A Preview of Floors and Doors

Not a very exciting post, but perhaps it will pique your interest in the finished product.....we are so close!

Just when I finally get my energy back, we can't enter the house because they were sanding/staining/sealing the floors all week.  Here is a preview of what is to come:

Patching floors in the kitchen (which used to be the porch back in the day)

Heart pine flooring doesn't take stain well so we decided to add a black filler to make it look antique-y.  Not sure if I like the results though - kind of looks like Quinn was drawing on the floor with shoe polish. Just kidding; the process is not done yet.  (Boy do I need some sleep if this is my best joke)

Master Bedroom - bathroom and closet doors, walk-in closet to the right

I love the 5 paneled door look and was so glad to be able to get it at an affordable price!

You wouldn't think I'd use just any old door handles do you?  Stay tuned for an ebay find......perhaps, it will be this week's Deal of the Week.

I prom promise to be better at blogging this month.  

Update on Home Renovations

Lots has been happening with our house, but nothing too tangible to show in photos until now.  In the last 2 weeks.....

HVAC went in:

The framing went up:

Bathroom in Office/Guest Room

Nursery bathroom

New window above kitchen sink

Insulation went in:

Kitchen

And the drywall went up:

But, the pièce de résistance, is the living room ceiling:

I l-u-v it!

Next up: paint colors and final decision on tile..........

Foundation Work

This video was taken last month, but I thought it would be a good lesson in how slanted old Charlestonian houses are.  We had to raise portions of the floor by 7.5 inches to make it (almost) level.  If we wanted it perfect, it would have been 10 inches, but that caused more issues with the walls and ceilings.

I like the charm of the slanted porches and floors, but husband wanted the house stable.  Wouldn't it be great if the baby could play catch all by her/himself?

Autodesk Homestyler

I was a bit weary of the free, DIY, home design/architectural sites that are offered online.  But, when my friend sent me a link to Autodesk Homestyler, I thought I'd give it a try.

It is actually pretty user friendly and there is no software to download.  It is kind of like Polyvore, where you just drag and click your ideas over to a "board" and save it to an online account.  I have to go back and check the measurements because the rooms seem a bit off scale.

I spent a lot of the day yesterday playing around with some of our future rooms.  Here is the 1st Floor Study/Guest Room:



You can also see a 3D version of the room with one click of the button:

The product list leaves something to be desired, but you can still get the basic idea.  I wish there was an insert text box option so you could type in what everything is.  The long closet on the back wall will actually be a murphy bed.  Hopefully our contractor will build something prettier than this:

And the small box to the right of it will house the Ms. Pac-Man machine.  After 3 years of trying to figure out what to do with it/how to decorate around it, she finally has a home!  I sure learned my lesson with this purchase, but it was such a great gift to my husband that I'd do it all over again.

There will be built-ins along the wall where it looks like floating chairs.  The chairs indicate where the workspace will be for both of us.  I CAN'T WAIT to finally have a desk!  I've been calling the dining room table home for too long now.

The 2nd Floor Nursery will look something like this. 

This room was tricky because we had to add a bathroom without taking up too much of the livable space.  We knew we'd need a tub to be kid-friendly and resale friendly.  And we had to be able to fit a queen size bed in there eventually.  It may look like you can fit the queen bed between the windows where the crib is (anyone else find it odd that the crib has a pillow?), but we taped it out on the floor and there was zero clearance for walking.  Believe me, we tried.....so, the closet (to the left of the entryway) now houses a window.  Perhaps a big design no-no, but what can you do?  

Have you ever experimented with free, online, design tool like this?  If so, send some other suggestions.  This is fun!

Can I Get A What What??

Do you know how much these bricks sell for???

$5 a piece!!!

When we saw the state it was in, we thought about tearing it down all together.  But I had to remind us that we have always wanted a fireplace (regardless if we finally get one in a climate that barely reaches 50 degrees in winter).

We could have funded another addition with that money (not really).  Onward and upward we went and here is the work in progress:

Here is the before pic:

Upcycling Found Materials

We went into this renovation knowing that we wanted to be as environmentally friendly as our budget would allow, but it never occurred to us how many materials we could re-use from the demo work.

Most of the walls contained old clapboard behind the drywall:

The crew left us a whole pile to work with:

And we plan to re-use this material in the bathrooms where we were going to install (new) bead-board.  Picture is sanded and painted like this:

We could even go crazy and do chair rails like one of my favorite Charleston home designers, New World Byzantine:

Or not worry about new kitchen cabinets

I love the rustic look of this, but I want it outside on a barn door not in my kitchen.

These old beams that were used to frame the walls would be awesome for a farm table:

or maybe a door on a runner

 The Brooklyn Home Company

My husband and I walk over to the site on most nights to check out the progress.  There isn't much to see this week since the foundation guys are working on leveling the floors.  They did leave us a pile of debris they found under the house (wish I took a pic, but it is dark out) and my 5 year old child husband took such delight in rummaging through the dirt and retrieving all the old glass bottles.  While I think these are very cool, I find no need in keeping them.  Maybe it is my fear of becoming a subject on Hoarders after we moved all our crap (yes, it was ALL crap) into storage 2 weeks ago.  I'm kind of digging this light feeling of not having many possessions.  I could "lose" the key to the POD and be happy to start fresh.

Large Kitchen or Dining Nook?

Calling all readers (all 5 of you...):  I need your advice.

If you had the option to have a big kitchen with lots of storage and even a recycling area with 3 pullout compartment under-cabinets (this only exists in my head at the moment) and a large farm table delineating the kitchen from the living room 

OR 

A medium/smallish kitchen with a separate dining nook a la the below images, 

Which one would you choose?

Exhibit A:  This is the view of the kitchen looking from the living room.  Those walls will come down

Exhibit B:  We could use this white beam structure to delineate the kitchen (on the left) and the dining nook (on the right)

Kitchen Side: The cabinets/appliances would start from the left and make an L-Shape around the corner to the right

Dining Nook Side:  I envision built in L-shaped upholstered seating along these 2 walls and a table

Kind of like this

But a bit more cozy and styled, like this:

My main concern is not having enough room for the large farm table and living room furniture.  Keep in mind we are having a kid soon so I assume we need a lot of space for "things".  Does that mean kitchen cabinet space or floor space?  Do these questions make you scared for my child?

We are meeting with the cabinet people today so should get a better idea of budget and layout.  I'd love your ideas.  Please comment away.....thanks!

Renovations Before Video

Week 1 of the Duncan St Renovation Project

I hope you guys can see these videos.  I'll post some stills below, too.  The above video is of the 1st floor prior to demo work.



I really wish the previous tenants left that bike. Guess what we found underneath the carpet??

Can you say ORIGINAL HEART PINE WOOD???  I am not sure how they survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989, but they did!  The house was built in 1840 and boy did they do it right back then.

This next video is of the 2nd floor.  Keep in mind that I am no video wizard.  The perspective is way off and the rooms are small so it is hard to get a good angle.  I am also mumbling a narrative to myself in parts, but most of it is about how "gross" everything is.



Things are coming along just great.  We only have to rip out the walls on the 1st level since they found insulation in the walls on the 2nd floor.  And we were convinced that there were no hardwoods on the 1st floor.  What an awesome surprise!  It makes everyone's life a little more difficult working around them (foundation work is needed), but who could throw those gems away?