The Remodel & Lessons Learned

We are homeowners!  Technically, we've been homeowners since the first week in January but you'll see in the pictures I've posted that there was much work to be done before we could move in to the place.  The "before" pictures were taken the day after we closed and the "after" pictures were taken just in the last week or so, now that we're settled in.  Aside from the obvious changes, there are particular things I want to note for our own record.  The day will come when we forget what work we really did.

Dining room (the first view you see when you walk through the front door.) 
Noteworthy changes: banister turned half-wall; reupholstered chairs (The table was left behind. Score!)

 

Mid-front room
Noteworthy changes: beadboard and chair rail

 Living room
(This space actually used to be another bedroom.  Hence the bedroom-style closet in the corner and also the direction that the front door opens.  This is one change that was already made before we bought the house but a good explanation for some of the seemingly-idiotic design quirks.)

View of the front room from the hall
Noteworthy change: the ceiling (The entire main floor had cottage cheese/popcorn texture that had to be stripped and re-textured.)

Bathroom
Noteworthy change: bathtub tile (I painted it!*)


Master bedroom


Master bedroom
Noteworthy change: the picture doesn't show it, but Tyson trimmed the ceiling with beautiful crown molding and reconstructed the closet
(P.s. I made our headboard.  I love, love, LOVE our room!)


Nursery


Nursery
(Everything that's blue will turn pink in September when Ryder reaches 18 months and moves into Teryn's room =0)


Kitchen
Noteworthy changes: The counter tops (Tyson built them!**)
(Also, notice the paper towel hanger suspended under the cabinets to the left in the "before" picture? We didn't know until we tore the kitchen out that the breaker box was hidden there.  Right behind that cabinet and paper towel hanger!  We had to cut the backs out of our new cabinets and construct a suspended shelf to hide it again. Wonderful!)


Kitchen

Stairwell
Noteworthy change: again the banister turned half-wall (The old banister rails had 12-15 inch spaces between them and the whatever-you-want-to-call-it that spans over the stairwell didn't have any sort of wall to keep anything from going over it.  Talk about child hazard.)

 Basement

Basement
Noteworthy change: the ceiling (It's not obvious but Tyson reconstructed the light fixtures and re-textured the ceiling.)

Basement

 Basement
Noteworthy change: enclosing the exposed gas lines that poked out of the ceiling
(I didn't get a "before" picture of this view.)


Teryn's room

Teryn's room (Ryder's side =0)

*sigh* These pictures make me tired!  I can't tell you the roller coaster of emotions Tyson and I experienced during this remodel.  Most days were full of excitement and satisfaction for what we were accomplishing, but man alive!  There were some days when the stress and frustration got the best of us.  I've had several people tell me, "if (a couple) can make it through a remodel, they can make it through anything."  How true that is!  But I will also say, if a couple can make it through a remodel, their love will grow and their admiration will deepen.  Watching Tyson build and reconstruct and beautify this home was, for lack of better words, a major turn on! (Did I just say that??)  There is nothing that boy cannot do.  And I think it's safe to say that he was pleasantly surprised by my capabilities as well.  We are a great team and together, we made this house our home.

You may be asking what was so stressful and frustrating about it all?  Well, let me fill you in on some things I learned from this remodel:

WALLPAPER:  The beadboard in the living room and through the hall and bathroom is actually paintable wallpaper!  You'd never even know- -it looks just like beadboard but costs 1/2 (or less) the price.  Love it!  BUT!  When applying wallpaper to a brand new, raw sheet rocked wall, you MUST prime the wall!  Sounds so obvious but I had been told I didn't need to prime before applying wallpaper.  I learned that's only the case if you're applying wallpaper to already-painted walls. 

GREEN TAPE:  You guys.  Do not- -I repeat- -DO NOT use blue tape!!!  When taping for paint preparation, there are a few different types of tapes you can use.  I didn't know that. The only type I had ever seen was blue tape so that's what I bought.  What a waste of money and time!!!  Tyson and I spent hours taping our trim and ceilings for paint and the blue tape came unstuck almost as fast as we stuck it!!!  Tyson's brother Brandon came to help us paint and when he saw our situation he told us about green tape.  His choice is the green tape at Jones Paint & Glass but we bought what's called Frog Tape at the local hardware store and we were not disappointed.  It is AWESOME! The stripes I painted in the nursery wouldn't have been possible without it.  It's more expensive but it is such a time and sanity saver!!!!

PAINT DRYING:  Let your first paint tone dry at least 24 hours before taping for your second tone.  It's even better if you can wait longer than that- -I'm just an impatient person!  I backtracked and retracked painting more than I should have because I didn't have the patience to let it dry completely.   

TIME UNDERESTIMATION:  If you think something is going to take an hour to complete, multiply that time by 5 and you might be close.  My poor mother.  Over the course of the remodel, she assumed the position of primary caretaker for our boys.  I'd call to give her an idea of what my schedule was and when I could pick up the boys and I was NEVER even close to accomplishing anything as quickly as I anticipated.  She spent many, many hours feeding, changing, and loving our boys while we worked.  We couldn't have done it without her.

CAULK:  When remodeling a home that was built before the 1990s, caulk is your best friend.  Our home was built in 1961- -imagine what an even BETTER friend caulk became to us!  Seriously.  The cracks and spaces and holes and who-knows-what that we were able to hide thanks to caulk?  You would be a.m.a.z.e.d.

SQUARE:  A home built in 1961?  There's nothing square about it.  Had we chosen linoleum and carpet through the whole house, that wouldn't have been such an issue.  But having to cut tile and hard wood planks one-by-one to fit each curve and wave in the walls?  We won't even talk about the cabinets.  And the trim.  And the door jambs.  Killer.  Time consuming, frustrating, and killer.

Those are just a few of the things I made note of as we went along.  Mostly just the age of the house made things difficult.  There was no code back then and whoever built the house seemed to have no sense at all!  Refer to the location of the breaker box for instance.

But alas, we accomplished the job and we are so happy to be in our (basically brand new) home!  We originally planned to flip it and sell it within the first year or so but we love it so much that I think we'll be in it for much longer than that =0)

At least long enough to save up and finish the last two rooms of the house:

Basement bathroom
(a.k.a. the Man Cave bathroom.  This thing is completely up to Tyson.)

 Laundry Room
(This is the "before" picture.  We stripped it down to bare walls and floors so it's bearable now until we can finish it.)

A GIGANTIC THANKS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO PITCHED IN WHENEVER WITH WHATEVER WE NEEDED!  YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!  WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!

OUR MOST SOUL-SATISFYING PROJECTS:

*Bathroom tile:  I etched the original tile surface, applied one coat of primer and two coats of paint, and sealed it with a waterproof gloss-finish concrete sealer.  Total cost:  Approximately $50

**Kitchen/bathroom counter tops:  Tyson cut particle board in the shape of each counter top, trimmed the edges with white ash wood, cemented laminate to the surface, routed the laminate/wood edges, and then stained and sealed the wood.  Total cost: Approximately $200 (compared to Lowes' bid of $1800 for the exact same laminate counter tops!)