I'm here sharing our first home tour in the Willow House! I've always loved looking back on past home tours. It's fun to see the progress that's made and all the changes that happen year after year. This tour will be one we'll really enjoy looking back on. We have so many projects in the works, and so many unfinished projects, but even through the chaos, we are loving living in this home. We love going through the house, piece by piece, making it ours and really putting our stamp on things. As we've been living in the house, we keep coming up with new ideas and plans for the future. And I'm sure it will change 100 times over, but actually living in the house always brings a ... Read more
Picking Our Interior Paint Colors
When it came to picking our interior paint colors, I knew I wanted to keep a clean, bright interior. So many of the fun and custom touches we'll be adding to the house will come over time, and not knowing exactly what we'll want to do down the road, I wanted to give the house a blank slate that would encourage some creativity. As you might know, picking interior paint colors can be tricky. I've learned over time, through trial and error, that nearly every single paint color looks different in different lighting. Depending on how much natural or artificial light a room has, will change (or highlight) the undertone of the paint color. I have my tried and true colors that I tend to turn to ... Read more
A House Update: We Moved In!
I figured since I've been MIA lately, a house update was definitely due. All I can say, is time sure does fly by when you're having fun, doesn't it? I feel like I blinked and the month of February is over and we're already into March. It's been busy. Really busy. Needless to say, we didn't move into the Willow House on February 1st. We could have, but there were so many different things that had us hesitating. We really didn't want to move in having so many major projects still left to finish... the floors being one of them. Ultimately, we both knew we didn't have to move in by February 1st, but it sure would have been nice. Instead, we decided to pay an extra month of rent and ... Read more
Demo’ing The Kitchen
If you've ever bought a fixer upper home that had really gross rooms, you know the thrill of demo'ing the space and taking it down to bare bones. Demo'ing the kitchen was just like that... it was so refreshing to get everything out and to have a blank canvas. Remember the kitchen? The picture makes it look about 100 times better than what it actually was. The cabinets were falling apart and most of the drawers were broken, not to mention loads of mice droppings everywhere. There was also a big water leak underneath the sink that had gone on for so long, it caused mold on the wall and all over in the base cabinet. The stove had burners that didn't work, and the room was just ... Read more
Black Tile In The Laundry Room
When Todd and I were dreaming up the design plan, the one thing we were both really excited about, was the installation of black tile in the laundry room. We both loved the look and the texture it would bring into the room. I mentioned before that with the push to move in at the end of the month, we had several things we were hiring out to speed up the process. Since neither of us have tiling experience, we really didn't want to try and attempt it with such a time crunch in place... not to mention, the upstairs bathroom still needed tiled as well. With so many things to do, we decided to let a professional handle the job... and we're so glad we did because this "simple" ... Read more
New Walls In The Laundry Room
In order to make the downstairs bedroom into the new laundry room, we had to separate the space from the previous closet by adding a wall. We also needed to have a way to bring plumbing and electric into the room without tearing into the existing walls and causing additional dry wall repair. Because we want to move in at the end of the month, there were certain things we were willing to hire out that would speed up the process. One of them being, building the new walls in the laundry room. I didn't get to take pictures of the entire process since I couldn't be there all day while they were working, but you can imagine my excitement when I saw this... A new wall that ... Read more
Demo’ing The Laundry Room
With the design plan in place, it's officially time to start talking about demo'ing the laundry room. There are three rooms in the house that we're trying to have done in time to move in by the end of the month... Yes, I said the end of the month, as in January. We may be slightly crazy, but I think we'll be able to make it, knowing as soon as all of our stuff is moved in, the real projects begin. In order to move in, we need the kitchen, hall bathroom and laundry room to be complete... which basically means "finished enough to function". With that said, we're moving full steam ahead, making sure all the major demo work is done and we can start putting those rooms back ... Read more
The Laundry Room Design Plan
If you remember the first tour I shared of The Willow House, downstairs there was a teeny, tiny bedroom with it's own walk in closet. Big enough for just about a twin sized bed, it was another room that didn't really make sense. And why the smallest room in the house was the one with a walk in closet, we'll never really understand. The one thing we did know though, from the first time walking through the house, was that we'd be turning this room into the laundry room. I guess I've really been working on the laundry room design plan since that first day, knowing things were going to change. With the existing laundry space in the garage taking up needed parking space, there was no ... Read more
Demo’ing the Hall Bathroom
There's something fun about completely taking a room down to the original studs and starting over. That's certainly the story of demo'ing the hall bathroom. It was interesting to say the least, and because of everything we uncovered during demo, the design/ layout plan for the room changed. With one of the weirdest layouts in the house (actually, every bathroom in this house had the oddest layout), everything about this hall bathroom had us wanting to pull out what was previously installed. We both agreed there was no way we could possibly go to all the work, or demo everything out, to put it back in the same bad layout. Especially when we discovered yet another water leak ... Read more
Scraping Popcorn Ceilings & Removing The Carpet
When we initially bought the Willow house, it was really stinky. It wasn't really a smell you could identify as just one thing, but rather layers of odd smells combining into this gross odor. As soon as you walked in the door it hit you, and everyone who walked through it in the beginning would always tell us how bad it smelled.... and we agreed! It's just one of the fun perks of remodeling a neglected home. Our initial plan to tackle the smell, and to start demo'ing the house, was to scrape the popcorn ceilings. All that texture holds bad smells, and several parts of the popcorn ceiling was coated in either grease (in the kitchen), or soot from the downstairs fireplace. A few spots also ... Read more
The Hall Bathroom Design Plan
There are several rooms in the Willow House that are getting completely gutted down to the studs, with walls moved and rearranged for better functionality. The hall bathroom is one of them, so today I'm sharing our design plan. Since we're planning on finishing this bathroom first, and will be using that primarily until we get around to the master bathroom, we're going full steam ahead on getting it put back together in time to move-in. First, let me refresh your memory on what this bathroom originally looked like... Not only was this bathroom disgusting, but incredibly outdated with the most awkward layout. We couldn't wait to start demolishing everything in the ... Read more
Introducing The Willow House
If ever there was a true fixer upper of a house that needed TLC, remodeling and updating, it'd be this one. But even with all the popcorn ceilings, stained and utterly gross carpet, water leaks, and outdated heating and A/C, we knew this house had so much potential to be an incredible home. It would need time, money and lots of hard work, but the outcome would be entirely worth it. And I haven't ever been afraid of a house challenge, so... bring it on! I'm so happy to introduce you to The Willow House! The backyard has a beautiful and huge Willow tree, so we've fondly named the house after it. Easily the worst home on the block, we are so looking forwarding to bringing this ... Read more
Moving Forward
I'm always amazed at how much things change... a year ago I was so unsure of what my future would look like, I could hardly move. For the longest time I sat there, frozen in fear... afraid to make a move, and worried that whatever step I took next, would be the wrong one. Fear nearly ate me alive. Today though, I'm looking back at last year in disbelief of how much everything has changed. In my last post I shared why I've been silent for so long, and all the hardship I've been through. And it was hard... the hardest time of my life. I didn't have a clue what was going to come from it, or how God could possibly bring me out of it and into a fresh new start, but He did. He's truly in the ... Read more
The Start of A New Chapter
What can I say... I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. And to be completely honest, I needed the time and space. I've had so much to catch you up on, but I've never felt like the words would flow, or that I'd know exactly what to say. I've sat at my computer more times than I could count, staring at the keyboard, begging the words to come, but they never would. I'd push it off for another day, hoping that one day soon that feeling would change. A few days ago, I finally woke up missing my blog. I've missed sharing my heart, my projects and my life. But there's something I need to tell you... and it's harder than I ever imagined. Finally though, I'm ready, and it's the ... Read more
Christmas Home Night Tour
One of the best things about Christmas, is watching the glow of the lights in the evenings. There's nothing more soothing or captivating, and I love the way the happy glow makes the house feel. Today, I'm so excited to be joining several blogging friends to share my Christmas home night tour. Rachel from Maison de Pax coordinated the tour, and I'm so happy she included me... this is one of my favorite tours all year. It brings such a different perspective! If you're joining me from Chelsea at Two Twenty One, welcome! At night, the star is most definitely the tree. It brings the most beautiful glow to the entire house... And with all the lamps turned off, the tree ... Read more
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