Before: Downstairs

This house is going to be a work in progress for a long while. There's just no way we can turn it into our dream home overnight...or in the next 2 months. So, I'm going to try to give a brief rundown of what we think our PHASE 1 plans are for each space as well as future plans. Keep in mind, future may mean 5 or 10 years...

The exterior of the house, including the very narrow driveway that leads to a detached garage. In the future, I'm sure there will be many changes. For now, just a new roof. Someday, we'd love to do a smooth stucco, new windows upstairs that might include dormers and a new front door.






Entry
8 foot ceilings that feel low to Chris who HATES low ceilings. I think they are fine. It is nice and wide. The ceiling may or may not get raised a little in phase one renovation. These stairs have actually already been torn down. We're not exactly sure where the stairs will be going. We thought we knew, and then Chris had a brainstorm and now we're re-evaluating.


There is a bedroom on either side here. Going back, the kitchen is on the right and across from the kitchen there is a tiny hall with a bathroom and yet another bedroom. You see the stairs going up and to the right of those, there are about 5 steps that go down to the back room. That back room (and the upstairs) was an addition to the original house, but we're not sure when it was done. The back room is long and narrow. (Approximately 34'x11')

This is the bedroom immediately to the right of the front door. It is the original Master Suite. And it's sweet alright =) It will probably remain a bedroom for now. But in the future, we'd like to completely demo the bathroom, knock down the wall between this room and the kitchen and open the whole side of the house up for a bigger kitchen, butler's pantry and dining room. Those are the big dreams. For now, new carpet and paint.

Looking in from the hall..


Taking a few steps in and looking to the left- a vanity, sinks straight ahead and a closet to the left of the vanity. (this closet will be important later...)


The SWEET pink bathtub.


More closet space in the actual bedroom.


This is the bedroom to the left. Not much will happen with this room. It will remain a bedroom for guests. It will probably double as a home office space for me. Just new paint and carpet for now.



The kitchen. Chris is already in the process of cleaning, sanding and repainting the cabinet doors and drawers. He has taken off the hardware as well, and we're searching for some new knobs and pulls that are more our style. I'll do a close up on these so you can see why these do not fit that description. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with them, they're just not "us". But, if you know someone who would like them, we have about 30 or so to get rid of!

Other than some deep cleaning and lighting, we're not planning on doing anything else to the kitchen right now. We are lucky to be inheriting some great appliances!



Just across from the kitchen, there is a small hallway. It leads to a small (but full) bathroom to the left and another bedroom to the right. We'll be using this bedroom as a playroom. I'd really like to put a big open doorway on the wall where the stairs are currently. I like the idea of keeping an eye on the kids while I'm in the kitchen and this would allow me to do that. Looking into the room. (I cheated here, this isn't really a "before" picture- I didn't have one, so I took this pic the other day and you can see the nasty carpet has already been pulled up.)

I can't believe this even constitutes as a closet!


Here's the bathroom. Despite what I thought when I first saw it (that it needed to be completely redone), I now think it just needs a new vanity, sink, lighting, toilet and accessories. I guess what I'm saying is, the tile and tub can stay. Because it needs new paint too. I do think this can be a fairly budget conscious fix though- no professionals needed!





To finish off the main level, here is the back room. Like I mentioned, long and skinny. The listing pictures show this being used as a dining room. So, if you use the house the way it was shown, you have 3 bedrooms, a kitchen and a dining room on the main level. If you want to sit around and talk? You need to go upstairs. A little odd, no? So, we'll be using this room not as a dining room, but as a family room. Either now or later, we'll be pushing the back of the house out about 6 feet. The laundry room is on the end opposite the fireplace, and that will eventually be a mudroom. I'm SO excited about having a mudroom!! We'll have a stackable washer and dryer in there for beach clothes/towels as well as kitchen stuff. I just love the idea of having a whole room dedicated to shoes, book bags, etc.

This picture is taken from the sliding glass doors on the back wall, looking back at the front of the house. (And the stairs that no longer exist)


Looking towards the laundry room/future mud room. The kitchen is to the right of Aidric.


Looking FROM the laundry room at the other side.



The back of the house. When the back room gets extended, it will go to the brick pillars. We haven't done too much talking yet about landscaping and a new deck yet, but that's in our future as well.