long overdue update

It's been months since this blog has been updated, but that's mostly because I wanted to wait until the downstairs was nearly finished before we showed it off to the world. Now, other than a little bit of minor detail work that's left to be done, our original vision has come to life!

In case you haven't seen the original video we took (on the day we signed the ownership papers), here it is:



Here's the new video!



I can't even convey the difference. Even if you scroll down and see old pictures from when we first got the house... these pictures don't accurately represent how disgusting this house truly was. I mean, not only was it vacant for like 4 months before we bought it... but there was not a square foot of carpet in the entire house that wasn't stained by pets. The walls had dirt on them, and cracks, and needed to be sanded. The entire house smelled horrible, and the floorplan downstairs was closed and non-functional.

So obviously the most major change we made was taking out the wall between the kitchen and the living room. When we first looked at this house, we knew that being able to do that project would make a huge difference in how the house felt and even functioned... and it's true. What used to be a small, dark, living room that was cut off from the kitchen is now continuous with the rest of downstairs... and the difference is amazing. It's so much more open (obviously) and the living room just feels a lot larger. Plus it's so nice being able to be in the kitchen and see into the living room!

More pictures were posted in earlier blog posts, but to refresh your memory...

BEFORE

AFTER

and BEFORE

and AFTER

So yeah. We have a bartop with stools/island in the middle of the room. Gabe installed the bartop (once Lowes finally gave us the right piece), and actually had to custom-make these barstools. The bar is taller than most bars, so we needed extra tall barstools. Extra tall barstools are expensive... like hundreds of dollars. So all along he was talking about buying some regular, simple stools and making them taller himself. One day we were randomly walking through Big Lots and saw these for only $30 each:

But they were way too short for our tall bar. So he attached about 5" wooden extensions on the bottom of each leg (on each of the 4 stools we ended up getting), added more footrests lower down for more stability, and painted them black:

The other major project that we totally didn't count on... was the staircase. This staircase was basically a joke when we moved in because it was totally crooked. This first picture doesn't nearly do justice to the crooked-ness.

So Gabe began doing this:

He ended up basically rebuilding the entire side of the stairs... and he's never done any work with stairs before, so it was an adventure. But it turned out beautiful!

The progression:

He stained all the wood, and I painted the white risers and trim. Then he stained the handrail, painted the dowels, and installed them:

And NOW:

And then, of course, there were other little projects.

décor: we picked out a loveseat, chair, rug, coffee table, curtains, art, etc...

My favorite are these pendant lights above the bar.

The girly, pink-and-green guest room... I'm proud of my thrifty over-the-bed art, which is scrapbook paper in cheap white frames. 

Master bedroom a few months ago:

Over the past few months, Gabe's also done a lot of little projects here and there. This is a little table he built to go in the small space between our two chairs:

Shelf for our microwave and toaster oven, to maximize countertop space:

Moulding around a mirror:

The Newell post at the bottom of the stairs that, in reality, is a lot more complicated/layered than it looks:

Of course, there were numerous other little things that I haven't documented - digging a drainage ditch outside to help our yard, caulking settlement cracks along the walls in our kitchen and bathrooms that gradually appeared this fall (that were caused by taking out the wall?! we don't know...), sealing around bathtubs, putting trim around the fireplace, and so many more I can't remember.

Overall, it's been an amazing journey. My only advice... if you're planning on buying a house in some stage of foreclosure, make sure that you know what you're getting yourself into! I love the HGTV shows that show flipping a house neatly compacted into a half hour of air time. ;) Clearly, it's not that easy at all. It's an amazing amount of work... though I've tracked it somewhat thoroughly in this blog, there are so many details I've left out. It took us 8 months to get to this stage, in between both of us taking classes, doing CNA clinicals, working, applying to schools, exams, holidays, etc... and that's even with all of Gabe's skills! He's an amazing handyman/carpenter - I knew he was good before, but this house really proved it. Without his abilities and knowledge, this wouldn't have even been possible... or it would've been prohibitively expensive. He's spent countless hours rebuilding, repairing, and creating things, and basically built a staircase from scratch, something he'd never done before.

It was a LOT of work, but we saw potential in this little house, even with the nasty pet-stained carpets, kinked staircase, dirty walls, and dark, small living room. It was such a good deal (especially when you consider the $8000 first-time home buyer's tax credit we'll be getting soon), is close to where we'll probably be at school for the next two years, and is a cute little first house for our married life. Plus all the upgrades will definitely set our house apart from others in the neighborhood when we try to sell it in the future... I bet we're the only one with an open floorplan. 

Some final pictures, from last weekend: