The Farmhouse

A little Farmhouse38 before and after….Although, we’ve come so far, we are so very far from done….so keep checking in for the latest additions!

Please to enjoy:

Front of house, before….Behold!  The color beige!

Front of house, after….we needed somewhere to put our rockers, thus the deck and vine-covered pergola.  Oh, and a front door….you may have noticed there wasn’t one before.  Minor detail.

Front of house, after….white picket fence and all.  And, yes, that is a Texas flag hiding behind the U.S. flag.

West side, front of house, before….more beige.  Notice the pallet stacked with cement bags sitting in the driveway.  After being abandoned for years, those bags of cement had turned into one enormous boulder.

West side, front of house, after….not so beige anymore!

Family room, before….this is the photo where people usually say something like, “Oh, this isn’t so bad!”, and if I looked passed the apartment-grade vertical blinds, I would have to tend to agree.  This really was the best room in the house, with its little patch of perfectly polished wood floors and drooping, but interesting old ceiling.

Family room, after, upon discovering that the old ceiling wasn’t really a real, structural ceiling and was being held up by old wall paper, we made the decision to take it down.  The family room is still not quite finished (ie, missing window trim and other odds and ends).

Family room, before….it really was such a pretty floor.  Too bad it was only in this one room, while the rest of the rooms displayed a fine selection of every other terrible flooring material known to humankind.

Family room, after….white dog, always in the shot.  The new gas-vent fireplace and built-in bookshelves really help this feel like an actual family room.

Not-so-great-room leading into the ‘kitchen’, before….again, as it turned out, this dividing wall was just a flimsy partition of panel board, not a real wall….therefore, it, too, had seen its final days.

Kitchen/great room, after….much better.

‘Kitchen’, before….I know it’s hard to believe, but those are not real bricks.  And you are looking at the only bit of counter top and cabinets in the whole ‘kitchen’.

Kitchen, after….with soapstone-inspired cement counter tops and (gasp) actual cabinets.

Kitchen sink, after….oh, how I love our kitchen bathtub.

Stairs, before….or, the gateway to the underworld, as we used to call it.

Stairs, after….widened, stabilized, and brightened.

Stairwell, before….every stair was a different height, a different width, and a different slant….it made you seasick to walk on them.

Stairwell, after. Note the built-in bookshelves along the right side and the built-in white dog at the top.

The original master bedroom. We liked this so little that we actually changed everything about it, including its location.

The new master bedroom, mid-renovation. We lived with it like this, half-done, for several years.

The new, made-over master bedroom. Final answer.

Master bath, before….this photo just does not do it justice.  This bathroom was THE WORST!  Disgusting, tiny, and frankly, rather creepy.

Masterbath, after….glorious in comparison to how it was.  Just….glorious.

Masterbath, after….our lovely walk-in shower and the nifty full-length medicine cabinet I had built in to the right of it for extra storage.

My bathtub….just look at it. It’s wonderful. *sigh*

 

Guest bath, before….so very sad to see those grungy pink tiles go….

Guest bath, after….whitened, brightened and very clean.  Clean is good.

Guest bath, after….cheerfulness!

Guest bedroom, before….those drop ceilings had to go.

Guest bedroom, after….raised the ceilings, and lightened and brightened with a new french door leading to the garden, recessed lighting, new floors, and fresh paint.

Guest bedroom, after….Abbie is laying on an heirloom quilt (sigh).

Driveway, before….we were so pleased to buy a place with an outdoor shower.  I mean, talk about luxury.

Driveway, during….tidied up so that we have an unobstructed view of our shabby garage (pre-renovation).  This is Chance’s favorite squirrel-hunting post.

A current shot of the driveway, lined with our upcycled scrapwood garden edging, looking down at the redone garage. Now we just gotta do something about that cracked driveway….Chance doesn’t seem to mind it, though.  He’s still on the job.

The garage, in all it’s glory, before.

Refreshed garage exterior.

Driveway, backyard, before….2400 cinder blocks, free with purchase!

Driveway, Backyard, after….it is amazing how much clean-up the demo crew was willing to trade for 2400 free cinder blocks.  Look closely: ladybird antics are afoot!

What’s missing:

The kitchen is still missing our new range, some backsplash, and other decor odds and ends.  The roof needs to be redone (and my farmhouse cupola added!).  The back deck needs to be re-done, so that, oh, I don’t know–we can actually walk on it without fearing for our lives.  The driveway needs to be fixed/patched/ripped out.  The basement/laundry room needs walls.  Is it just me, or does the list keep growing?  Cheers to 100-year-old houses.