The front porch, landscaping

The front porch had to be completed gutted and rebuilt. I changed the design a bit and I'm very pleased with the results. It was torment deciding what material to use for the floor. When I discovered the very arduous and time consuming process to put down true wood tongue and groove, I decided to look for other alternatives. I ended up using Azek tongue and groove and I love it. Most people think it's real wood and it holds up better than the usual composite decking - plus I get the old tongue and groove look.




My friends made fun of my purchase of this shabby bit of picket fence. But they aren't laughing any more - they all love it. The American flag is ceramic and picked up at a yard sale for $3.00



The front door is the only one that has been stripped. It's just the natural heart pine with some tung oil and the color is beautiful!




I also did considerable landscaping out front including these stepping stones that I love. Before, it was mostly dirt.

Refinishing the floors

This was a nightmare to say the least. I don't have time to go into the whole evolution of the floor refinishing, but will give a brief. First was removing the layer of vinyl flooring on top. Of the 4 rooms, 3 had only one layer. The kitchen, as can be seen in the following photo had two layers. The bottom layer was actually a cool old tile, but beyond it's beauty. Second was removing the underlayer of some kind of fiberboard that was profusely nailed into the beautiful heart pine. Hundreds and hundreds of nails had to be removed. What a job that was!



The dark perimeter was the result of years of a linoleum "rug" that was typical of those days and this area.



The work was well worth it. We actually refinised only two rooms this time. The two undone rooms, we simply put on dark mahogany stain that's holding up well and looks beautiful. It was a matter of room - only so much room to put furniture while you refinish.

Eventually I will refinish the office. But, I think I'll leave the bedroom dark. It's the one room that had only one layer of heart pine and it's rougher than the other floors and steps down a bit. It will never match and the mahogany looks very pretty. Of course, I could change my mind later.

Almost Completed Bathroom

The bathroom had to be completey gutted down to the studs. This was the largest renovation job I've every tackled. Considering this was the only bathroom in the house, the 3 weeks it took to redo was challenging to say the least.

I splurged on the bathroom. Kohler tub and toilet. Delta Victorian bronze faucets. I switched the vanity and toilet placement. Originally, there was no window where you see one over the toilet. I used subway style tile over most of the tub except for the two rows of 4x4 at the top. There was orignally a window over the tub, but I replaced it. The big bargain was the vanity top at $119 from Home Depot. It looks like marble and I love the lip around it! The inset nook was a last minute find and I love it - by Racor Nooks, but they said they were discontinuing them! What a shame. The nook has shelves not shown in the photo.

The original ceiling was not sloped, but at only 7 feet high, it felt cramped. To achieve a more spacious feel, I following the roof line to get the sloped ceiling. The lighting is antique and pretty bargain-priced from ebay.

I tormented over the floors, but ended up putting in heart pine. The floors were a little disappointing because I did not realize that new heart pine floors did not have the richness of old ones. If I had it to do over, I would buy salvaged heart pine flooring. They're ok, though. You can't see them in these photos because the painter's paper is still down.

Front of House

BE SURE TO CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE. If you want to see the "before" photos before the "after" pictures, use the archive menu on the left instead of scrolling down.

The main focus of the following posts is what I did on the inside of the house, however I thought an outside photo would give a bit of interest.

The front porch floor and some vertical supports are rotted and it will need to be rebuilt. The huge bush is a camellia and I'm debating whether to remove it and replace with a Japanese red maple. The only problem with that is that I might not live long enough to see it get to a decent size. Maybe I should just do some judicious pruning of the camellia so it doesn't hide the front so much.

The neighbor who has been mowing the yard has unknowingly been mowing down Mondo Grass, which is growing over much of the front yard. I've now told him to let it grow and fill in.

Office After Photos

I had picked a paint color in Florida for the office, but after seeing it on the walls, it was too orange. Fortunately, this second color appealed to me - a match for Benjamin Moore's Honeymoon.

I'm not sure why I decided to go with wood tone blinds in this room. It just felt right and I do like them. They are a nice tie-in to the color of the bookcases, though I'm sure white would have worked well too.

My desk and chair were bargains beyond belief. I found the chair for $16 at a second-hand furniture store and the desk for $65 at Salvation Army. I marveled at the fact that I was able to find a gold chair and a desk with gold leather inserts when I had gold walls.

Besides the gold leather insets in the top, the desk is all solid wood and in fabulous condition with only the tiniest of nicks here and there. I suspect it is cherry, with the interior of the drawers solid oak.

I had already purchased on sale a cottage style cheapo desk at Office Depot - it was cute, but today's cheap construction. When I found this, it was much less expensive and much higher quality so I returned the other. Normally I wouldn't buy a piece of this style, but it was too good to pass up and in the end, I love it.

The day I found the desk, I was making a quick see-if-there-is-anything-new run through the Salvation Army that is about 2 miles from the house. I spotted the desk, but found no price. I immediately made physical contact with it to establish squatter's rights. A man came by who was obviously interested also and politely asked how much. I said, "no price." He offered to go up to the cashier and ask, whereupon a supervisor appeared, opened drawers, doors and did a general survey. $65! To which I immediately said "sold!" The helpful man flashed a smile and clicked his fingers in a "darn, I lost out" motion.

I got the brand new 5x8 gold rag rug on ebay for $40.

My first-ever recliner is by Lane and was found at Habitat for $150. It's in excellent condition and no cracks in the leather. I plan to add a floor lamp next to the leather recliner. The kilm throw pillow I've had for years.

See the little shaded night light? I picked up 5 of them in new condition and various colors at an auction for $12.50. So far I've already used 3.

The elegant looking valances were picked up for about $18 at Walmart!

These are the two bookcases that came with the living room armoire. In the photo, they are not yet pushed against the wall since the painter still had to do some things there. I loved that there are lights in the top. I hope to find a storage piece to put between them.

Hmmm, I wish I would have hung those valances so the window frame showed at the top. It would have meant hanging them below the level of the blinds because of the valance header. Is it worth making new holes that have to be filled? Next question, there are matching cafe curtains. Should I or shouldn't I?

The mantel is still in a state of development. The silk orchid was from a thrift store for $4, the clock (a pitted, old-looking, rusty metal) was $10 at Ross, the candle holders were from my garage and the turned wooden decorations were $3-6 a piece on sale at Hobby Lobby. A mirror I've had for years, but is not being used will go over the mantel, but it will have to wait until my next trip since it wouldn't fit in the van.

Office Before Photos

This room was originally used as a living room. I decided to use it as my office. The house is L shaped and this room is the short leg of the L. It also gets the most light, which I like for working during the day.

This room is the only one that has 3 windows, two facing the street and one facing the side of the property.

Another "stunning" gas stove. This one is totally non-functional. And, of course, the usual vinyl floor.

This is the door from the office to the kitchen. Not seen just beyond the refrigerator to the left is the door to the living room. Directly behind the refrigerator is the kitchen back door. On the wall to the left of this photo is a door to the front porch - one of 3 front entries.

Bedroom After Photos

I know some would have issues with a red bedroom, but I love it and the crisp look against the Benjamin Moore Ivory Tusk trim. It's not true red, of course. The walls are actually Behr's Roasted Pepper. What a yummy name for a paint.

This antique iron bed had been hanging out in my garage for about 10 years. When I sold my 1927 house in the late 90's, I had no place for it in my new home. I almost sold it once and now I'm glad the person did not buy it.

I was thrilled with my paisley bedding find. The 100% cotton quilt and matching pieces all came from Marshalls. I don't remember all the individual prices, but the quilt was $40, the bedskirt $20, the European shams $13 each. What a steal. I took the color of the rooms from the off-red in the quilt. My color-savvy friend Penny actually picked the Roasted Pepper color from the color chips I had.

In this closeup, you can see the sheets that are like a soft gabardine and found at Target. I was so lucky in finding things that just went with each other!

The silk striped down-filled pillows were from Marshalls. I see I need some brushing up on my bed-making skills - the stripes are not going the same way and one of the tags is still attached.

I picked up the ceiling fixture at Habitat for Humanity for about $30. All I had to do was spray paint it. The glass shades are not actually yellow, it's just how it photographed.

Here's a better photo of the chandelier. I thought it felt right for a bedroom with the leaves. The metal piece holding the leaves are rope-like. I'm undecided, but I thought about putting a light green wash on the leaves and a slight gold metallic wash on the rope-like parts holding the leaves.
The dresser was already in the house and "stuff" is just there and not arranged for the moment. Someday I will refinish it, but there's enough other work for now. The tv will go in the white armoire. The lamp is meant for the other side of the bed, but on this trip I only had room in my van for one of the bedside tables that you'll see below. I got the bed reading light on ebay.

The throw rugs are from Linens & Things. I thought they had an appropriate homespun cottage look. Again needing privacy, I added the white wooden blinds, bought from Lowe's.

This table isn't in it's final resting place, but the painter was storing all his cans and work materials in the corner to the right. I originally bought this thinking I would use it as a temporary eating table in the kitchen. It didn't stay there long since I found that wonderful antique table for the kitchen. I must admit that I was feeling cramped on this table anyway. One of the old kitchen chairs found under the house, painted ivory and reupholstered will likely go next to this table.

The white armoire was not something I had planned on buying, but it is made by Stanley Furniture (quality) and was about 1/4 the original price. Though I'm not normally big on very romantic decor, I must admit I fell in love with this piece. It's actually part of their Young America line and sells in perfect condition for around $1,200. The flaw is part of the upper molding is missing - but, it faces the wall and is hidden. Perhaps someday I will get it fixed.

The bedroom mantel in a state of disarray. This is the only fireplace that has the original cast iron insert. It would be nice to be able to restore all of them, but the effort to locate the inserts and then to open up the fireplaces may be more than I want to tackle. My cousin Sara gave me the little mirror. I picked up the vase for $4 at Beall's Outlet.

I bought the vintage Trailways ad on ebay. I plan to put it together in a frame with a photo of my aunt who worked for them for so many years.