Home Remodel Tablescape- putting the tools on the table!

Why not!  We have tools everywhere during our home remodel, so why not put them on top of the table!

I have had these floor plan plates for a couple of years and had not featured them yet.

So I thought this was the perfect time,

Since we have been in the middle of a whole house remodel.

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 I purchased these plates at Fishs Eddy in NYC.  This is the cutest store if your a dish junkie like me.  I picked up my NY Times Crossword Puzzle plates at this same store - Click Here to see those plates and more info on the store.

 If you have been following along, you know we have tackled the kitchen and the outside of the house.  But we still have many, many more projects to complete.

Well, enough talk, it's time to

take those bandana napkins off the cups and get back to work!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Ann

I am linking up to the following parties:
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Ugly House gets a Makeover!

Our ugly fixer upper got a much needed makeover!

Scary!  Isn't it!!! 

We bought this beauty because of its location!!  See my previous post Here!

But it wasn't just that it was ugly, there were animals living between the old cedar siding and our walls!! Mostly birds and a family of bats!!  Now, I realize that bats are good at the lake, they eat mosquitos - but I don't want them living in our walls - just saying!!  We would wake up in the morning to animal noises in the walls, our dogs would go around pointing at the outlets because they could hear the birds chirping in the walls!

  It wasn't very safe either.  None of the balconies were up to code.

The inspector said they would hold people, but when we had anyone over to see the house, for some reason, they were very hesitant to go out on the balconies!!

So we decided to bite the bullet and do it all- new deck, balconies, siding and several windows! It was a huge project and it had to start with the decks and balconies.

There was no access to the upper balconies from the outside.  The lower level is a walkout basement that had a narrow, badly cracked cement pad. Not anymore!!!  We ripped that out!

We extended the lower level out and made a nice size wood deck.   The middle level is where the kitchen and living area are- we wanted to be able to put a table outside the kitchen but that would mean extending out what was there by several feet.  We also wanted to have access to it from the outside so we put in the stairs.  

I should clarify here, that we hired a professional to build our deck and balconies.  There was no way my husband and I could do all this work!!!  My dogs grew quite fond of the two gentlemen who worked so hard for several months to build all of this, they almost became part of the family!

               

We went back and forth with whether or not we wanted to have the second level covered or not. If we put a full roof over the second level, it would have blocked out a lot of light in our kitchen and dining area and we did not want to do that - we liked the light and brightness of the kitchen area. When my husband suggested we just put up a pergola - it was the perfect compromise - it lets in light, yet gives us a bit of shade from the sun.

                            

So once the new siding went up we no longer had the ugliest house on the lake!!

 Here is a picture of the side of the house -

  same view as the second photo in this post - with the new siding. 

This house had a newer brown metal roof and brown stack stone on parts of the home, therefore we stuck with the brown family for the siding.

Since the garage is pretty much all you see from the street when you pull up to our house- I wanted to make sure we did something nicer than a plain garage door.

 This was one of the first things we had done- and I was immediately in love with

my new garage door!

Then when they finished the siding and we put up the new light fixtures

it all came together.

Now we look at it and say we need a new driveway!!  and we definitely need some landscaping in the back.  It never ends!

But it sure looks a lot better than it did - and I am no longer embarrassed to say I live here!!

I am linking up to the following parties:

Amaze Me Monday @ Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

The Scoop @ StoneGable

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

Kitchen Before and After Reveal

Our fixer upper kitchen has been transformed into a totally updated and open place to cook and gather!

Just to remind you what we started with:

I love my new kitchen now!!

I am happy with the choices we made.  

If you would like to see more of the before and during photos - check out my previous post- Our Kitchen Remodel

In that post I mentioned that I was a bit scared on how my choice of the two dark cabinets on either side of the range would look - now it is one of my favorite parts of the kitchen.

One of my other favorite choices was not doing a lazy susan (which loosing half of its contents off the back every time you spin it -was a pet peeve of mine) and doing the three deep drawers in the corner.  They are much bigger than they look and store a plethora of items.

Moving the sink over to the big window that overlooks the lake was the absolute right thing to do.

We chose not to do a farmhouse sink because I like a double bowl sink and this stainless steel sink came free with the counter tops!!  It was just one of the choices we made to save a little somewhere along the road- after all we have the whole house to redo.  (see the rest of the fixer upper here)

  The island we decided upon is a free standing piece of furniture.  We did not want to put pendant lights over it because we can turn it going the opposite direction if we so choose to do.

It actually cost us less to purchase this piece than put in two small cupboards and granite on top plus I think this piece has much more charm!  This island has a stainless steel top, which I love the look of - but I have to say it does scratch very easily.  We hid our microwave inside the island, luckily we thought far enough ahead to include an electrical outlet in the floor.

The other side of this island pulls out for additional seating

The only thing I don't like about it - is that we have a dog that loves tennis balls.  She is forever trying

to fish her tennis balls out from underneath the island!

We have plenty of storage with the three pantry cabinets on the far left.

So here is the final comparison 

Sources:

NOTE: THESE ARE NOT ENDORSEMENTS FOR THESE PRODUCTS

I AM NOT GETTING PAID NOR AM I RECOMMENDING THESE PRODUCTS

THESE ARE WHAT WE USED- YOU MAY OR MAY NOT LIKE THE DURABILITY OR QUALITY THAT WE CHOSE:

Flooring -Hartville Hardware -  Hardwood - Vallaria Pacific Pecan- Greystone

Cabinets -Home Depot - Thomasville - in Toasted Almond on Cotton

and the dark cabinets are Graphite

Counter tops - Home Depot -Silestone - Iron Bark

Backsplash - Hartville Hardware - Mediterranean's Chicago Brick Tile - South Side

Island - Andreas Furniture - Paula Deen Furniture line - River House - now being discontinued

Multiple Pendant light fixture over table - PotteryBarn- Paxton 8 light Pendant

The table and chairs -had from our old house- had them made at Swiss Valley Furniture

So far so good!  I hope the rest of the house transforms this nicely!

We are currently having some work done on the outside of the house, so stop back to see more updates to our little fixer upper.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ann

I am linking up to the following parties:
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Amaze Me Monday @ Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life
The Scoop @ Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Share Your Style @Essence of Home
Feathered Nest Friday @French Country Cottage

New Year, New Post, New House!

It's so nice to be back after a little more than a year!

A lot has happened over the past year, some good, some not so good.  I will not dwell on the not so goods and celebrate the goods!

Best ever - we became grandparents to a beautiful healthy boy!! Meet Everett!  He just turned seven months old and completely unaware of how much joy he brings our whole family!!

But the more interesting blogging news is that we moved.  After watching our favorite TV show, Fixer Upper, we decided to take on Joanna and Chip's challenge.  Yes, we have the guts to take on a fixer upper, by purchasing perhaps the ugliest house in a different neighborhood!!  

My husband refers to our new house as the old haunted motel

Do you see any resemblance??

You may ask why? - why would we ever want to move from a beautiful home like this?

Well, we had lived there since our kids were little, they are all grown up now and living on their own.  It was a wonderful place to raise our children, but now it was time to move on.  Just walking by several empty bedrooms everyday kind of made me sad.   My husband had been driving 40 minutes to work everyday so that the kids were in a good school system.  The majority of our friends had revolved around the kids and their activities, there was nothing really tying us down to that community now.  It was time to do something different.  So we decided to move to a little lake that is 10 minutes from my husband's work. 

 And this is what makes it all worth it!!!

This is the view we have from each of the rooms in this ugly house!!

The whole house is a work in progress.  I will give you a little BEFORE tour:

All you really see from the street is the garage, not real inviting!

It is kind of hard to find our front door because it is around the side of the house.

The lovely green foyer is small with lots of doors and stairs.  There are stairs leading up to three bedrooms and stairs down to the living area and kitchen.

The kitchen and dining area are very dated.  The kitchen cupboards don't look that bad but they are being held closed with velcro!!

I love the openness of the living, dining, and kitchen - the only thing separating them is this two sided fireplace.

There are three bedrooms on the top level.  They are all very basic with the same ugly berber carpet, ceiling fans, and sliding glass doors to a tiny balcony - but spectacular views.

This is the only bathroom on the bedroom level - it has no shower, not even plumbing for one!

There is a lower walk out basement level.  It has some water damage and smells pretty musty.

This storage room is under the garage.

Here is the back of the house again showing the balcony with no outside access, and one very narrow broken concrete patio.

As you can see there is a lot to be done to bring this house up to where we would be proud to show it off.  I am almost embarrassed to show the condition it is in now, but we do see potential to make it a beautiful house.   We are not made of money, so some things will have to wait or we will have to make certain compromises to stay within our budget complete these renovations. We will be living in the house as we fix it up.  My husband is a pretty handy guy but he does have a full time job with more than full time hours, so some things we will take on and other jobs we will be hiring professionals.

 I hope you stop back occasionally to check up on our progress with our little fixer upper! 

I will probably be throwing in a few other projects and tablescapes along the way.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ann

I am linking up to the following:
Amaze Me Monday @ Dwellings-The Heart of your Home
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Feathered Nest Friday @French Country Cottage