Remember these rooms?

Remember this?

August 28

This is the entry, to the house 

...Well, that area now looks like this...

October 10, 2015

The new entry will now be an office area, (or if I lived here) the most perfect room on the planet to drink coffee! Eventually I'll show you the room from the opposite direction. Just beyond that opening is a new bedroom! And to the Left is the kitchen.

Take a look at the progress of the kitchen over the last few weeks...

August 28, 

September 7, 2015

If you can't already tell, here are a few details about that progress: 

I took the entire house down to the studs - added all new windows AND insulation! I've always wondered why I was SO COLD in my old (rental) on Brentwood...this was why! It cost me a little over $500 to get the walls insulated, and it'll be another $400 to have insulation run in the attic. In my opinion, this was the BEST money spent on the house. With insulation, and new windows this little house will be nice and warm this winter! And hopefully the new buyer (or renter) will appreciate these upgrades...

September 28, 2015

October 8, 2015

If someone asked, or was wondering - I wasn't planning on windows or insulation. I'm trying to document not only for myself, but for those interested in budgeting for a remodel. Turns out these old homes (basically anything built before 1950 and most likely before 1970 - in walls)

Thankfully I was able to give all of the old windows to a very nice guy who needed the windows (for parts) as he is restoring a 1920's home!

Next up: the walls will be textured and primed. 

Then on to flooring! And then Paint! (all of my favorite parts)

Demo, Roof, and more Demo

The day we closed, a Monday, we began demo that same afternoon. Brian was eager to 'knock some walls down' - and I was just thankful he wanted to help me with the process period.

We decided to demo ourselves, because 
1. it saves a Ton of money, and 
2. I like knowing we put some work into the house ourselves. 

Here's a look at a few of the same rooms I shared in the previous post.

We spent Monday and Tuesday 4-8 each night, then Wednesday 1 hour working no this demo. To document, it took us 9-10 hours to get the house where we needed it to be, in order to begin plumbing and electric updates.

After we did our part with demo, I hired someone to put on a new roof.

Since I'm very detail oriented, I made it a point to get on the roof myself, to make sure everything was going -as it should -

I've been asked, "are you on budget" - yes, so far. Although, the roof was not part of it, I still had an 'oh crap' line item. Thankfully the roof fit that section. And I'll be happy to have someone rent or buy this house knowing it has a new roof! 

Back to demo: As is the case with almost everything I do - I hired my sheetrock guy, and he decided he would demo the rest of my walls. I told Brian, we should have met him weeks earlier. HE did a phenomenal job with his crew getting the rest of the house down to the studs-- I would like to point out, that Brian and I did not give up here, we just thought the walls were in good enough shape to keep them as they were. Ronnie, did not agree. Which is why I showed up one morning and he'd done this: 

And while I know, these pictures may not mean a lot to you, the house has come a Long way in the last month. We have updated all new plumbing and electric, and my guys put in brand new windows!!! Such a difference having those in! 

This week we will begin insulation (which I was shocked to learn, not a single bit was in the walls before) and brand new sheetrock! 

I can't wait to see how Brentwood looks once the new walls are back up!

We bought another house...

We purchased a new house! And on August 28th it closed. No we did not sell the Rockwood House *not yet at least! 

Meet Brentwood.

This house was owned and occupied by (we think) someone that had lived there over 30 years, so no major updates. It had no A/C, and the plumbing and electrical were very out dated. 

Here are a few 'before' photos I'd like to document before the demo process begins!

Entry

Kitchen

Living Room

Bathroom

Random Space

As you can see, she's a beauty! 

When we first learned about this house, I rushed over to take a look. The moment I walked in the door I felt this odd "I've been here before" feeling come over me - it was Very strange....Almost Creepy. I finally made my way into the hallway between the bathroom and the 2 bedrooms and I turned around to Brian and said, "I lived in this house" - he quickly told me I was crazy. I said, NO - My rent house I was in for 3 years --- on Brentwood -- this is the Same house! He shook his head, and finally realized, it was the same house.

I did some research, turns out there are 4 houses in Cammack that were built by the same builder, with this same floor-plan.

I can't wait to share with you along the way some of my plans and design ideas for this house. Really looking forward to this new adventure - and very thankful we won't be living IN the house while it's remodeled!!!

Downstairs bedroom

I posted at some point that we wanted to create additional space in the basement as part of our remodel. We ended up adding a bedroom, bathroom, and office. Today I am going to focus on the section of the bedroom

Here is the basement before:

March 2014

March 2014

At one point the room looked like this - 

May 2014

If you haven't picked up on it by this point - guess what? Brian and I demoed the (above) framing. Seriously - in September - It wasn't just the bathrooms, plumbing, and electrical the first contractor had messed up, the framing in this room was not up to par... Makes me really worried about the beam in my kitchen and whether or not it was properly installed...

The picture below is a view from what is my office now - the tub in the left corner is now the bathroom, and the window is part of the bedroom.

Demo - Sept 2014

The Last week of December this room was finally finished. However it took me until mid-January to get it fully decorated and looking presentable.

January 2015

A few details:

I found the 'bird feather' bedding at Pottery Barn, I just couldn't live without it, so I made the headboard and curtains for this room to coordinate.

I found the dresser and Brian found the wine barrel nightstand - both at estate auctions.

Originally this room was going to be completely different, but I needed downstairs to 'flow' - so the green accent wall is the same green I used in our stairwell and in the ceiling in Brian's Man Cave. 

Here are a few more views of the room

I don't feel like this room is 'finished' but I really wanted to post something to the blog.

Stay tuned, I'll do my best to post about my office and the media room as those progress. I just feel bad posting pictures when the rooms are not 'complete' - at this point they are 'done' but not furnished or fully decorated...

As always thanks for reading!

Catching up

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I don't know if anyone reads my blog, but I honestly feel like all I have done is complain about the house, so I can't blame anyone for not wanting to read that!

On a happy note, I've been daydreaming about my landscaping, and how soon I can get started.... I am so ready to plant flowers, because that means Spring is around the corner, and who doesn't love spring in the south!?

via

As for the house, Unfortunately - shit something big hit the fan last week. I am not at liberty to discuss it yet, lets just say this - it's that bad. Right - just when you thought I was in the clear! Which means I'm not sure when I'll actually get to landscape - but a girl can dream right!?
I talked with on of our neighbors yesterday, she complemented us on the progress, and while I know we've done a lot, I still feel like landscaping is putting the lipstick and mascara on, you just do it when you've gone to the trouble to put on foundation and blush --

I will however start posting new topics to the blog, yet keep updating my progress of the house decor! I'm almost finished with the basement bedroom and bath, enough I can finally share some progress. We also finished the pool :) I hope to do a post about those updates by the end of the weekend. Stay tuned.

Its about time I branch out on the blog, so here goes:
We are getting Another Dog! The Wardle's are going to be a family of 6 pretty soon - Mattie, Hank, Mr. Kitty, and Jess!

Jess is another lab, we think Hank's Aunt? She shares his bloodlines, we know that for sure--so thankfully no puppies for us :)

We are going to Oxford, MS this Saturday, taking Hank and Mattie. Hopefully the introduction will go well, and we'll be headed home with all 3!

We are also headed to Chicago soon. I've been to Chicago once, but it was August -- highly recommend going in August (or anytime when it's nice and warm.) I'm sure I will enjoy the city again,  just hope we don’t have to during a blizzard! 

Since I left my job last week -
If you follow on Facebook I posted about leaving my job there - it was just time, and necessary! Feel such relief to take a little break. Unfortunately, this means when I get to Chicago I'll have to hold back on the shopping :(
Maybe I should watch Confessions of a Shopaholic before I go, so I remind myself not to go in debt!

On my last trip to Chicago, I went on a boat tour of the city, they called it 'the architectural boat tour' -- seriously the most amazing 'tour' I've been on.... GO on that tour if you ever get the opportunity. 

On this trip, for the first 2 days I'll be on my own, touring, shopping, dinner, etc. I again, am not sure how I'm going to handle the wintry temperatures for 4 days....But at least on Saturday/Sunday Brian will be with me, and he's NOT going to be anywhere (outside) or where it's cold for an extended period of time. We are going to see our friend Kevin, he's in a play at the Lookingglass Theatre - Alice. Kevin and Brian graduated high school together, and he and his wife came to our wedding in May. We are so proud of him - he recently became part of the ensemble. 

If you have any pointers on what to do in Chicago when it's really cold outside, feel free to share :)

Back to my little blip about my job, I hope not to overdo it on Facebook or Instagram, but I will be updating those details on the blog Very Soon!

I know this was a random hodgepodge of updates, but -thanks for reading!

Its (Almost) Done!

Big News! The upstairs is 95% done! Finally
I won't over do it on this post with a lot of words, I will however, share A LOT of pictures! 
At the end, I have a few updates about the downstairs :)

Now that you've seen the Kitchen, Master Bath, and Guest Bath, I am happy to finally show you that our living room and dining room are back in order!

I do need to explain a bit about this (now) living room. The before pictures are a little bit boring. Our (now) living room was originally a "study" and the dining room. We demo'd the wall between the two rooms, (location where you see the sofa below) and made this area our living room. 
I should mention too, that the shelves you see in the background were not original to the study, but the fireplace was part of that room. (by the way, when I said 95% done above, the last 5% is finishing out those fireplaces!)

living room December 2014

And below, opposite side of the room (again, this was the dining room of this house).

Why would someone want to have the living room on the opposite side of THIS view?!?

Now that I've cleared that up - here is what the original home owner had as the living room, which we made our dining room. (does this all make sense)?!

Dining room, December 2014

Below, I've done a side by side, of our original front door, and the updated (Decorated for Christmas) New doors :)

March 2014

Front Door - December 2014

Below you will see one of the two upstairs guest bedrooms. The one pictured below, is the only 'functioning' room right now, considering the other is Mr. Kitty's room (for now) and storage. 
I have to say, every time I walk past this room at night, I stop... Can't help but love this tree/room. Picture does not do justice!

As for the basement

Today the trim was being finished - and a few guys started painting the bedroom, bathroom and office space. They will be painting in those areas until Friday. 

I am told, the floors go in sometime around Tuesday, of next week. With the 'finish outs' we were told, it Could be done as soon as 4 weeks, but at the most 6 weeks. (if all goes according to plan)
I do have to admit, the basement is going SO much faster since nothing is in the way down there.

I will leave you with one last photo - one I really want to brag about - Our House, with Christmas lights - put up by yours truly! 

As always, thanks for reading....

The Guest Bath Too

I touched on it briefly in my last post, and maybe I've said it somewhere else - but yes, we are doing a 2nd re-model, of the Guest Bathroom too!!!

But before I get into explaining the details behind the 2nd re-model of this bathroom, let me show you how this room looked when we purchased the house in March.

March 2014- The Guest Bath

March 2014 - black granite And black toilet!

You guys, this bathroom was CRAZY! 
No your eyes are not deceiving you... You're seeing Black carpet, and Black tile, and Black granite, and a Black toilet! And then, Gold, yes, real gold plated fixtures.... But that light -  I Loved that Light!!!! Unfortunately, Brian wouldn't let me keep it :(

We call it our -we don't know what might have gone down in this room- bathroom.

So the first re-model, even though, it wasn't my perfect bathroom...it was still a decent room.
First go around, we didn't get custom cabinets made, and the floors were a bit uneven - but still, it was a fine room for the time. I had chosen 1 inch hex floor, and a white subway tile for the bath-tub surround, and painted the walls the same color I used in the rest of the house. I just wanted a 'clean' bathroom...(See below)

June 2014

Fortunately or not, we found out around mid-September when the guys were working in the basement and took out some of the old ceiling that This shower had a leak too.

I'd like to think God really took care of us during this second re-model, because had they not removed some old ceiling, we never would have found this issue too.

This meant, Every time we took a shower, water was spraying and dripping in the walls, and below to the basement. When they found the leak (again, not until September), they also told us, the walls had already started to grow a little bit of mold, so not only would we have to take out the shower completely, but we also had to address some mold growing in the walls.
But, wait, we couldn't do anything to this bathroom until our master was finished because this is the only one in the house that worked...and Our master wouldn't be finished until mid-November!


This resulted in a slow down of basement work, to focus all attention on the 2 upstairs bathrooms.

In fact, even after the leak was found Brian and I got this text while we were in NY when the actual walls came down in this bathroom.

"Hey guys, This is the plumbing for your upstairs guest shower. There are so many things wrong with this, that I am lost for words."

And, heck, Brian and I are no plumbers, but we did agree, this didn't look right. The hole you see at the bottom of the picture was where the water was dripping into the walls, and one of the turn valves was where it was spraying. Brian and I never dreamed this one would have the Exact same problems as the master. But this time, it wasn't a shower pan, rather just no waterproofing of the walls, and just poor workmanship on the plumbing job.


So, we got back from NY and this was the status of the room - While I had hoped it would be done by the time we got home, it was enough I could see progress... and I knew I could now use the master bath.

As you will see, I changed the tile altogether, different floors, and went a little darker in the shower.
The reason for the floor change, as I mentioned earlier, they were a bit uneven, but also very stained. Turns out the first contractor didn't use a stain free grout, yes there really is such a thing as stain free. But it wasn't entirely the first contractors fault, this room was originally the main entry point of our attic besides the garage, and everyone who came to work on the house was going to the attic through this bathroom! So while the grout stained, the rest of the floor just looked awful from constant traffic!


So I went with a white tile in a herringbone pattern this time. I assume with a larger tile and less grout lines, should any grouting stains occur they won't be quite as noticeable. AND we removed the entry point to the attic - and now, you have to use the one in the garage :)



As of today (December 1) this is the room:

 

I have to admit, this room may be my new favorite room in the house. I made those curtains on Friday, and then found some wonderful paper at The Social Type to fill in my frames!

We hope, for now this is the extent of the upstairs re-model.  At least until I decide on a fireplace. Seriously of all the re-dos in this house, picking a new fireplace has been the Hardest. If you'd like to weigh in on my choices see my post here - (the Very Bottom of the post)! We were told the downstairs has approximately 6 weeks until completion. Not exactly the best news, but hey, people are out of my bedroom (upstairs) for a while....And I'm planning to post soon about the upstairs, you guys its finally CLEAN!