Getting Settled

We're in!  We moved in yesterday in record time with the help of some of the high-schoolers from our church's youth group.  It was a great day!  Here are some pictures along with commentary describing some of our future plans...

 

I know I've already posted this picture, but here is the rundown on our plans for the outside:

• Paint!!  We'll keep the brick and change the 90's hunter green.  We spotted a house in Hendersonville that is painted the most beautiful combination of brown and gray.  Well, last week we knocked on their door (are you sensing a pattern here?) and found out the first color on our must-try list:  Cabot Spanish Moss.  We'll compare that with some lighter sand colors and see which we like best.
• New energy-efficient windows-- This will be our first major project because winter is coming.  No, seriously, winter is coming and it will wreck your utility bills if your windows aren't up to date.
• Landscaping-- We'll clear out the jungle running along the side of the house and go with some simpler and cleaner bushes.  We also need to deal with that ivy growing up the front.
• Redirect the staircase-- You can't see it in this picture, but the only staircase on the front porch goes up the side.  It's narrow and awkward, so we'll get rid of those and build a wide, attractive brick staircase on the front (right between those 2 posts on the right of the porch).
• Build a railing to enclose the porch
• Build a pergola that will run along the right side of the house over the 2 windows on the right.
• New roof-- Currently the roof is doing just fine, but when we get closer to selling, I think a new roof would go a long way.
• A bench to go under the windows on the left and some potted plants
• Paint the front door red

 

This is what you see right when you walk through the front door.  Attractive, right?  This is by far the largest project we have planned.  Here's the rundown:

• Get rid of those ugly doors! Spoiler alert-- New doors will only be necessary for the right closet, so we'll get some cool looking doors to replace the 1970's hollow doors that are on there now.  Maybe something like this.
• An energy efficient stackable washer and dryer for the closet on the right is key
• With the washer and dryer taking up half as much space, the water heater will then be moved over to live next to the washer and dryer in the right closet.
• If you look really hard, you can see an electrical panel peaking out from behind the door of the closet on the left.  We'll have to get an electrician to move those electrical panels to the right closet. 
• With the left closet cleared out...BOOM! Knock the wall down.  What's on the other side of the wall?

 

 

Oh yes, we're opening up the kitchen. 

• We're demolishing the top half of the right wall, so the upper cabinets on your right from about the stove and onward will be opened up to the living room.  This will become a peninsula complete with barstools and new lighting. 
• Paint the cabinets-- We're going to attempt to salvage these babies.  I'll enlist the help of my father-in-law Joseph to frame the cabinet faces with some wood and paint them white.  With some new hardware I think they'll do just fine. We'll also need to get creative with the awkward skinny cabinets on top of the regular cabinets.  See them?  I'm thinking either cover them with a decorative wood covering that leads all the way up to the crown molding or make them glass-front display cabinets.
• New countertops
• Subway tile backsplash
• Possibly wrap the countertops along the back wall
• Exposed shelving on the back wall
• Stainless steel appliances

 

We get to mark something off our list!  When we first bought the house, we weren't sure if the refrigerator came with it, so we went ahead and shopped around.  We ended up finding these beauties at Lowes on the "scratch and dent" aisle (Can you find the dent?  Yeah, neither can we!) for about half price. What a steal! We got our microwave and dishwasher (not pictured) off Craigslist. 

 

I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's back up to when you first walk through the front door.  The living space in this house is one great big room, so it was our task to figure out how to break up the room into functional spaces.  When you walk in through the front door and look right, this is what you see:

 

 

I'll use this picture to describe some of the changes we'll be making that will be represented throughout the entire house.

 

• Paint
• Replace the carpet with hardwood floors
• Install crown molding
• Replace all of the doors (you can see another hollow door on the right of the picture)
• Update light fixtures
• New windows and window treatments

 

On the other side of the room is where we've decided to make the dining area.  Eventually we'll install a light fixture over the table.  Here's another picture of the living area standing where the kitchen table is:

 

 

 

 

In the background of this picture, you can see a desk just under the window...

 

 

This space was originally intended to be the dining room, but we have other ideas to make this a mudroom/work space.  I've tried mimicking the goal for this space with some of our current furniture to start testing out the functionality, but here's the official run-down:

 

• Add built-in shelves or some kind of display/storage unit right as you walk in the door.
• Add a built-in desk underneath the window
• Add a built-in bench with coat hooks and storage baskets to go in between the shelves and the desk
• Extend the kitchen peninsula into open space
• Update light fixture

Sort of like this or this!

 

Here's a picture of our one full bathroom (located in the hallway) followed by our plans:

 

 

 

 

 

• Replace the tile
• Replace the flooring and the subfloor underneath-- Our inspection showed quite a bit of water damage in the crawl space underneath this bathroom due to a leak.  The leak was identified and fixed and the crawlspace was repaired, but we'll still need to deal with the soggy subfloor eventually
• Replace the bathroom vanity with something like this
• Update the mirror and light fixture

At the end of the hall and to the left is the master bedroom:

 

 

 

 What is it with this house and it's awful closets?  While ugly, these closets are actually a blessing in disguise because they are connected and run the length of that entire wall! If you've ever owned/been inside an older home, you know that usually the closets are very tiny.  The main project in this room centers around these closets...

• Remove closet doors
• Place bed in the center of this wall-- The closet on the left is twice as wide as the closet on the right, so when the bed is centered, there will actually be the same amount of space to enter each closet.
• Cover the entire wall floor-to-ceiling drapes-- The only part of the wall that will be exposed will be the section of wall in the middle, which will then look centered.
• Install wall sconces over the bed on the center of the wall

We'd like it to look sort of like this!

 

Here is a picture of the room once we got the bed in there, so maybe that will help you visualize...

 

 

In the master bedroom there is a half bath that sort of reminds me of the post-zombie-apocalypse-hospital from the first episode of "Walking Dead"...

 

 

To get the full zombie-effect, you have to witness first hand the fluorescent light as it slowly flickers for what seems like 5 minutes just to turn on.  By the time the light finally comes on I've usually just decided to go to the other bathroom.  This sad bathroom is in desperate need of a new light, vanity, floors, a new mirror, I could go on.....

 

 

 

I hope you've enjoyed touring our new home! As you can see, there is so much to do! It's hard to not just run around, wielding a sledge hammer while screaming maniacally.  We're making tons of progress already....but that's for another post! Good night!

Sal