12.03.2014

#HouseToHome2014: Before and After (Part 1)

Three days before Thanksgiving, the Hubs announces over breakfast, "I've made an executive decision." After I raised an eyebrow, he continued, "I'm taking tomorrow and Wednesday off so that I can get the living room and dining room done before Friday so we can go get a tree." Well now, that's an executive decision I wasn't about to argue with!

Proverbs 31 talks about a husband praising his wife at the city gates. While Carrie's Busy Nothings isn't exactly the "city gates", it's as close to a public platform as I will ever get, and I cannot sing my husband's praises high enough. He worked from morning to night, nailing trim, painting, cleaning, even assembling two new cabinets for the living/dining separation.

On Thursday night, after a day of visiting with family and friends, and stuffing ourselves with turkey and pie, we returned home to move the Ektorp back into our living room and selectively return art to the walls. You might recall the post I wrote in 2011 when I did an initial purge of our wall decor... I was more brutal this time around. #MinimalismHappens

Although we love the outcome of our project (which is only half done!), over the last week we've both confessed that it no longer felt like our home. As strange as that sounds, it's actually quite accurate. The living space looks nothing like it did for the last 14 years that we have lived in this house, so in many respects it's like we've moved to a new location and now have to figure out how to make it feel like home. I'm not complaining - just getting used to it.

If you follow my Facebook page (which is FAR. MORE. ACTIVE. than this blog!), you'll have seen the progress of this project along the way. But just in case there are some here who don't follow the #HouseToHome2014 saga on Facebook, here's the Before and After update, along with some specific details (which several of you have asked for)...

In April 2014, the living room and dining room looked like this...



In May 2014, it looked like a tornado had ripped through the house...


By June we had started rebuilding, optimistic that we'd be done by August (ish)...


When the house still looked like this in August, we knew we might have miscalculated...


Sheetrock was delivered in October... (and if you just read that as "Sherlock", you're not alone!)


Sheetrock was hung in October (not by us - we learned that lesson 10 years ago!)...


Then the finishing began (again, not by us... lesson learned!)...



Early November we found someone to sand & refinish the floors (Hubs had already repaired them)...


Once the floors were done, we covered them all with plastic and started painting...



Mid- November, Hubs started the time-consuming task of trimming doors and windows...


Oh, and trimming the walls too... (check out those original 9' ceilings!)


The day before Thanksgiving we started detail painting (which is when I came in)...


By Wednesday night, it looked like this, with outlets and cover plates...


On Friday morning it had furniture and power for the first time in 7 months...



And then the Christmas decorating started... 
but that's a post for another day!

BEFORE/AFTER:





Nitty Gritty Details:
Paint Color: Valspar Sea Salt Blue in semi-gloss (yes, we use semi-gloss on everything: walls, ceiling, trim)
Cabinets: Patterson Cabinet | Crate & Barrel
Couch: Ektorp | Ikea (3 years later & I still love it!)
Dining Chairs: Antique Black Dining Chairs | Target (we've acquired 10 over the years - love them!)
Light Fixture: Home Depot (11 years ago)
Dining Table: My grandparents (60+ years old)

2 comments:

  1. I think it is the most gorgeous piece of architecture - and the amazing thing is that you say it's half done but it looks like a complete masterpiece to me. If my husband says he's going to fix something in a corner of one room, the entire house will resemble mismatched parts of a machine shed for months or years until I forget what it looked like before and the vision for what he was trying to accomplish has vanished. Good job Carrie and husband. It looks amazing. You are amazing.

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