Mudroom {Before & After}

Posted in Home Owning by megstermeter

It’s been a while since I’ve given a house update, but don’t worry – we’ve been working! And let’s be honest – it’s the hubby who does the brunt of the work around here. Our latest project (which was supposed to be a “weekend project” but was more like a “month project”) is just about complete. We have this little mudroom that the previous owners added off the kitchen. It’s our main way in and out of the house, and also houses our laundry. I’ll let the pictures do the talking, then I’ll share more details of everything we did…

The mudroom when we purchased the house (L) …and now (R).

The mudroom after a little bit of reorganization (L) …and now (R).

My hand hubby even replaced the screen door and security door, staining them by hand. Nice, huh?

While I don’t have a great before photo of the old sink, here’s the pretty new utility sink and cabinet the hubster installed.

So in total, here are all the updates we did:

Leveled the floor (because it wasn’t before)
Tiled the floor to match the kitchen
Tore out the old sink, mirror, and shelving unit
Patched some major holes in the walls
Painted the walls and trim
Stained and installed screen door and interior door (and also painted our side porch grey)
Installed a new shelf, sink, and cabinet
Installed blinds on the window

Phew! Not a weekend project. But I love it now, and plan to add a few more finishing touches as far as decor, like a table under the window and some other little touches. What do you think? Fun, right?

21Mar2016

Kitchen & Dining {Before & After}

Posted in Home Owning by megstermeter

I have waited a long time to share photos of our newly remodeled kitchen and dining room! Like with all of our projects so far, I have to give MAJOR kudos to my husband. He gutted our kitchen to the studs pretty much by himself. It’s taken six months, but I finally feel confident saying our kitchen is finished!

The before kitchen had your classic orange and yellow wallpaper, and dark brown cabinets. There was no dishwasher, so we added one in where the refrigerator used to be. We built a new space for the refrigerator, and built our cabinets all the way to the ceiling. We also added canned lights to the ceiling to brighten things up!

There was a wall between the kitchen and dining room that we removed, which has really opened up the flow between the two spaces.

In the dining room, we ripped out carpet, painted the walls, and I took the old yellow cabinet you can see in the above “before” photo and turned it into a china cabinet.

So tell me what you think of our bright little kitchen!

Here are a few more goodies from the process…Happy homeowning!

25Jan2016

The Guest Room {Before & After}

Posted in Home Owning by megstermeter

I’m sorry to say I only took ONE before picture of the guest room. But as you can imagine from the picture below, it was a small, wood-paneled room that once housed a teenage boy.

We painted the walls a light grey, and accented the room in as much black and white as possible. Here is a shot walking into the room – it’s hard to tell, but there is a funky black and white wallpaper on the ceiling! We are keeping it for now 🙂

And for our guests, who I hope are many, we have a few little touches…

Come visit soon and stay in our cozy guest room!

15Jan2016

The Den and Loft {Before & After}

Posted in Home Owning by megstermeter

It’s finally here! The FIRST before & after post on our house. LET ME REMIND YOU. Back in September we closed on a sweet little fixer upper. The first time we saw it, it was full to the brim of the previous owners’ belongings. They were the original owners when this home was built in 1949, and after they passed away, the house sent without occupants for nearly two years. Finally, it was sold…to us!

We have done A LOT of work. ~~Some~~ Many pieces are still in progress. The first section I want to share with you is our den and loft. This space was originally a garage, and sometime in the late 1970s or so, it was converted into a den and loft, complete with dark wood paneling. Let me show you, and then I’ll tell you…

THE DEN:

THE LOFT:

THE BIG PICTURE:

What we did:

My husband did ALL the demo while I stilled lived in Ohio, which included tearing out wood paneling, plaster walls, Berber carpet, and itchy insulation.

Leveled the den floor. Because it had been a garage, the floor was at about a 30-degree angle…and they hadn’t fixed it when they converted it.
Wired surround sound. New electric work. New insulation. New drywall. New paint.
We laid the wood floor ourselves, the day after Thanksgiving.

Removed the railing (don’t worry, we will get a new one someday), popped off the steps, and made new steps. They are dark grey to contrast the light grey on the walls.

Painted the loft floor, which had previously been covered in carpet. AND completely on his own, Jonathan painted all the dark brown beams in the den WHITE, which meant about three coats…but they are beautiful and I am so grateful!