Were getting somewhere

Today was texture day! This past week the new sheetrock went in and last night they put the final coat of joint compound on it all.

The existing walls in the house had texture already, but it was not very attractive and was very uneven. Since we were making new walls and taking others away, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to literally give the whole house a fresh skin!

I got there this morning to see the process take place and after everything was taped off it literally took these guys 30 minutes to spray the texture on, and probably only an hour to "knock it down" (drag the flattening skim tool across to make it look like all the walls in homes that we are used to). So, its done! And painting can start as early as possibly tomorrow.

I then took out my handy dandy Behr paint fan that I keep in my car. (I use this thing more than you'd think.) And David and I looked at the "Neutral - Yellow Tones" (my favorite grouping) and deciphered all the taupes, beiges, and creams and neutrals and came up with 2 sets of 2 (wall vs ceiling) pairings that will hopefully work. I think we need an accent color somewhere but I still need to figure that one out.

In the mean time, here are some pictures prior to texturing when everything was taped and floated.

I can't decide if this or the master bathroom is my favorite part about the remodel. But this is the NEW PANTRY. Through that opening and to the right will be the new pantry (the second opening just past is the door to the now smaller utility room. There used to be a pantry on the back/side of the fireplace, but now its somewhere over in the burn pile in the form of ashes... This hopefully will be a HUGE selling point for this house. Its one of those things that you need, but you don't want smack in your face when you walk into a kitchen. So, around the corner is the next best thing!

View from the kitchen into the living room. So open!

In the kitchen looking at what used to be a solid wall.

Living room view of hallway and new wall.

Fireplace view, kitchen beyond.

The new Master bathroom! The old shower used to be a little square stall to the right of that circle on the ground... (the toilet). Now its a whole room behind the toilet. Huge improvement!

Next steps:

- painting

- tile

Thanks for stopping in!

Progress Report

Here are some progress photos of the last couple of weeks. We will have more after this weekend. Things are going fast and that is good! David is able to do a lot of planning and is able to hand over all responsibility during the day to his Dad, HD Walker. Special thanks to him for making this a smooth process as well as providing amazing plumbing skills and of course, beer.

Paneling is gone! The living room is so much brighter open. (The hole in the far wall is to facilitate better access to the new shower arrangement in the master bathroom.)


Looking into the Master Bathroom (from the hole in the living room.) Here you can see that David has made the old closet behind the old bathroom into the new and larger shower. Now the bathroom's main area is larger with more room to move around and be comfortable.

And here is the most amazing transformation. The walls on either side of the fireplace have been removed and we have created an "open" plan to the kitchen. Both spaces are so bright and open. What you can't see, is that on the other side of the kitchen was a built on sun-room. It didn't really serve a purpose and one day David and his dad just tore it down. Now there is light coming in from that side, and the living room. It is literally like a completely different house.

David added a small run of wall along the hallway in front of the front bedroom. We thought it would be nice to visually block off that room from the living room and everything going on in there. I think it will also create a nice side seating area or chair and reading lamp nook. The ideas are already flowing!

And this is the lovely work of David and HD. They had to completely move the drain and hot and cold water piping for the new placement of the shower. I'm amazed by what these two guys can do.

All in all, we are on a good roll. Sheetrock was completed this week and texture is projected for this weekend. Yall come back now!

"Dream Team"

Here we are once again. David and Katie, the "dream team" as some of our friends like to call us. On our way to another remarkable transformation. Please follow our progress as we cultivate David's classic 1973 home into one devoid of carpet in the kitchen and popcorn ceilings.

Demolition weekend was a great success......everything except the sheetrock was removed!!

Below are pictures of before and progress thus far. Believe us when we say that there was a lot of thought, talks, and planning that took place prior to starting. David and I are so excited to be able to share this experience and many more with you all!

Kitchen. The island is gone, but it was big and yellow. And yes, that is carpet in the kitchen.

Carpet close-up.

Living Room. Looking at Entry and Front Door. Kitchen behind.

Living Room. Fireplace wall.

Guest Bathroom linoleum close-up.

Master Bedroom. Left opening - old closet being repurposed. Right opening - existing to remain bathroom.

More to come!