All of the Blood, Sweat & Tears

Literally. Blood, Sweat and Tears. All of that and so much more went into this rather large journey of ours. And it was worth every single second. All of the late nights and early mornings, the long weekends full of work and no play, all the band aids and ibuprofen, the trips to and from & back again to Home Depot and Lowes, the laughs, the arguments the tears. It was all so worth it. The time, patience and talent we gave to this makes every inch of our new home so special. There is a story to tell about the floors and walls, plumbing pipes and vents, lighting fixtures, bath tubs and toilets. You name it we did it. And it all would not have been possible without our family. Thank you to Matt's Grandpa for lending his knowledge and expertise throughout each phase of the remodel. Thank you to our parents for their continuous support and helping hand and a place for us to live during it all. They too all endured the blood, sweat and tears and without their help there is no way Matt and I could have accomplished all of this. To our siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends; thank you for giving your time and knowledge for us as well. I remember after making an offer on this place my 2 brothers and Matt were up on the roof (checking out the condition of course) just being men shooting the shit and they were just saying 'man what a load of work this is'. Everyone, including ourselves, knew this wasn't going to be an easy road and we knew we had to really give it our all through the good and the bad. Some even said you guys are crazy to do this. Crazy we may be but there isn't anyone else I would have picked for this ride. Thanks Matt for believing in me and believing in my vision for this home. Thank you for your countless hours of labor, phone calls, trips to the hardware & painting stores, thank you for it all.

I know that is has been a couple weeks from my last entry but moving is time consuming! Mark my word, I am never moving again (We will see how that turns out haha). So now that we have got moved in and the boxes are starting to get unpacked, for the most part at least, the time for nesting has begun! I still have boxes of home décor, wall art and mirrors sitting on the floor but things like that are going to take so time to figure out where I want everything to go. A tip when trying to figure where to hang stuff on the wall. I lay the piece on the floor against the wall where I think I want it to go. Let is stay there for a few days to see how the sun light hits its or to see how well it can be viewed from different areas of the house. No one likes to have a bunch of holes in your wall and putting & repainting to cover the mistakes is no fun. I just keep telling myself one room at a time. We still have some furniture to buy, curtains & drapery to pick out and lots of little details like that. The number 1 room on our list is the kitchen. This is where you spend majority of your time so it is most important to complete that first. Before I can show you guys the before & afters I need to give a special shout out to my mom, MIL and sista Ericka that helped unpack all of our kitchen goods, hand washed it all (I mean everything!), cleaned out the fridge and all of the cabinets. It would have taken me days if not weeks to do all of that on my own so thank you so much for all of your help! All of my cabinets are filled and organized they way I wanted, our fridge put back in and all appliances fully functioning. Thank you ladies for all of your help!

Kitchen: Before & After

 Before: Kitchen wall that we removed to open up the 2 separate rooms.

 Before: Dining room wall that was removed

 After: Two rooms combined

 

 After: Two rooms combined

 

 Before: That was the door to the basement that we removed and made a half wall.

 

 After: Basement door removed

 

 

 After: New wall of cabinets, stove & microwave

 

 Before: That was the tiny kitchen pantry that we closed off and made the hall bath linen closet twice the size.

 

 After: New wall of cabinets & fridge

Main Entry: Before & After

The main entry is complete, all with the start of our family portrait staircase. Of course more pictures will be hung over the years documenting the many more adventures in our lives. I also decided to hang the chandelier I refinished over the stairs. My initial thought was to use it over the kitchen table but my electrician said once he hangs it I was going to make him take it down. He was right. The scale wasn't right and it wouldn't have put off enough light.

 Before: Front door was enclosed and dark. No natural light coming in. The main entry should make a statement not scare your guest away.

 

 After: New paint, front door, wainscoting

 

 After: New paint, front door, wainscoting

 

 

 Before: Front door chandelier, brass and out dated

 

 After: Refinished light

Hall Bath: Before & After

The Hall Bath is complete besides the closet. I have also been searching high and low for a freestanding piece of furniture, like an old broom closet, to fit in this closet but I am have the hardest time. So on to Plan B: going to have some built ins made here. This way we can maximize the storage to its fullest. The nook is tall and deep and you always need more storage in the bathroom for linens, cleaning supplies, medicine, etc.

 Before: No words really

 

 After: New everything except for our original tub

 

 Before: Over sized vanity for the space

 

 After: New everything

 Before: Sliding glass door for tub

 

 After: Refinished tub & new everything else

Bedroom 1: Before and After
Bedroom 1 is complete and ready for company (wink, wink out of town family and friends). All of this was existing from our old house except for the window treatment hardware. I purchase the cornices at a super discount from a fabric store closing early this summer. Such a huge difference it makes for the windows. They look a bit grander and more polished than the standard metal bars. Decorative moldings or design help with this too. The room still needs some more décor but that stuff will come over time, it just takes finding the right pieces. I do love the color choice in here, very clam and soothing and added bonus it changes shades from different lighting.

 Before: Just needed some TLC

 

 After: Fresh paint and refinished floors

 

So we have got a pretty good head start and have a few more rooms to unload and set up. Keep telling myself.... Room by Room! We know it is going to take years and years and there is always going to be something new to be done and we both are just tickled by it all. Welcome Home to us!!