Our First Home (Our Extreme Home Makeover)

Well, as most of you know, We finally closed on our very first house on March 5th, 2013. This isn't just 'Any House'. It's 'The House'. My husband's Grandma, known as 'Memaw' lived here right around 60 years. This house was built by his Grandpa Joe's bare hands and farm workers in 1949. I believe my Father-in-law said that they had moved in around 1950. He grew up in this house. My husband has many memories from here & I am absolutely in Love with the idea of our kids growing up here as well. I have many 'Can't Wait's' on my list already. Just a few to start with...

-Playing in my very first flower bed during spring and summer
-Watching the kids play outside in the front yard from all the Huge and Many windows in the house
-Talks with our new neighbors who we love so much.
-Decorating for Fall, Big wreaths and so much more
-Last but not least, Putting my Christmas Tree up in the Big window in my living room. (always wanted a large window in front for this.)

There is so much that I love about this house. Some of my favorites are the original real wood doors all throughout the whole house. Beautiful crystal door knobs on them all. Fire place in the living room and all of the windows. I can pretty much see outside to check on the kids from anywhere in the front and back of the house. :)

This beautiful home was pretty much Move in Ready when we closed, it's had it's updates through the years, but we decided to add our own personal touch. We have Renovated the Entire house. YES... ENTIRE HOUSE!!! We have been at it hard for the past 8 months and are just about finished. We have done Every bit of it by ourselves. We did hire out for some new lighting put in and new granite counter tops in the kitchen. There are some things we didn't know how to do. :)

I'm sure you are ready to see some Before & After Pics. Get ready to be mind blown. LOL.... Just kidding. I just added how I personally feel when I watch something like this on HGTV. Haha. I have always wondered what it would be like to buy and old home and fix it completely up. Boy did I find out. We have had so much fun during this process. Yet it.s been LOTS of time and money spent. But spent well. We are very blessed. 

Enjoy the story of our New Home in the making.
3 Bedroom
2 full bath
Office
Living room
Kitchen & Dinning room 
Mudroom
Laundry Room
2300 sqft
2000 Heated & Cooled 

Exterior Before:

AFTER

Living Room Before 

 AFTER

Before

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

All of this Carpet has been ripped up. Brand new 12 mm Cottage Plank Hand Scraped Laminate now lays on these floors. Way cheaper & much more durable and looks Just like Hardwood. I plan to get new couch and chair in the future and want to add a Rug. I have several ideas. But these will all come with Time. :) 

I fell in love with this color Zeus. Its been put in every room in the house except the kids room, hall bath, office & mudroom. 

Mid process of having new 4 new can lights added and a fan/light combo. There were No lights at all. so this makes a big difference in the room. 

Everything  is taped off so that we could spray texture.

Letting the kids make memories as I begin painting in the living room. pretty cute.

Tons of crown molding went up in this house. Every room has had it added except the office. 

New front door knob. Love it. 

Every room has had new faux wood blinds added. Makes another big difference. 

New tile added below the fire place. The whole Fireplace got a makeover. New stone and a new mantel. Love how it turned out. 

After:

Living room had the following done to it:

-old carpet ripped up

-new flooring added

-all new texture

-new paint

-all new crown molding added

-both doors freshly painted

-4 new can lights added

-new fan/light combo added

-fireplace re-done with stone & new mantel

-old tile from fireplace ripped up

-new tile added in front of fire place

-new blinds

-new door handle and knob added to front door

Dinning Room Before:

This Wall came out. We removed it and the door to open it up to the kitchen. As you will notice in the rest of the post it Makes the house I think. More open and appears so much bigger. Keep scrolling. 

Mid-Process of Removing the Wall. Notice the Old Carpet has been removed and you now see the original hardwood floors.  

Wall is Out completely and opened up to kitchen. We sold all the old appliances to make room for new Stainless Steel. 

2 new can lights have been installed, and the original light has been taken down and patched up. We installed a New pendant light to hang over the dinning table. Walls have been Textured & All trim sanded and primed.

Mid-Process before the After Pic. :

After:

Dinning Room had the following done to it:

-old floor ripped up

-new floor laid

-wall dividing it from kitchen torn out

-new can lighting

-new pendant light added

-all new crown molding

-all new texture

-paint

-all new crown molding

-new blinds 

Kitchen Before:

Mid-Process WRECK!!!! Hated this part. lots of cleaning up each week. 

We had a little helper (Camp)

Painted all of the Oak Kitchen Cabinets Antique White and then Distressed them all. Was about a 3 day process but really made these babies pop and look great. 

Removing the Old Flooring.

We had to tear out a rotted spot in the floor and they had to brace it from under the house. once done it was all patched up and ready for the new floor.

Remember this Blank Wall in the kitchen? Well when the wall came out, We had no spot for a Fridge. So we cut this area out and finished it out to make room for the new fridge. It keeps the 

Kitchen open and spacious.

Gutted to the core minus the Cabinets. No more pink back splash or counter tops, No boxes above the top cabinets, no original floor, no old appliances ect. Mid Way

Granite Counter tops have been installed. My uncle owns Kitchen Works of Cabot. He does an awesome job with these counter tops. we are in LOVE.

We chose to go with a simple bead board for out back splash. it was all primed and painted Antique white to blend well with the cabinets. I wanted something that looked great for way cheap and still have the effect of a sweet little country home. for $20.00, Our back splash was complete.

Texture has  been sprayed and ready for paint.

After:

Kitchen had the following done to it. 

-old floors torn up

-new floors put down

-texture sprayed

-painted

-all new crown molding

-old boxes above the whole top of cabinets removed and new boxes added just above the cabinets

-all new can lighting added

-new pendant light over sink added

-all new appliances

-all cabinets re-painted & distressed

-all new door fixtures

-new blinds

-new granite counter tops

-new sink & faucet

-original fridge wall knocked out and opened up to dinning room

AFTER: Kitchen & Dinning Room Combo

Please over look that I have no chairs with my Table just yet! I just sold my other one and my Crafty Hubby built this one for us. I'm in the process of looking for the right chairs to add to it for a pop of Color! :) 

 Hallway Before:

looking towards the old Master Bedroom, What is now Calleighs room. (our daughter)

Closet that has now been removed and walled up so that we could cut out the wall on the other side to make room for the fridge.

Door to furnace was touching ceiling. Corey took it out and moved it down to be level with all the other doors.

  

Mid Way process.

Huge Hall Closet. Pic does not do it justice.

Paint had been added.

After:

Hallway had the following done:

-door on left lowered

-all new texture

-all new crown molding

-new light added down by Calleighs room

-all doors and trim sanded, primed and re-painted

-old carpet ripped up

-new flooring added

-attic fan taken out and patched up in the ceiling

-old phone in hall removed and patched up

-hall closet re-done, painted and new floor

BEFORE: Calleigh's Room!

AFTER: This room had all the following done

-All Old paneling ripped out

- Original Sheetrock cleaned from moldy spots

-New Texture added

-New Paint

-New Fan / Light

-New Crown and Trim

-Doors freshly painted

-New Carpet

-New Blinds

Camp's Room BEFORE

AFTER: This room had the following done.

-Old paneling ripped out

-Original Sheetrock cleaned of mold and textured and painted

-New Crown & Trim

-New fan/light

-Old Carpet ripped out and New Carpet put in

-New Blinds

BEFORE: Hall Bathroom

AFTER: The Following was done to the Bathroom

-Old Wallpaper torn off

-Walls Textured & Painted

-New Crown & Trim

-Old Floor ripped out

-New tile laid

-New Lighting Fixtures put in

-Cabinets, Refinished and Painted

BEFORE: Master Bedroom

AFTER: This Room had the following done

-Small Bedroom , Wall knocked out and joined with a Den

-Ceiling in the Den taken out and raised up a foot to match the bedroom ceiling 

-Floor in Den ripped up and leveled with the bedroom floor

-New wiring done

-New Lighting and Fan

-New Sheetrock

-Sprayed Texture

-New Paint

-Wall added to divide the Mudroom and Bedroom

-Old Carpet ripped out

-New Carpet put in 

-New Crown & Trim

-New Blinds

-New Flooring

-Moved original Bathroom door to new spot

(Will renovate the New Master Bathroom, Closets & Laundry room in the future)

This room was a TON of hard work! But We managed and got it done! Love Love Love the Finished look. :))

 

BEFORE: Mud Room

 

AFTER: This room had the following done.

-Wall added to divide from Master Bedroom

-Ceiling taken out and raised up

-Old lighting out and New lighting installed

-Closet put in for storage

-New Crown & Trim

-New Sheetrock

-New Texture & Paint

-Old Floor ripped out and New Tile put down

-Lockers and Bench built and added for storage

-New blinds

BEFORE: Office made into a Playroom

 

AFTER:This  Room had the following done.

-Old Floor ripped out and New floor put down

-All Trim & Paneling Re-Painted

-Ceiling Painted

-Fire Place Painted

-New Light

( I have more plans for this room to make it a better use with a Storage Bench for Toys / Seat, Crafts and Pictures on the Wall and some curtains. Can't wait to see all of that come together! :) 

 

So here it is! It was a LONG renovation but we got it done. We lived in the mess for a few months while we finished our bedroom but once we moved in our own room it was nice! We have so much room and So excited that soon after we moved in we found out we will be adding one more to this space. :) 

For each person that helped with anything, We are truly appreciative and so thankful! We are blessed to have this house and look forward to making so many memories in our new home!