Jan 31, 2011

In the beginning... pre-demolition!

The following pictures were taken before we started the demolition part of our project. This is to give everyone an idea of what we started with.



This was the living room facing the front door. The entire downstairs was grey tile that reminded us of the floors at an elementary school. There was a very interesting style zigzag railing on the staircase.





These were the front corner windows in the living room complete with flowered wall paper and metal blinds. Some windows in the house were stationary, some were operable. None of them appeared to be installed very well.




This is the giant fireplace in the center of the house. The fireplace opening is the living room and the back of the brick wall is in the kitchen. In the beginning Kevin really liked the fireplace and it played a big role in his buying decision! Now it has become some what of a frustration for both of us J We plan to install a gas insert in the fireplace and drywall at least a portion of all this brick.




This was the view down the short hallway from the living room. The master bedroom will be through the doorway on the right and the master bathroom (which used to be another bedroom) and the mudroom will be down the hall on the left.





This was the downstairs bathroom. It was covered in powder blue tile and the only full bath in the house (that’s an old cast iron tub!). It wasn’t fully functioning and has been completely demolished.





This was the staircase view from upstairs. The strange shelving matches the zigzag railing at the bottom of the stairs. There were two bedrooms and a half-bath up here. You may be wondering what that strange pattern on the wall is…




It’s not just wallpaper… its spaceman wallpaper! Astronauts, rockets, satellites and spaceships to be exact, NASA would be proud J We saved a piece of this historical wallpaper and plan to frame it as a reminder of the beginning of our project.




To the right of the staircase was the blue bedroom. It had linoleum floors and the alluring aroma of cat pee. Removing the floor and spraying the entire room with bleach helped tremendously!





Separating the two rooms upstairs was a small green colored half bath with wood paneling and an accordion folding door.






This was the second bedroom upstairs, painted red.  It was much larger (and cleaner) then the blue room. On the right you can see some of the exposed brick from the fireplace below.




This was what the carport looked like and what was left behind by the previous owners. It took a while to sort through and throw out all of this junk. Eventually we'd like to build an enclosed 2 car garage but for now the car port is just fine.



Shortly after these pictures were taken... demolition  began!

Jan 26, 2011

The Kitchen - Before





Here you can see what the kitchen looked like when we started. Very small, poorly laid out. The door with the clothes hanging opens into a closet and interrupts the counter. The door is also hiding a washing machine....yes...a washing machine in the kitchen. And, it was absolutely filthy, so Becca and I cleaned it up as best we could. We felt good about our progress that day, however we both knew the kitchen just needed to be gutted and to start from scratch. More on that later.













Jan 8, 2011

Rear view...don't look back!


Here's the back of the house, as it was in the beginning. It's quite a bit different now, but we'll get to that later.

"Well......it has potential..."


So, as most of you already know, this project has been underway since late May 2010. At left you can see the house as it was when I first showed up to Dilston Rd. People were kind, calling it "cute" when they saw this picture. In reality, it was a mess and there was very little to be saved.


As you follow this blog you will be able to see the [gradual] transformation of this house into our home. For you own personal safety, don't ask me when the project will be completed unless you are one of the few people helping us from time to time! :)




We have come a long way since this picture was taken so we will be trying to catch you up by recreating the last six months of work in a dozen or so posts/pictures.


~K&B