The List..

As I'm jotting down my list of projects I figured I'd share here as well..especially since it's so much fun to cross them off when we've finished!

This is the first stab at our big list (knowing that each of these has their own list of steps), and I'm sure it will grow as we begin to tackle each of these. There is a handful of small tasks we need to do..like buy a new coffee table..but I don't really consider those "projects" per say. I should probably create a separate shopping list. Save that for another post :)

TO DO LIST

Tear up carpet throughout

Refinish hardwood floors

Tear down wallpaper (and glue) in living room

Paint living room

Tear down wallpaper (and glue) in dining room

Paint dining room

New dining room light fixture

Tear down wallpaper (and glue) in hallway 

Paint hallway

Re-stain and install french doors
Install new vent covers

Main Floor Bathroom

Tear down wallpaper (and glue)

Paint white

Put in new tile floor

Install new light fixtures 

Main Floor Bedroom #1

Tear down wallpaper (and glue) in main floor bedroom

Paint bedroom

New light fixture

Main Floor Bedroom #2

Tear down wallpaper (and glue) in main floor bedroom

Paint bedroom

New light fixture

Upstairs/Master Suite

Insulate attic/upstairs

Install new lighting

New sheetrock throughout

Mitigate any asbestos (hopefully not an issue) (None!)

Add master bath to upstairs

• Add plumbing upstairs
• Build additional walls
• Waterproof/cement board
• Tile floor and shower 
• Install toilet
• Install sink

Install new windows

Tear out carpet on steps

Sand and repaint steps
Refinish wood floors in closet/hall/bedroom

Kitchen

Install new plumbing 
Move kitchen sink to under window

Install new window (smaller)
Insulation on exterior wall
New sheetrock

Add custom cabinetry to half of kitchen

New countertops throughout

Install dishwasher

New light fixtures
Paint walls

Add backsplash throughout
Refinish wood for shelves/install

Basement

Mitigate small amount of radon

Sheetrock ceiling (and any wall repairs)

Add egress window for bedroom/office

Refinish bathroom (tile, fixture, etc.)

Install floor (carpet?) throughout

Refinish basement steps

Garage

Refinish floor?

Add another stall? 

New garage door?

Living Room Inspiration

As soon as the house paperwork was signed, sealed and delivered, we started selling the furniture in our rental. We hadn't invested in any really nice pieces yet (since we knew we'd eventually buy), which is awesome because, furniture shopping! And also stressful because, furniture shopping!

We have a lot of beautiful brown millwork and hardwood floors and wanted to find furniture that both bit our taste as well as the esthetic of the home's character. The only purchase thus far has been a brown leather sofa from Restoration Hardware (counting down the days until delivery!), so that's taken the lead as far as the design choices and inspiration for the room...

Repairing the wood floors

We tore the carpet out throughout the main floor, knowing there was wood underneath but not knowing what condition it was in. I was thrilled when the majority of it looked fantastic. There were a few burn marks (we think from a space heater) and six holes that had been patched (where floor vents used to be).

We didn't want to leave the patches (they were quite unsightly) so we decided to feather in matching oak floor, reclaimed from another home built during a similar era. I found a batch of it for sale (and at a great price!) at Pete's Hardwood Floors in St. Paul and am thrilled with the results. If you look closely you can tell somewhat where the patches are. I think it suites this little old house (and me) just fine...pays homage to its long and loved life, with a few bumps along the way.

(p.s. apologies in advance for the iPhone photos..at this point we were slaving away till all hours of the night in order to get this finished pre-vacation...the last thing I was thinking about was documentation!)

I was timid to try and do the patching, but after cutting my first piece of floor and fitting one plank in correctly, it was a breeze (mostly). 

Hole #1 - BEFORE

Hole #1 - AFTER

Hole #2 - BEFORE

Hole #2 - AFTER

Hole #3 - BEFORE

Hole #3 - AFTER

Hole #4 - BEFORE

Hole #4 - AFTER

And so on, for a handful of holes all over the main floor. It was a time consuming process, but I don't regret it for one second! I'm so happy we took the time to repair all of the holes with such care and used refurbished old wood to do so.

Now, on to the next steps..sanding and staining..

The official house tour (pre-projects)

Immediately upon closing on our house we started tearing out carpet and making some basic changes, so many of our friends and family didn't get to see the house in it's original state. Honestly I would have loved to keep the wallpaper and carpet for a few weeks, but we were on a bit of a time crunch for moving out of our rental.

All that said, the official pre-project house tour is a must before we get too deep into projects. What you'll quickly notice is that this house has wallpaper...and a lot of it. It's also got great bones and character and charm and that's why we fell in love with it.

We'll start upstairs and work our way down (with the exception of the basement..more to come on that later). This space is huge and will eventually become our master bedroom/bathroom. We'll be tearing out the closet as well as the pine paneling to install insulation. Don't worry, we'll be keeping the pine and reusing, whether it be back on the ceiling up there or in the basement as a feature wall.

The front door leads to a great porch with wrap around windows (which I love). We also found out that the previous homeowner removed french doors that separated the porch from the living room AND that they are in the attic in storage. I could not be more excited.

Off the living room is small hallway that leads to two bedrooms and a bathroom (which can be seen in my last post here). There is also a cute little built in linen cabinet in the hallway - another charming feature I love.

The back two bedrooms are a decent size compared to many houses of the same era that we looked at. Unfortunately the closets are a tad small, which doesn't really matter for us as we'll be using the upstairs as a master bedroom and so it will have a nice big walk in closet :)

Please note how this bedroom has MATCHING WALLPAPER AND CURTAINS. I mean, come on how cool is that! It's also got a matching bedspread, which we asked for in our offer (and they agreed)...so this will officially be our guest room and will stay like this for a while..

Finally, we'll head into the kitchen which is right off the hallway and dining room. We absolutely LOVE the wall of built in cabinets and they're in great condition, so they'll stay..which means we have to do some fancy tricks to make this space functional for us. We plan to move the sink under the window and add some nice, new built ins as well as new floor, countertops and appliances.

There's more to see (like the basement and backyard) but we'll get to those later..as for now, I'll sign off with another favorite feature: cute old doorknobs.

Beginnings of a bathroom update

We've been hard at work for weeks on the new house, slaving away over floors, walls, moving, storage, etc., and we're not even close to being settled. Which is just fine. I don't want to rush into any big decisions that I'll regret.

One decision I know I won't regret is giving my bathroom a bit of a "plain" makeover. The wallpaper wasn't so bad to start, but once we tore that down, the pink we discovered underneath was such an eyesore. And while there are a number of eyesores in our house, this one seemed like the easiest to tackle immediately since I knew the color palate would be so simple (sea foam green and white).

What you don't see in any of these photos is all the work it took to steam off the wallpaper glue from the walls and the ceiling...yes, the ceiling. It was so messy. 

We'll continue to renovate this bathroom with a few more easy ("easy") fixes down the road, but for now, this was just the solution I needed to feel like something (anything!) is near complete. We want to keep the 1920's esthetic throughout the home, so we'll keep the sea foam wall tiles and medicine cabinet, but will add new, crisp white floor tile and modern light fixtures. More on that to come...