the whole house

Well Hi!

We finished the house!

It went on the market and was sold in about 3 days for full asking price!

We have such a terrific realtor who is the best - truly! - Please ask if you need a kind, honest, friendly, hardworking real estate agent.

Anyway - These photos are from the official listing on Marie Riley's Keller Williams website

The front was repainted - It was the same color as the roof. It is so much more cohesive - The front now matches the rest of the house. We did a little landscaping as well, but we had nothing to do with that tree - So pretty! 

Ah. The kitchen. We are so pleased with the way this room turned out! New paint, lighting (and centered in the room), cabinets, counter, sink, faucet, appliances and floor. Ready to be loved.

View from the living room.

And the dining area.

Living room. Nice and big, with a vaulted ceiling.

From the living room looking up to two bedrooms, two linen closets and a bath. And looking down to the family room, 3rd bedroom, bath, laundry room and crawl space access.

Here's the up. Bathroom at the end of the hall, with a linen closet on each side of the hall.

Great bathroom! Newly refinished bathtub, new vanity, sink, faucet, new mirror and new medicine cabinet. This bathroom had a few plumbing issues, too, but that is all good now.

One of the upstairs bedrooms. Like I mentioned, they all look pretty much the same - All freshly painted and carpeted, new windows and door knobs.

From the family room looking at the stairs. You can see the bathroom there, too.

And the awesome crawl space! So much storage here - I don't think anyone would miss a basement.

This house was really fun to work on. I have to say though, I am a little disappointed not to decorate it. It has such a great foundation to work with lots of different styles. I'm sure the new owners will love the opportunity to put their own stamp on it.

If you are interested, here is Marie's contact information:

Marie Riley, Associate Broker

lower level

I have some photos today!

The house project is coming along swimmingly. We are trying to get a bunch of little things buttoned up to get this baby on the market.

Let me show you the lower level.

Starting with the bathroom.

Before:

This photo does not do justice to the color.

And - After:

Now it has a great foundation for adding some personal touches.

Hey - A new window!

And a spunky shower curtain.

It also got a new vanity, sink, faucet, mirror and toilet seat . And a thorough cleaning :)

This is not the exact same room, but I figure it's close enough. They all looked like this. 

Pretty lifeless.

This can be the before picture for all of the rooms.

And after. 

This room is on the lower level (what you walk into when you come down the stairs) and could be used for a family room or office or crafty place. 

It's a really great space.

The door opening leads to a bedroom.

And here is that bedroom after. (See before photo above.)

With a cute closet.

Oh - We replaced all the door handles. Aren't they great?

On to the laundry room.

It's a pretty good size. That space under the (new) window is where the washer and dryer will live. 

See that? This room is pretty well designed to get lots of use out of it.

From the washer/dryer spot looking back out. You can see the bathroom across the hall.

And right past the furnace to the left, there is the access to the crawl space. 

Which is awesome!

This area is huge - There is so much storage space in here!

So that's the lower level. We can pretty much say everything on the lower level list is checked off.

Next I'll show you the upper level.

where we are now

 Hi there!

We have been painting and painting and painting over one of the worst colors to paint an entire house. White is one of my favorite colors to use in decorating, but I'm telling you, white never looked so good. 

I'll post some before and after photos soon.

I thought I would start with what's happening in the kitchen. Who doesn't love a good kitchen renovation?

Let's look at where we started:

Oh yeah.

Are you loving that light? Among other things?

It can be hard to tell, but these cabinets and counter are just so not good. They have lived a good long life and it's time for them to go the way of all the earth.

So go they went. 

Demo is one of the really fun parts of any job - All the excitement you are feeling about a project gets converted into energy to rip things out and smash them to pieces. Of course, the next day all the muscles you don't normally use on a regular basis are really upset with you, but in the moment, run with the power.

  

Looking better already.

Patching is next. We wanted to start fresh with nice smooth walls so we could install everything the way it should be, not necessarily the way it was.

And, Snap! The walls are white! And smooth.

If only all home improvement projects were so speedy.

Starting in the corner on the uppers, Hero and crew (Elder Slack and Elder Bennett, the missionaries serving in our ward. They get to help out people as part of their responsibilities) got this part of the project done in about a half a day.

They so totally rock.

Elder Slack is about the right height to be an excellent support during the install.

Doors next. 

And admiring their work. As they should, things are looking awesome.

See?

What a difference already.

Installing and wiring the hood vent. This house will come with all the kitchen appliances included. 

Cutting out the lower cabinet to fit around the plumbing.

(Side note - Hero loves that saw.)

Another step back to take a look. 

From the living room.

See that all the walls are white? How about that.

Of course we have a joke that Hero cannot use that tool he is holding very effectively - It's a stud finder. He sets it off all the time. :)

Anyway, getting those cabinets securely mounted and level is how we roll.

This is really looking good!

Whoa - What a difference!

That is the counter top laying across the lower cabinets. It is really a great look with this color cabinets.

One more before:

And during:

So clean and fresh - it's really coming along. 

Next for the kitchen, counter top and sink installed, new floor, new lighting, finish up the painting, get the appliances installed.

All kinds of good things.

Next time I'll share what else is happening in the house.

oh boy

Well, hi!

Here is what I can say -

The holidays were super busy.

Seminary is kicking my butt.

We haven't really done much around the small house.

Most of the above are excuses. 

But we really have not done much around the small house.

I really have no good reason to ditch the blog for almost three months though. 

You know how when you put something off for a while and then it gets to be an awkward situation? Sorry for the awkwardness.

Can we put that behind us?

We have done one or two little things for the small house, and I will get those posted at some point. But today I have a feature!

I am really excited to share this house that Hero and I have been working on pretty much every weekend since Christmas.

Our good friends Stephanie and Larry moved from Michigan about 10 years ago and were not able to sell their home here due to the really icky housing market at the time. They have been renting it through a manager and have not been back until recently as they are ready to sell it in this much better market. The last of the renters have moved out and they are ready to roll. But they were having some twitchy feelings about how things were going and found out the person they were trusting was kind of taking advantage of them. When the showed up a few months ago to check on things, they were far from happy.

The kitchen had it's own special issues - Lighting, cabinets, counters, peeling floor. 

And the entire house was painted with some kind of paint color that it's only redeeming quality was that it was probably free. What the heck is this color?

The manager did have new carpet installed, which is good.

Upstairs bathroom - A little dated and the wallpaper must go.

See what I mean about every single thing being painted this color? 

Walls, a few ceilings even!, doors, trim, closets, hand rails.

I'm all about keeping things simple. Using one color throughout the house can be a great way to keep things flowing and soothing.

But not this color. Really.

So.

Our friends asked us to take over - manage the house, do any of the work we wanted to take on, work with a new realtor that they hired and to be the eyes and ears for them.

Hero and I just cannot turn down a good renovation project.

This home is in great condition structurally - No plumbing, electrical, heating, roof issues to speak of. This place just needs some loving.

And we are all over that.

Here is what we have planned:

Tear out the old kitchen.

Install a new kitchen, including cabinets, counter, sink, faucet, lighting and appliances.

Paint every wall, ceiling, closet, trim, door, hand rail.

Replace both bathroom vanities and sinks.

Strip wallpaper in the bathroom.

Have the kitchen floor installed.

A few other odds and ends.

This place is going to be terrific - Watch for updates on this home!