Home sweet home

The furniture is getting set up and making it really feel like home! Still lots of accessories and things to be hung on the wall so I won't be posting most rooms until that is complete, but here is a sneak peak of the bed in our room made up and ready to go.

A quick update

Progress continues at our house. It's hard to believe that we have almost owned it for two months. We've made quite a lot of changes already and actually spent our first night there this past weekend. These photos are from the previous weekend - I'll post more recent photos soon. We have started to decorate these rooms so a few more touches and we can share the finished rooms!

In the downstairs room that we will be using as our bedroom for the first year, we wallpapered with an embossed wallpaper called anaglypta wallpaper. It works well on uneven surfaces which definitely describes these walls. We painted the trim the grey we are using through the house and the walls a saffron yellow. We will be using white accents in the room to highlight the color. 

In the parlor, we added two coats of stain and three coats of polyurethane to the newly sanded hardroom floors. The result is beautiful - smooth on the feet and rich with the character of its age and patina.

In the kitchen, the appliances went back in and the first batch of cabinets are in place. You get a great feel for the space and layout now and it's starting to look like a kitchen! We've even cooked a few meals there already.

New cabinets have also gone up in the bathroom above where the washer and dryer will live. We refinished some of the old floor boards from the kitchen for the shelves with two sets of antique brackets. The bathroom also has a fresh coat of paint, refinished floors, new lights and a fan and the sink cabinet has been painted grey to match.

A snapshot at progress thus far

Love this quote as it really speaks to our goals in buying and renovating our home! It's a long term project that we are very excited about. You can already see the beauty shining through in different parts of the house.

 At time of purchase - kitchen was divided with small pantry room, peninsula, dropped ceiling and floors in rough shape.

Mid demo - Half of ceiling removed, flooring up, pantry removed and opening to Parlor widened.

Thus far - beams exposed, insulation and new dry wall up, walls painted and new wood floor going down.

A family affair!

Sometimes it's hard to believe we have only owned the house for a little over a month as we have accomplished a lot already. We definitely wouldn't be this far without the help of family and friends and this weekend was no exception. Lots of hands working on lots of projects. Thank you Joyce, Rick, Brian, Joe, Donna, George, Wendy, Katie, Galloway and Mo! We had a very busy weekend of work at our house!

Lots of progress was made in the front room which will serve as our bedroom while we work on the second floor. Ceiling and trim painted and overhead light installed. The windows are also being restored. (Thankfully the wallpaper is going soon!)

Lead paint encapsulation in the hallway with friends from work.

Final coat of paint and touch up in the Parlor.

After sanding, the first coat of stain going down on the Parlor floor.

Light fixture being installed in the Parlor.

We have also been busy uncovering brick walkways throughout the property. In the front, we are digging them up to install a new path and be able to reseed the grass. In the side yard, we are uncovering as is.

  

Side garden path: Before and thus far :-)

Progress inside

We are making progress in the kitchen and several other key rooms in the house in preparation for moving in. We had gutted the kitchen down to the studs - the electricians rewired the whole room and it was ready for insulation. My dad added new insulation that will keep the room nice and warm.

Next up was dry wall, mudding and taping by David and my dad. You can see in the first photo the first sheet of drywall up revealing the beams! The old ceiling was dropped below the beams. The new looks adds height to the room and highlights the beams nicely. You can really see the space coming together as a room.

You can see my birthday French doors have been added in this photo!

We painted the walls in the bathroom, added crown molding and sanded the floors. Still to be added is more molding, several coats of stain on the floor, new lighting fixtures and a new sink topper for the vanity.

Chair Chronicles

One of the items in great quantity in the barn was chairs! Many different styles and most with holes in the caning or no seats at all. we sorted out 10 that are similar in style and my mom has started to tackle refinishing them. She cleaned the chair, did some light sanding and then applied a light stain. She redid the seat with Shaker Tape and the result is beautiful! This small rocker will be perfect for Maggie in a few years.

A barn full of treasures!

One of the things that we loved about our house when we first toured was the attached three story barn! When we closed and took our first walkthru, we were happily surprised to see that they had left many of the older pieces of furniture and items in the barn. It has been quite an adventure exploring the inside and imagining what we can do with the items. We look forward to refinishing many of the chairs and tables to use in the house. We have also found great things on Pinterest to repurpose some of the agricultural items we found. Here are just a few of the treasures the barn holds!

Old radio cabinent

Singer Sewing machine with table

Lots of chairs!

More chairs and lots of head and foot boards for beds

Metal and wooden Milk crate

Check out some of our ideas on Pinterest.