Southern Porches

For Better or Worse

Ok, so let me start with a disclaimer - what you are about to see are NOT before/after pics, they are only progress shots.  Things have been moving slowly around here lately.  There's just so much for two of us to do, and really my poor hubby has been doing the bulk of it alone for the past few months.  But, hooray - back to work today!!  We piddled around, caulking, fixing gutters, hanging hooks and toilet paper holders - nothing big or exciting, but enough to motivate me give you all another little peek into the chaos that is currently our life ;o) 

So, let's do this.  If you will remember, here is the "before"

What's Cookin'!

I have been lookin forward to writin this post for over a year - seriously!  Now don't go gettin too terribly excited, the kitchen is NOT finished, but it IS functioning - so no more cookin in the laudry room (and that's not some crazy joke you're not privy to - my super-resourceful Daddy installed a 2-burner cooktop in the laundry room.  The microwave and coffee maker were stacked on top of the dryer, and most food prep occurred on top of the washing machine).  But no longer!  We now have a fabulous gas cook top, a dishwasher (probably my favorite part!  I can't tell you how many sippy cups we lost during hand washing - just couldn't get those little plastic parts clean enough), and a HUGE farmhouse sink.  We are still working on hardware, lighting, a backsplash, and more drywall touch-up and paiting, etc etc etc.  Also, keep in mind we are still under construction, so random tools, ladders, and supplies are in the pics, too.  These aren't true "before and after" pics, but enjoy these progress shots!

Progress Shots!

Below is the original post of dining room and living room progress shots, PLUS the newly added "AFTERS"!!! yay!! If I ever get all of the extra furniture out of the office, those will be the next set of before & afters that will debut.  Thanks for checkin' it out!

Tile - and what other dreams may come

before                                                                                      during

Finally, Paint!!!

So, we finally got to start painting today! I bought some paint for the girls' rooms,  and some quart-sized samples for their bathrooms.  Well, the samples went ok, but I didn't like the blue I chose for the girls, too gray, so I decided to try it out in the master. 

Just Gimme a Little Trim

So, we've already taken out some trim, and put up some beadboard (again, sorry posterity). Now we need to put some trim back in. I wanted to show you chair rail, just to give you a start-to-finish look at the half bath, since I did the beadboard tutorial in there but alas, the hubby was too quick for me, so I'm gonna show you some extra crown moulding that he put in that bathroom instead.

Caulk Covers a Multitude of Sins

Since hubby has been workin so hard puttin up trim everywhere (as if this house needed any more), I've had to take up the task of caulking. This is pretty important since caulk is the magical little ingredient that makes your trim run seamlessly into the wall and flawlessly into another piece of trim.

Beadboard - what goes around comes around!

We happen to love trim (and we're gluttons for punishment), so we have decided to put beadboard paneling in all of the bathrooms at this new house. I mean, someone opted 30 years ago to ruin our lives with horrible wallpaper, and turn about is fair play, so 30 years from now we'll be ruining someone elses with paneling that they will only be able to remove by either stripping the walls down to the studs or spreading drywall mud over all of the beads. So here's a little step-by-step to on how to successfully ruin the weekends of toddlers across the country who will be crazy young homeowners like yourselves in a few short decades - join us if you feel so inclined!

What lies beneath...

First things first, we have to get every horrible thing in this house OUT. My 5'3", 100lb self isn't capable of too much heavy-lifting, so I left carpet removal to the hubby while I tackled nails, screws, bath fixtures, doorknobs, chair railing, etc. Unfortunately "dirt" falls into my category as well, and as Bryan pulled up the carpet we found more dirt that we would have even thought was possible!

The Grand Tour

I guess I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start as Julie Andrews will tell you, so let's go all the way back to May. My husband, who evidently got the real estate itch, was searching through the mls listings online. He was findin some pretty nice stuff, but let's be honest, I don't really do nice stuff for a couple of reasons:
1.) I'm super-particular (or maybe OCD), and I wanna pick out my own everything, from carpet to door knobs.
2.) I quite simply don't wanna pay for it