Home Renovations

In March 2015 we sold our comfortable home that was 1 mile from the Beach and bought 4.3 acres of land. The beach is now 45 minutes away, but we've got our own slice of heaven for animals, gardens, and elbow room.

The home we bought has great bones - it's dry underneath, the roof is in good shape, and there is no damage from termites etc. Other than crummy windows, the issues with the house were/are cosmetic. Most of what we paid for was land and paneling. The house was filled with paneling, and it seemed dark and stuffy throughout. There was carpeting, cream colored, which we started to destroy immediately. Life with us and 2 dogs was not meant for carpeting.

We found beautiful hardwood floors underneath the carpeting. Except in the kitchen, under the kitchen carpet (yes, the kitchen carpet) we found linoleum and under the linoleum was hideous black glue goo. There is a porch when you first walk into the home, but there is also a peninsula in front of you. There is a wall, paneled of course, between the kitchen and the porch and the kitchen and the dining room. Each of the rooms felt small and very dark. The first order of business was to tear down those walls! We hired someone to do that for us since we needed to be sure nothing was load bearing.

The wall between the kitchen and the porch extended into the dining room, and made it all feel stuffy and small. 

The wall between the kitchen and the dining room made everything feel small and stuffy. 

Even with the dust and mess, the difference with the walls coming was incredible! 

It took some time to decide on the kind of flooring we wanted, though deep down we knew tile was always the best choice. Then we had to decide on the kind of tile and stay within our budget. The concessions began almost immediately, but we enjoyed picking out colors and textiles! We also had to decide how we wanted to layout the kitchen. Although people encouraged us to hire a designer we felt confident we knew what we liked and wanted. We went with a large island, a bar top and a lot more counter space.

The bar will divide the kitchen and the porch. There will be counter top and cabinets below on side. The porch side will have some stools for seating. The dining room goes away and becomes walking, open space for the kitchen as well as allowing for the over sized island with the range and second oven. 

Progress actually happened very quickly and was so exciting to see! This is looking out onto the porch, whereas the above picture is looking into the kitchen from the porch.

No tile yet, but we have paint - a gorgeous minty green color! The living room, which is the dark spot you can see under the arch/behind the fridge, hadn't been started yet.

We moved onto the living room pretty soon after, since we weren't making any structural changes. Again, all the paneling came down and the carpet came up. We decided to keep the old walls with their texture and  go with white trim for everything.  

Deciding paint colors was put on hold for puppy snuggling. There's always time for puppy sitting! 

I'll leave you with this puppy face for now, and will post more updates as we move on with more renovations.