Thank you for all of your kind words about our house. It really means a lot to me. When I started this blog I was never going to show pictures of our house or tell you all exactly how we live, until recently when I have become obsessed with all of the remodeling blogs out there. I love reading others stories and seeing their before and after pictures. I have realized that we are not alone in our love for old homes and wanting to restore them.
So, here is more of our story…
Like I have said before, we live in only half of our house right now. The other half has been stripped to the bare studs (saving that for another post) and is just sitting vacant. So right now our house consists of two bedrooms, one bathroom, a hallway, and the kitchen. Since our kitchen is the biggest room (about 18’X18′) that is where we spend all of our time. Our kitchen is not just our kitchen, it also doubles as our living room, dining room, office, craft room, playroom and even a guest bedroom with Grammy dares to spend the night.
So here we go. Brace yourselves for the “then” pictures, they are REALLY BAD! When looking back at them I still can’t believe we bought this old house. I still laugh when I think about the realtor that showed us the house. The whole time she was trying to talk us out of buying this place. Most days, I think we should have listened to her.
Our kitchen,
then and now…
Yup, the baby was sleeping and I was not going to wake her up. Plus, there is no other place to keep her swing. The white drawers are filled with all my fabric and craft supplies. On top of the drawers is our office. If you look closely where the calender is hanging up , that is actually the doorway to go into the other side of our house. When the other side is completely finished that wall will be coming down, but for now it keeps our house clean and dust free.
Yup, we have a couch in our kitchen. Well, actually that is our living room.
Of course we tore down all of the walls, ceilings, horse hair plaster, blown-in insulation and the 3 layers of flooring. Ok, so EVERYTHING went except some of the main studs. 
Behind the refrigerator is a hallway to the bathroom and the stairway to our bedrooms. You can kinda see the kids toys are kept in a hallway (their playroom). Yes, I do love color, can’t you tell?
We used to have a completely glassed in porch off the back of the house but it was so rotted and lead infested that we had to tare it down. Someday we will put another glassed in room out there. You can see the old cast iron sink that we kept, and that is all we kept from this picture. Under the sink the floor was completely rotted. Some of the main beams and floor joists were rotted as well.
Ok, this was the bathroom, YUCK-O-ROO! It was actually located right behind the kitchen sink. I guess that is how they did it in the old days for plumbing reasons. And as you can guess, the floor in the bathroom was completely rotted out too.
Believe it or not, we actually kept the old cast iron tub too. The inside was actually in pristine shape but the outside, well you can see. My father took the tub for us, sandblasted it, repainted it and now it looks brand new.
I love this picture! You can see, we were so happy to have bought this place. What the heck were we thinking?!?!
Unfortunately,, we had to keep the large beam in the middle of the ceiling. My husband built the island from scratch. Behind the doors is some major storage. This is also where we eat all of our meals. My husband and I sit on stools while the kids sit on the other side of the counter. Just recently though the baby has been joining us for meals. So I sit on the floor and feed her in her exersaucer. We don’t have room for another highchair. So there I sit on the cold floor feeding the baby. It could be worse.
There is the old sink. It’s a beauty, isn’t it? I love how we did the windows. It is great cooking dinner at night while being able to watch the kids play outside.
AWW yes, I fell in love with these built ins the moment I saw them. I saw the potential they had. Look at all the storage and they are so old. They have drawers, shelves and even the old pull out flour bins. They are soo cool. I worked on that old built in forever. I spent hours stripping, sanding, priming and repainting it, but it was so worth it. The inside was in good shape and all it needed was some primer and a few coats of paint. We found new cabinets to match the bead board on the old built in. I still wanted to keep the look and feel of an older country home.
The little wooden shelf was covered with linoleum. What a great surprise when I tore it off and found such beautiful wood underneath. Unfortunately, we had to keep a beam that separated the built in and the new cabinets. I’m still thinking I might paint it blue to blend in more. I also would like to repaint the walls a shade lighter blue. I would like to have a little more of a contrast between the walls and cabinets. But for now it will do. The colors look so different in each light.
So, there you have it, our little kitchen that doubles as a whole house. It never looks this quiet and clean though. Picture it,books and toys all over the floor. The baby rolling all over the place crying because she needs to be nursed. This momma is busy getting dinner ready while the two oldest are fighting over toys. One rides their little bike around and around in circles while the other one is chasing them. And since we are being real here, this momma is yelling because they almost ran over the baby. Yes, that is what this kitchen looks like…EVERYDAY!
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I LOVE it! It's a beautiful home! I'm all for fixing up old homes. My husband and I have only done it once (our first house), and I'll admit it wasn't in quite as bad of shape, but it was pretty dang close. But I love the old homes because they are so unique and always have amazing potential. I was actually bummed that we were building a house when we moved out because I wanted to fix up another (I'm crazy, I know.) I'm excited about the possibility of seeing what you guys do next!
Wow!!!! I love this place! The coolest thing will be when people see your house and tell you how amazing it is!!! I think redoing a house is a great thing to do, instead of just letting it rot!!! You are my hero!!!
I can't believe the difference in that built-in! Gorgeous! Our home has built-ins that were under SEVERAL coats of paint…we stripped all of our woodwork and refinished it, and like you I am so glad we put that hard work in (and the mess!!!) it was so worth it.
Wow, what a great space you've created out of a room that was definitely hiding it's potential! And all that colour is wonderful! Right now, I'm in the process of trying to convince hubby to ditch all the neutrals and paint our whole main level sunny yellow.
Wow – what a transformation! Well done. Pretty amazing.
i still remember there being a huge hole in the floor of the kitchen when b was jacking the house up– it's unreal how bad it was. you've really made it into such a beautiful home tina. you should be proud. 😉
I don't think I could've seen the potential there but it sure looks great now! I love those built ins and your color choice is beautiful!
Love, love, love your blue kitchen. And that huge window over the sink. Congratulations. Such a massive transformation!
I have to say really what were you thinking! My husband showed me a place similar in disrepair and I said are you kidding me we have to live here too. I know I we want an older home to fix up but I would not be able to handle that much. Too impatient! Looks awesome, also good job cleaning for the pics and then admitting that it never looks that way and your always yelling, just like her, glad to know you're human too!
Awww, hun, it's gorgeous! I am obsessed with your sink and the windows – so pretty! I adore what you did with the colors and the curtains, even the casserole dishes on the stove – so you! I'll be right over for dinner & some girl chat. I can't wait to see what you guys do with the rest of this lucky, lucky home.
Your kitchen is gorgeous. I love the color! I hadn't thought of trying blue in our kitchen. Check out Susan Sargent's book, The Comfort of Color. I suspect it will be right up your alley.
You should be so proud!! You were very ambitious! 🙂 I love the color and all the details in the wood. And that sink…WOW!
simply AMAZING transformation!
amaing transformation! amazing it took a lot of work and its worth it!
Love the color!
Wonderful projects! so much energy. Please correct all the typos, though. Especially "to tare" does not mean "to tear".
I love your kitchen and it gives me hope. I hate my kitchen and need to give it a makeover. BUT, money isn't there yet.
You did a great job and you give me hope that my tears will be just a memory one day.
Beautiful! You did a fantastic job. It was so courageous of you to do this, and with little kids too. So much work! Please tell me, what is that delicious shade of blue? That is just my favourite colour.
Lola
lo************@gm***.com
Wow that looks like the house we looked at when we bought this one. I love all that blue. My husband would not let me get away with that he likes wood and white through out the house. we are re-doing ours as well and I know the feeling of all that hard work.Great Job!
Three thumbs up!!! Don't paint the beam! The white gives it sooo much character. Once you paint the walls to have more contrast the beam will look amazing!!!
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