Friday, October 11, 2013

7 Quick Takes - Moving Back Day


{This post brought to you by some good ole early morning pregnancy insomnia PLUS a fantastic round of heartburn - enjoy}



--- 1 ---

{Here's to Papa}




Ever since Lee and I met the kitchen of the house that he (which was eventually we) lived in never had a vented (to the outside) hood. Pretty much drove him crazy because he cooks alot (and is pretty darn great at it) and hot natured. We were going to get it done at the old (turned rental) house but then we moved right before R arrived. This reno project did not have it in the original plans but then everything was out of the kitchen so he said what the heck and had it done. Now no more INSANELY hot kitchen in the summer while baking bread for church and other kitchen/stove activities : ) 

--- 2 ---
On to the pantry...


Hello space... This gem is courtesy of our designer/decorator. We would have NEVER come up with turning the bity pantry and coat closet into a massive pantry.


See those 8 squares on the left? That was the old pantry space. We have probably quintupled our pantry area. Now you are probably wondering what the story is with the floor? Can we say temporary area rug? One of the unforeseen side effects of moving the pantry and not redoing the laundry room / mudroom floors.




--- 3 ---

Man I have not even really showed you anything....  : )


Oh the knee wall... Inspiration for this number comes from E&R's friends house. The original plan was to take out the entire wall. Lee and I were not crazy about losing all the wall space to put furniture up against  / corral kids so we were okay with leaving half of the entire wall up, but along comes this knee wall concept and we both thought it was practical and still completely room-opening so we ran with it.


--- 4 ---
Opened entry... yes please


When our designer met with us and the contractor 2.5 seconds weeks before this project was about to happen she basically said - YOU MUST DO THIS OR ELSE. It was in the long term plan but not in the plan for this project. Well... fortunately we got it done this time for a number of reasons including it would have been (nearly) impossible to take out part of a wall and rematch the floor color in 5 years.


Are we so glad we did this? Yes... If you stood in our entryway (it's no foyer) before it was very dark and closed in... Not any more. Also, makes me happy that the iron is breaking up the crazy amount of wood that is in our house.

--- 5 ---
On to our bedroom...


No more fantastic pink carpet - tears have been shed - or pink walls. 


Need I say more? No... but I will anyway. Floors... Excellent. Walls. Like them. The pictures don't really tell the true wall color. In fact I actually thought they were going to be more on the greener side than the bluer side BUT I prefer blue to green. It is definitely not as blue as the kitchen accent wall so... seg-way to that



--- 6 ---
Let's talk walls shall we? Again an unforeseen thing that had to be dealt with during this renovation process... the walls and their color. Originally we just wanted the contractor to tie in the new walls with old paint color but that is crazy for two reasons:

A. We had amazing wallpaper covering the bottom half of the walls that was literally unmatchable
B. When else were we going to have everything moved into a perfect-time-to-paint position... NEVER



So this is what we got....


Accent wall in kitchen + new wall color everywhere else


Glad we got it done.... You bet!





--- 7 ---
Hardwood floors... You're up.



Putting in hardwood floors was the backbone/motivating factor of this project. They came out great and they tied in well and matched to the 5 inches of hardwoods that were in the house originally. However, I will admit this was the one thing that I took the most issue with and I'm not afraid to say it.

Prior to the floor installation (note I did not say prior to the project starting) I did not know there was such a thing as 'presealed hardwood floors' (what we have) which is different from 'manufactured hardwood floors' (not what we have) which is different from 'hardwood floors that have to cure in their environment for 5-7 days before installation' (not what we have). This is the ONLY part of the renovation where I felt not in control and completely not informed. I (we) am not opposed to the presealed hardwood floors but we were expecting the wood to have to cure in the house (but glad that it did not have to as it would have added a week to the timeline) BUT I just wish we had discussed it with the contractor BEFORE. We ASSUMED that the only hardwood floor option was the curing one so when that was not what was happening I calmly talked to Lee who talked to the contractor who assured us this was the best product for our circumstances and we will not have be disappointed and being 35 weeks pregnant I kind of had a conniption fit and frantically ran to the internet and then talked to Lee : )


The floors look reddish in some of these but the above picture is probably the most accurate in terms of stain.


Well that's all for now people. Overall extremely happy with the work that was done and the timeliness and quality. I cannot wait to get back to living in our house. It's been a wild ride 2.5 weeks before baby #3 comes. Why we do big projects right before babies... I have no idea. Baby #4 might be short changed down the road if that is in the cards but so was E so.... 

I'm rambling and going back to bed. Happy Friday. 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!



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6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks!!! We are super thrilled with how everything came out!

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  2. Oh my gosh, I have major floor envy. Your house looks WONDERFUL. I bet you're so happy to be back in! And congrats on your other new addition! :)

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    1. Haha... floor envy! I had much floor loathing when it came to the stain filled and pink carpet before, so it was a semi-long time coming. I'll bet you don't have put your house back together envy - but being pregnant gives a really fantastic reason/excuse to take a hands off/ laid back approach so I should not complain.

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  3. I'm new to your blog so I don't know the befores, but your house looks great! I love the knee wall!

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    1. Welcome!!! Here is what we had before...

      http://www.ourabclife.com/2013/09/five-favs-things-i-wont-miss-about-new_4.html

      Thanks... we really have minimal complaints. Knee wall is great. I would have never thought of it or been a fan unless I had seen it. It is a good open-top divided-bottom so the girls (and their stuff) stays out of the kitchen area : )

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