The number one question I am asked besides “How’s the market?” is: “How’s the house coming along?” It’s crazy how so many people have been following along on this journey with Brandon and me. We love how invested you have become.
A lot has changed since last fall. It’s been so long since I’ve done a house update; I had to read previous posts to figure out where we left off! The last few months have been quite a blur. Today I’m sharing a brief update of the projects we’ve (mostly) completed downstairs. In the coming weeks I will dive deeper into the specific projects with before and after photos.
Let’s start with the front porch.
The last time I wrote about the porch, we had just finished the insulation and heating. When we were planning the entryway/porch area, our goal was to cover up the original doorway and move the opening to the center where two windows once were. In fall 2016, when we were removing the clapboard, we carefully saved each piece so we could re-purpose it by filling in the original opening. Late last summer, we had a “work party. ” A group of our friends from church came over and helped with various projects. Our friend John, who has some serious carpentry skills, stitched together the opening with the pieces we saved. You can’t even tell there used to be an opening there!
The Stairs.
I’m sure you saw the video of Brandon and I tearing out our dear closet kitchen to make room for our new staircase. This project was necessary to allow for headroom above the stairs. In order to bring the staircase up to code, we had to shorten the rise, and lengthen the run of the stairs. We ended up adding 2 additional steps to the staircase, which is why some of the steps are winders. The stairs are not done yet; they are still just the rough treads. Our goal is to begin working on finishing the stairs this September!
The Downstairs Bathroom.
We finished the downstairs bathroom!! This project is my favorite part of the house update. I was really determined to have a full bathroom on the first floor, and we actually found a layout that made that tiny room feel spacious. Here is a little teaser for you:
Fireplace/Flooring.
We also finished the fireplace! Well, almost. The fireplace is about 90% finished, but it looks really amazing. The last time we left off with the fireplace, had just built a new wall from the inside. Brandon and some work friends also dug out the old hearth, and sistered some of the rotting floor joist below. After installing fire rated cement board, we closed it up with sheetrock temporally. Last September, we framed the new surround and hearth with brand new beautiful brick. All we have left to do is have the chimney relined, then purchase and install our wood stove!
This past September, we had another “work party” that lasted well past midnight. That evening, we finished the fireplace, tiled our bathroom shower, and installed the flooring downstairs. Man, we are so blessed with such amazing friends and family!
Trim/Doors.
Once the other major projects were done, we moved onto the trim and doors. Not gonna lie, this type of work bores me to death. Brandon so patiently created and modeled several possibilities for our door and window trim. Since the house was built in 1910, we really wanted to keep that gorgeous craftsman style of trim and molding. Many nights and weekends later, (and help from friends!) we finished the door and window trim.
The downstairs doors also needed to be stained and installed. We decided to go a little darker than the doors upstairs. We liked it so much, that we took down the upstairs doors, sanded and re-stained them. Brandon is an actual Saint for doing this you know. I fought pretty hard on this one, and because of my stubbornness, we ended up doing 2x the work. Even though it was a pain, (and I totally was a pain) I’m sooo happy with the way they turned out.
Kitchen?
This is the most exciting update of all: We are ordering our kitchen cabinets this week!!!! Just this morning, Brandon and I went over the final layout. He will be connecting with our rep at the kitchen place, and we will hopefully be placing our order for cabinets by the end of the week!
Which more in-depth update would you like to see next? Fireplace or Bathroom? Leave a comment below.
