Set Back

Okay, so we had our first real set back yesterday. If you can call a day behind and $400 a set back. I DO! We are up against a move-in date here.

Greg primed the ceilings Wednesday and then put a final coat of paint up Friday night. So, Saturday morning we show up bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to clean and put some color on the walls only to look up and see that all the stains had bled through that the primer had "covered". The ceilings looked terrible. It was unbelievable, seeing as how we hadn't skimped on quality of product or coverage. 20 gallons of Kilz primer, 8 gallons of paint, $400 and 12 hours later we think we have it covered.

Frustrated? Yes. But the good news is when you tackle a project like this you go in expecting the unexpected and you leave some wiggle room in your budget for things like this. With an older home you never know what you are getting into, until you are literally in to it! So, all's well that ends well!

Creating a Palette

We committed to our first color selection last night and it's got me thinking about the initial decisions we made when approaching the task of doing all the finish work in our new house. There are so many elements that have to flow together. We wanted to be true to our design style but we also recognized the need to be true to the houses construction and time as well. These first decisions are so important because they set the tone of the entire house. They're things you aren't likely to change either!

Here are a couple things we considered:

Trim Color: Before choosing a trim we looked at our windows. Currently, they are aluminum, but will be replaced with white. Our hardware is dark so we looked at white, dark and the potential trim all together to make a decision. We selected a creamier trim as opposed to a crisp white so they would all mesh.

Hardware: The main choices here were nickel, chrome and oil-rubbed bronze. Flipping through my favorite home magazines to see what hardware was used in the rooms I loved, it was oil-rubbed bronze! Something I learned about oil-rubbed bronze, it's considered a living finish and is actually mildly oily to the touch and will mature with age and use.

Millwork (moldings, casings, baseboards,doors, etc.): Here we really considered the time period in which the home was built and its specific design trends. I guess you might define the final style as shaker-colonial. The house was built in the late 60's so we didn't want to get too traditional, but I still love some softer, curvy lines. The wainscot is a dressed up shaker and the doors are pretty traditional, but soft and pretty too.

Floorings: We thought a lot about what each space is used for as well as how much traffic it gets. Of course cleaning was also taken into consideration. For example, I love travertine, but I wouldn't dare use it in a heavily trafficked area like the foyer because it is too porous and I don't want to have to clean it all the time! We settled on a glossy full-bodied porcelain instead.

Which brings me to some specific decisions we made on this house, after going through all these considerations we chose the following:

Trim Color: Sugar Dust Miller Paint

Hardware: Schlage oil-rubbed bronze, ah... it's timeless! We chose levers in the "Accent" style. They are the same levers we put in our last fixer and I love the look, feel and utility of them.

Millwork: Jeldwin molded interior doors, Continental, more to come on wainscott, mantels, casings, crown, headers and base boards.

Flooring: more to come

The Floor Plan

During our planning process Greg put together this handy little drawing using some nifty engineering computer programs. It's been great as we have considered which walls to move and how we will eventually lay things out. Mapping things out on paper has always been a part of my creative process and I recommend sitting down with a piece a paper before tackling any big home projects! No need for fancy programs, any paper and writing utensil will work. Hope this will satisfy your appetite til we get some real pictures up!

Week One Progress Report

We are at the conclusion of week one of renovation and here's

where we are:

We currently have all the popcorn off the ceilings, bagged and out of the house! WOOT! No more protective masks! Beam in living room has been encased in sheet-rock. Ceilings have been patched, sanded, patched again, sanded again, textured, texture removed in two rooms and textured a final time. That's right, I said twice. Greg is type-A.

All the wallpaper has been eradicated with reasonable simplicity. One great thing about being old, the glue was tired and the sheets of paper practically jumped off the wall with my glare of disdain.

The carpets and padding have been removed with considerable effort. The padding along with being old, was saturated with puppy pee. Scrapping up the dust and clumps it left behind was much like crawling through a litter box! Not something I would do again, but here's to the dismissal of that awful smell! Staples have been removed from the floor boards in the nursery, office, foyer and hall. This leaves the Master, bath and closets.

Most of the fixtures and light coverings have been removed, along with the paneling and some floor boards. Greg has also brightened things up with the addition of some canned lights in the bedrooms.

the weeks highlight:

Greg pulled an all-nighter, lost track of time and didn't tell me he wasn't coming home. One nightmarish 30 minutes later I became an advocate for the construction buddy system!

what's next:

Up this week is PAINT, doors, and more paint! Primer on the ceilings, primer on the floors, paint on the walls, and on my brand new doors!!! Ha, that rhymed!

Welcome

Welcome to the crazy chronicles of our current fixer. Here you will find our latest home project, frustration, and inspiration as we make our new house a home.

Below is my inspiration picture for the front door. I thought the front door was a good place to start. This door is so welcoming and quaint, just the vibe I am going for. Perfect visual balance and color too. And I love the rugged charm of the hardware. Of course, it will be quite some time before we are ready to make this purchase, exterior is out a few phases and I have plenty of shopping days left.

I just got into the house today and took all of the quintessential before images. I haven't decided if I should post them all at once, or as we tackle each new project. Perhaps I will have you vote? Anyway, task one: take pictures. Check! Now it's on to outdated ceiling popcorn removal! Wish us luck.