Flip this House!

Well, this is going to be a rather LONG post but hang with me... I have lots to share... I have wanted to do this post for a while, pondering it many times, and then always posting usually about just what's happened recently. This is what's been happening at our house over the last 5 years. It's a before and after of our house...


When I saw this house on HAR I wanted it. The pool immediately got me. We looked other places and other neighborhoods but always came back to this one...we love the neighborhood- our street is super quiet...no one comes down it really unless you live on it...and well, we saw potential.

I'm going to make a general disclaimer before all of this and state that wherever I say we, I mean Brian and Steve. Those two have beenthe ones behind these pics. I personally had no hand in any of this hard work except changing paint colors and well nit picking along the way.

It's been fun, stressful, and exciting to see how far this house has come...

So here we go....the before and after's....

This is our pool- looks very inviting....yep, I saw myself in it right away.

Until you look closer and see this...the entire pool had to be re-plastered...upon move in. The owners dyed the pool that awesome blue you see above. That was not the water color- the dye clogged up our DE filters and everything was blue making it hard to see what was beneath.

So it was fixed asap and is now better. I just didn't include the pic. There are so many better things.

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You probably remember the mailbox incident in which our trash co. just cracked it right through- thank you so much. I really didn't like that mailbox!

So we had it rebuilt in limestone....

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Let's move inside.....

here is our master bath BEFORE: Take note of the two different types of wallpaper...ugh. So we stripped it and had to re-texture the walls. Then paint. Then I decided I didn't like the paint color I chose- not quite what I was going for...so it got re-painted to what you see below. ;)

We took out the fur down and panel lighting and huge mirror and changed it...

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The gameroom upstairs before:

And now...not too many changes aside from the peach colored paint and old carpet....

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My sweet Roo Bug's room before:

I have to take a moment and explain the walls- they were the 70's linen "grassy" wallpaper (ugh) that was painted that very nice lilac hue, then re-wallpapered on top (double ugh) with the brick pattern. Now, how many of you want that in your rooms? I know, your jealous, right!?

We did not strip this wallpaper- no way...we ripped off the walls and re-did everything down to the studs. (I wish I had the pics but I lost them when my old laptop died. Behind her room is a HUGE attic space which could easily be an office or extra bedroom.)

Brian and I really wanted scripture for her wall so we chose Jer 29:11

She had bi-fold doors on her closet and so we ripped them out and a friend gave us these....(please excuse my son who worked his way into the pic).

Basically everything got re-modeled in her room.

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The half bath in the LR before:

I LOVE red! (please excuse the demo from the tile- it's still not all put back together) It looks orangy-red here but it's barn red.

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The upstairs banister - which got replaced as a side job to the sagging ceiling we had caused by the AC and water heater in the attic. The banister was wobbly and unsafe... and I had visions of it letting loose and the kids falling.

After:

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The living room before:

you also might remember a blog entry about that old back door....

Here's the boys when they laid the wood floors- took them nights during the work week and the weekend too.

And the fireplace cover is now black...

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The formal living room- just behind the main LR.

Before:

After:

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The dining room- I think this room takes the cake for best decor! I did end up selling the lovely glass chandelier at a friends garage sale for a whopping $5...and the green rose carpet I gave to a lady that wanted it for hers. To each his own....

C'mon ya'll! You know you dig the mirrored walls....although it did make the room look pretty big

We got rid of everything...mirrored walls, lovely green rose textured carpet, and yep, you guessed it...wallpaper- but just a border in here. 2 of them.

Now this room is the kids toy room...so imagine it...this isn't the most up-to-date pic. The floors are painted concrete but will have wood eventually.

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This is Cole's room before:

I went with a cars and trucks theme...which suits him (and his daddy) very well. We got rid of the wallpaper border, re-insulated the walls which meant also new sheetrock, and then added crown molding and carpet.

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The famed fruit kitchen! Before:

There was wall paper floor to ceiling and it was fruit! Grapes, pears, whatever....everywhere! Had to go right away. This was one of the very first things we tackled after moving in.

There's that old dining room again in the background...

This is the way the kitchen was for the first four years after the wall paper came down and we finally got to paint. (5 layers ya'll in the kitchen. That's one of the biggest surprises of this house- just when you think you get the paper off- there's more!

But I got tired of it and thought it was too "cold" feeling with the grayish color on the wall and I wanted to warm it up and re-paint and the lack of curtains always bothered me too. I thought Brian would adamantly refuse since painting is about his very least favorite thing to do....but he didn't. We re-painted just before Thanksgiving last year...now it is a warm mocha and I LOVE it.

We demo-ed all the laminate a couple days before the tile was laid... and while I didn't mind the laminate itself, I HATED the color. I could not keep it clean and it showed everything. I despised cleaning that floor. Thank you to Sears for flooding my laminate floors because they forgot to re-connect the hose on the back of my washer during repairs!!

We picked 18 x 18" tile and had it laid diagonally...

AFTER!

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The kiddos bathroom...

Not even close to being the worst room in the house, but we tore the painted wallpaper off the walls early on after moving in and just didn't quite get back to finsihing it...along came Riley and Cole. And you already saw their rooms so that took priority. Here we go-

Of course, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish much with out the help of this little boy...and he even wore his "safety goggles".

BEFORE:

Notice the "fur down" which that big piece of empty space above the lights. Notice the long 70's lighting. Notice the wallpaper, which was painted over to a wonderful huw of peachy-brown! Oh yes, they painted over wall paper.

Good bye! We won't miss you!

A much improved way to brush your teeth! ( btw, it was painted by Brian first...then I really didn't lilke that color green we first chose, so... I had to repaint it all by myself the 2nd time. He would NOT help. HA HA. It was worth the re-do.)

BEFORE:

AFTER!!!

No more 70's ugly brown everywhere! ( No we did not replace the tub- we had it re-plastered which is the way to go if you have a cast iron tub you do not want to get rid of it. Plus, do you know how much it costs to replace a cast iron tub? WOW!)

So, we've been here for 5 years and have come quite a ways from the 70's/80's decor faux pas. There have been many days and nights and trips to Lowe's...many friends and family members who helped us rip wallpaper. It's good stress relief! ( I think though sometimes it made me more frustrated bc behind one was always another layer...and we still have one room left that has it!)

We most definitely could not have done ANY of this without my amazing father-in-law who has dedicated many, many hours to this "project" we call home and for that we are forever grateful. He has poured his blood, sweat, and well, maybe not tears, but very hard work into this house.

Everywhere you saw wallpaper and walls that are now painted are only so because of his talents. He has re-done all of those walls...and some I did not include. He has helped us with wiring, demo, baseboards, crown moulding- you name it, I'm sure he has been a part. So truly, I have a huge appreciation for all of it.

My amazing hubby Brian has done a LOT of the work too and so they, together, deserve the credit. Thank you both for putting up with me and my OCD when it comes to minute details, evenly painted lines, and who knows how many more complaints ( I mean, suggestions) I had along the way!

Stay tuned...there are many more things that will eventually get done around here...