Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Year In Review

First, I wanted to thank you for all your
encouraging comments and say welcome
to my new followers. 
I treasure you all! Your support
has kept me going over this past year.
Wow, what a year it's been....
In the past year....

December 2010
January 2011
 In January we purchased The Cottage...
We spent the next month taking the interior
from this
to
from this...
and
from this
to
this
and from
this
to
to this!

By mid January we decided
to to put an offer in
on what would become our new home
The Provision.

January - February

Once our offer was accepted we
spent January and February
getting the big house ready for market.

Everything was staged to sell!
The Family Room
The Kitchen
The Dining Room
The Guest Room

By the end of February we had
closed on The Provision.

March

March was spent
raking...
removing carpeting...
and demoing a basement rec room!

April

In April we landscaped the cottage.
Began gutting the Provision.
And filled up the first of many dumpsters to come!

May

 In May demo continued inside the Provision.
Our big house went under contract!
And we hired two contractors to
repair termite damage,
add and subtract walls
and flip the stairs.

June

While we continued demo inside
our contractors installed our new windows.

We also closed on the big house and moved
the family- two adults
two teens and two big dogs
into a two bedroom apartment.

July

July meant the start of trade work.
The house was upgraded from an oil furnace
to gas.  Since all the walls were removed
we also had all new ducts and returns installed.
All the existing plumping was pulled
from the house, so new plumbing
was also added this month.

New wiring was started this month too!

While we outsourced the trade work,
Wayne and I assumed the position
of general contractor for the remodel.
During these months we spent looking
for deals on cabinets, plumbing fixtures,
flooring, doors...etc!

August

The minute we passed inspection...
Our Insulation specialist was
there installing insulation.
Then a team of drywallers came in and drywalled
the whole house in a day and 1/2!
The drywall finisher came next and
spent 3+ weeks finishing it out!

September

Wayne and I started tiling!
Kitchen/ great room floor was installed.
Kitchen was installed. (we outsourced this)
And trim around the doors and windows were installed.

My job was to Spackle, caulk and paint
EVERYTHING!

October

October brought more tiling projects.
The Kitchen Back Splash
The Mudroom Back Splash
and
Master Bathroom (both floor and shower)
Kids Bathroom (both floor and shower)
The upstairs was finished and carpeted.
Wayne built the stair railing and window bench.
The original hardwood floors were sanded
and poly ed.
And the new treads on the stairs were
stained and poly ed.

November

In November, we finally got to move from
the apartment to our new home!
We had wanted to have all our projects done before
the move, however once the last set of
inspections were passed.... it was time.
Wayne and I finished the mudroom cabinets
after we moved in!

December

Having a minute to breath,
I made some JOY ornaments
to pass out with cookies to my
new neighbors!

Since it has been such a long year,
we were just too tired to
drag out all our Christmas decorations,
but the few I did,
 added just the right festive touch!

It has been a big year, one I hope not to
repeat this coming year!  Doing 10 years
worth of DYI projects in
a year is crazy tiring!

But the result has been a true blessing!
God has been Good!

Oh, we still have a list of projects to do...
the landscaping,
window boxes,
boxes to unpack,
a basement room to build,
a basement and
storage barn to organize,
a storage barn to paint
The Cottage exterior to paint,
etc.....!

Must rest up...

Hoping your New Year is
 full of your own Blessings!

Happy New Year!

I am linking up to
over at French Country Cottage
at Between Naps on the Porch.







Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Room that Sold Us

The first time we walked through our home,
there was a beautiful blanket of snow on the ground.
I remember walking to the back window and thinking
I had found a paradise here on earth.
To clarify, the paradise was outside...

Inside, well that was a whole another story!
We had known that God was asking us
to downsize, but all the other homes
we had been looking at were what we kept
referring to as "one room too small".
The land , just a little over 1 1/2 acres
drew us in and the potential of the back room...
sold us.
8 months and
7 dumpsters later
We saw that potential... Provided.
God provided.
Hence, the name of the house became
The Provision.
A few weeks ago I revealed the Mud Room.
Right around the corner...
 
is the room that sold us!
We have two large dogs,
Our English Mastiff, Latte, loves to hang out
in the kitchen.  So much that I often tease
 we should have named her "Rug".
We say that we now have a "Latte" sized kitchen!

After
Before- Same view as above
The Stove Wall - After
Before ... This is the same wall. 
We closed off the doorway, when we reversed the stairs.
The new entry to the basement is now located off the side of
the house, directly in front of the side door!

We discovered in our previous home
we really only "lived in" 3 rooms,
the kitchen,
breakfast nook,
and
the adjoining family room.
How blessed we were to incorpoate all three into this room!
When we entertain, it has always been in the kitchen.
Our Latte sized kitchen is built extra roomy for entertaining,
including this oversized island!
Before- Exact same view as above (dig the mauve carpet under the stove).
I knew going into the design process
that I wanted the room to be light, bright and airy.
That's exactly what we got!
Before - Same view as above.
We were able to make better use of the space and create better trafic flow,
by reworking the back wall of windows and doors


It's in the Details
Our Microwave Drawer is one of our favorite splurges.
Lantern pendents provide light and keep the space visually open.
Built in Glass Cabinets
Cubbies- Decked out for Christmas
Cubbies- Everyday Look
Our Excellent Pot Filler
Wayne did a beautiful job with the back splash.
The Family Room Side...

We built in two matching closets.
The one on the right houses the kitchen pantry.
The one on the left, is a built in desk! 
I love being able to simply
close the doors and putting "work" away.
(Ignore the mess)


A Room With A View
A room to live in!
One More Before and After

Before
After

I am linking to Metamorphosis Monday
over at Between Naps On the Porch.
and to
at Savvy Southern Style.
and also to
at DYI by Design.