing you a HUGE comment and then it locked me out. ANYWAYS, I'm totally with Amy on the brick wall, leave it. At least until your kitchen is done and then you can see if you like the contrast it brings or not. I LOVE the hardwood floors and LOVE that you've put the kids to work. Just one question...what are the child labor laws up there?...I kid, I kid! ANYWAYS, glad you took that shower door down...I was looking at the picture thinking, "now how will that work with bathing 3 kids." LOVE how settled you are and how "homey" it looks already! PS-those lockers are a GREAT touch to the room...LOVE them...and y'all :) Keep the updates coming!

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  4. I totally love y'alls new house! It already looks so great!!! Tim told me about the lockers, but he failed to express how awesome they are! I must get some. Your vision for the kitchen sounds wonderful and I can't wait to see what you do. I LOVE our butcher block countertops. We have had them about 3 years and they still look great and are easy to clean. And the best part was the price....we got them from IKEA. We also did a subway tile backsplash in the kitchen and we have subway tile in our shower. Wish I would've done a darker grout color in the shower, but I still love it. We used white grout in the kitchen and have had no problems with stains or anything. You have done an amazing job during a very trying time. Glad to see everyone so happy!!

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  5. Hey I hope u enjoy your new home

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  6. Love it. I like the idea of a white kitchen, will brighten up the area and make it more cheery. Love the hard wood floors. Know you will be happy here. Be blessed and keeping posting the changes. Love to you all. Momma Lee and Papa Bob

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