Second House Tour

We moved into this house back in 2010 and moved out halfway through 2013 after making a fairly decent amount of changes (a house in our dream neighborhood popped up and we jumped on it like a velociraptor). But we enjoyed this ranch, and a ton happened over the years we spent here (three Christmases, three birthday parties for Clara, writing and shooting our whole book, watching Clara take her first steps and say her first words). So it was certainly bittersweet to leave. Oh and here are a few other links that might assist you get your bearings: a paint color breakdown & a video tour.

***The Front Yard ***

This is the exterior as it looked when we picked up the house, giant house-blocking magnolia and all:

And here is the exterior after we limbed up that house-dwarfing magnolia, painted the front door, transplanted a ton of fence-like bushes that fully obscured the view, did more planting/bush removal, and planted grass in all the bare patches.

*** The Front Porch***

This is what our cozy little porch looked like when we moved in:

Here is what the porch looked like after transplanting all of the house-blocking bushes and painting the front door.

We also boxed out the porch columns so they are the same as the four columns in our carport, and more true to a 60’s ranch home like ours. Here they are before:

And after:

*** The Carport***

When we moved in, the carport looked like this:

Then we brought in a large iron outdoor lantern, built a pergola (cargola?), and picked up in some potted plants for more interest and architecture.

***Formal Living Room Turned Dining Room***

This room was a formal living room with a dining room behind those built-ins when we first saw this house, but we converted the formal living room into an entryway/dining room by adding a large opening on the left wall that leads into the kitchen. And the back room that was once the dining room became our home office thanks to the addition of a big built-in desk.

Here is how it all looked after a few years of upgrading it. As for what we did, we arranged those shelves and painted the back wall of the built-ins. We also brought in a giant 70″ table, some $62 patio chairs (from Target on clearance), and some homemade curtains with a lively bold print. But the biggest change by far is the eight foot opening that we brought in to connect the dining room and kitchen (more on that project here and here).

Here is a before look of that room from the other direction back at the front door:

Here is a similar POV after adding a large buffet that we found on craigslist and some yard sale art that we altered by painting some type on it.

*** The Office ***

Here is the office that we created beyond the formal-living-room-turned-dining-room (this much smaller space was the home’s original dining room):

And here is the office after we brought in a built-in double desk that spans from wall to wall (it only set us back $125 thanks to some $6 thrift store cabinets). We also updated the old chandelier by painting it a rich indigo color and adding a large drum shade, stenciled the walls, painted & reupholstered our thrift store desk chairs, and brought in sentimental art.

One of our go-to views in the house is the view from the dining room, past those built-ins, into the office.

***The Kitchen***

Here is the long eat-in kitchen when we moved in. The eight foot opening to the new dining room was not there yet (but from the quite first day that we saw the house, we knew we hoped to add it).

After nearly a year of planning and saving our pennies, we began the reno. Here is the room after we painted the fireplace, took out a desk and cabinet, and painted the paneling. We also brought in the eight foot opening to the dining room (more on that project here and here).

Then we built a peninsula, got new Corian counters, primed and painted the cabinets, tiled the backsplash with gray penny tile all the way to the ceiling to create an accent wall, redid the lighting, hung a range hood and built a range hood cover, brought in open shelves, hung crown molding, and redid the floors with mocha cork.

It took us about four months, but we chugged along. Here is the reveal post with a ton of budget and source details. Oh yeah and then we got some craigslist swivel stools and brought in a homemade basket pendant light in the fireplace area and repainted the walls (the second time was the charm).

That fireplace in the corner of the room began out looking fairly bleak.

But then we tiled the surround with marble and rebuilt the mantel – for under $200!

This was the view of the kitchen from the office when we moved in:

And here is the view after our reno. It is so much more open without dark cabinetry everywhere.

*** The Main Hallway***

Here is the hallway when we moved in:

Here is the hallway after we hung a ton of frames (see how we did that here and here) on both sides of the wall for a playful wallpapered-with-frames effect.

***The Living Room***

Here is the living room as it looked when we moved in.

This is the living room after we painted the walls, painted the trim, painted the beams, built a console table for behind the sectional (see it all accessorized here), hung some subtle patterned curtains, and brought in a new rug, ottoman, and desk chair. We also got a larger media cabinet and built a leaning chalkboard along with adding some overhead lighting.

***The Sunroom***

Here is the sunroom as it looked right on our snowy moving day back in 2010.

This is the other side of the sunroom as it looked when we moved in:

Here is the sunroom after painting the walls and ceiling, unifying the odd patch of brick on that back wall with more paint, adding some art, and bringing in some functional storage.

*** Our Bedroom***

Here is our bedroom as it looked on moving day:

And here is our bedroom after we got a new bed, switched out the light fixture, hung some free Hands-on art, got a new rug, made a headboard, repainted it for a moodier vibe and upholstered old side tables to make benches for the foot of the bed.

*** The Bedroom Sink Nook***

Here is the sink nook as it looked when we first moved in. It is on the far side of the bedroom (with a shower and a toilet in a room to the right and a walk-in closet to the left). It was certainly a challenge to make a sink that is visible from the bed feel integrated (let alone romantic) but we enjoy a challenge…

Here is the sink nook after we took out the bi-fold doors, demo’d the backsplash around the sink (to make it look more like a piece of furniture and less bathroom-y) and switched out that awkward medicine cabinet to the right of the sink (neck-cramp anyone?) for a mirror that hangs right over the window. We also upgraded the knobs with $2 finds from Hobby Lobby.

*** Our Bathroom***

Here is our bathroom as it looked when we moved in. We immediately hung an extra long shower curtain to add height and lighten things up in this beige-on-beige room, but then we stalled for about 15 months.

Here is the bathroom after we did a bunch of little upgrades (from painting the trim and the walls to replacing the light, toilet, some border tile, and frosting the window).

***The Back Hallway***

Here is the back hallway that leads to all the bedrooms except for our bedroom before we attacked it (although we did hang those photos in the frame hallway):

And here is the back hallway after we brought in board and batten, painted the walls a soft gray color, switched out the light fixture & doorbell, and hung some inexpensive calendar art.

*** The Hall Bathroom***

Here is the hall bath that is back near the other three bedrooms. We enjoyed that it was so similar to the original full bath in our first house (and the tile was luckily in much better shape).

Here is the hall bathroom when we wrapped up (we remembered to white balance the camera this time, hence the brighter pic). First we took out the weird off-centered bar under the window, brought in some window trim for balance, and raised the shower curtain for some extra drama and height. Then we painted the walls, hung art, framed out the mirror, DIYed a window shade, and brought in some accessories (more details on those projects here). Our total budget for this room’s upgrade was simply $168.

***Clara’s Nursery***

Here is Clara’s nursery on the day that we moved in:

And here is Clara’s room after we painted the walls, hung all of her art, and rearranged things a few times:

*** Clara’s Closet***

We also updated Clara’s closet, which was previously concealed by a basic bi-fold door.

Here is Clara’s closet after turning it into a reading nook by removing the bi-folds, hanging a homemade curtain, painting and stamping the walls with metallic paint (and a potato), and bringing in books & pillows to create a little reading nook:

*** The Playroom***

Here is the middle bedroom as it looked when we moved in:

And here is the playroom after we got some lively bedding, made curtains, found a dresser on craigslist, grabbed a rug from an online sale, hung some personal art, and brought in some thrift store bird cages for 3D interest (more on all of that here). We consistently thought painting the ceiling a bright color would have been lively (a soft coral? sky blue?) but simply could not squeeze it in…

*** The Guest Bedroom***

Here is the guest bedroom that was looking fairly generic when we first moved in:

Here is the guest room after we brought in some bold peacock blue paint on the walls along with some curtains, a bed, bedding, colorful accessories, and a DIYed luggage rack side table (more on that here). Oh and we also brought in some crown molding and hung a new mirror over the bed.

*** The Guest Bathroom***

And here is the quirky little yellow guest bathroom that was attached to the guest bedroom. We chose to work with the vintage tile since it was in strong shape and in fact charmed us after living with it for a while, but to lose the dated and dingy look.

Here is the guest room after we upgraded the light fixture, painted the walls and trim, made a window treatment, hung some art, painted the mirror darker, and brought in some lively accessories (you can find more details on all of that here).

*** The Laundry Room***

And here is the little laundry room (it is simply 3.5′ wide!) that we could not wait to perk up when we moved in:

Here is the laundry room after we brought in energy efficient front loaders (scored at one of the deepest discounts we have ever stumbled upon), painted the walls, built some shelving to make the most of that nook to the right of the washer/dryer, DIYed a chandelier out of clothespins (along with a few other updates explained here), and brought in cork floors.

***The Basement***

There is a separate entry basement under the living room which began out fairly messy.

Slowly we brought in some organization thanks to renting a bag-like dumpster to get rid of plenty of junk, painting and framing out the pegboards, hanging some sawdust-proof art, and organizing the insane collection of paint that we amassed.

*** The Side Yard***

One the side of the house, located simply off of the sunroom and the living room, there was a fenced in area that was overrun with weeds and liriope when we moved in:

We chose that building our own 300 square foot paver patio would make much better use of the space. All of the hard work paid off and we enjoyed our little patio for casual weekends and even for Clara’s annual party (you can read about the process of laying the patio here). We later brought in a privacy fence, built a rock box for Clara, planted some hydrangeas, and got some red adirondack chairs.

***The Weird Alley***

Yup, you read that right. There was a weird alley between the original part of the house and the addition that was brought in in the seventies, and this is a shot we took during our first walk-through.

Here is that same space now that we built a deck, got it furnished, and switched out that old broken slider for a brand new french door. We later stained & sealed the deck to finish things off.

Here is the POV from the outside looking in before:

And here is the same view after.

***The Backyard***

Here is our backyard as it looked when we got the house. All wild and weedy and full of swiftly-spreading liriope.

Here is how it looked after we dug out and transplanted a lot of things that were getting in the way of a pleasant green lawn (here is the rundown on that process).

Here is the backyard before from another angle (looking back at the house).

And here it is after we cleared that stuff out and seeded it with some new grass.

So that is the tour. Hope you folks wiped your feet had lively :)

Psst- Wanna know where we got something in our house? Simply click on this button: