One of the reasons I was interested in starting and contributing to this blog is because I am currently in the process of a DIY home rehab! I felt that this would be a good place to document my successes and failures—and allow others to learn from me! I bought a house a little over a year ago that has great bones, but has been treated very badly through the decades. So, I’m going to show you how I did simple things—like refinishing the hardwood floors, removing the popcorn ceilings and repainting the outside—and then post updates while we are doing the much bigger and harder work of redoing our current bathroom, kitchen and possibly adding a second bathroom.
My home was built in 1924 and is essentially a Spanish Colonial Revival but has a few Craftsman features, which is kinda weird. It is currently white with shamrock green accents—all of the windows, doors and security bars are shamrock green. Lets take a moment to let that sink in–SHAMROCK GREEN! Gooooo Celtics! The driveway is also shamrock green and white squares. Yep, that’s right! Someone painted concrete green and white, not once, but multiple times! Aesthetically, it is absolutely hideous, but as with everything else, it really is what is on the inside—and the inside of the outside, as it were—that counts! We also have some big decisions to make in regards to our interior layout—there was a very poorly planned and constructed (legal!) addition to the back of the house that encloses our California basement to the interior of the house. We also have a garage rumpus room that must be dealt with soon. There are A LOT of interior entrances and exits on one side of our home that are very…odd. I want to make this space much more functional for me and my family, but I do have budget and time limitations, which are difficult to juggle. Having a friend that is an interior designer is proving to be an invaluable resource as I move through all of these decisions, as it is very important to me to have a cohesive home that feels just as great as it will ultimately look! It should be an exciting and fun experience to follow along with us as we figure it all out! At the very least, you can learn what not to do from any mistakes that I make!
First up, I will be posting my thoughts and experiences of removing the popcorn ceilings and repairing and refinishing our hardwood floors. After that, I will show you how we changed out our window pane and security bar color, which is still in the process of being completed. Next, I’ll move inside for a super fun project in the dining room and then it will probably be time to deal with the scariest project of all, the kitchen renovation! As a note, I’m not on a strict time line with these renovations, they are basically being planned and completed as the budget and schedules allow. Waiting it out is actually very hard, as living in a house that has significant aesthetic issues is frustrating, but it is important that all of the projects are done correctly and all of the money spent on them is spent wisely.
Have you renovated a home before? Did you do a kitchen renovation yourself? Leave me a comment below! You can also tag us in photos on Instagram, we would love to see how you changed things around!
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