The Heart of the Home - Part 1

For those of you who have been following along, you may remember the original kitchen of the house.  It consisted of a stove, a sink, and a refrigerator, and room for little else.  Counter space was nil, and there wasn't room for kitchen cupboards.  Since we spend a lot of time in the kitchen, I wanted it to be inviting, open, and pretty.  It took us a bit of time to decide where to put the kitchen, but once we finally did, we went to work on planning for the best use of the space.  Even though the empty room seemed big, we knew once cabinets and appliances were in that the open space would quickly disappear.

Jack had an idea to put a curved ceiling in the room.  It was a new challenge for him, and it took a while to construct, but it was well worth it.  It really sets off the room and makes it look beautiful.  The mini chandelier we added  accents his work nicely.

We were given old cabinets from Jack's parents, who recently remodeled their kitchen.  Even though we wanted new cabinets, we knew this would save us a lot of money and we decided to make it work. Friends of ours had refinished old cabinets, and gave us tips on how to do it.  It was really much easier than I thought it would be, and we are very happy with the results. We added new cabinet knobs, and they really make the old 70's cabinets look sharp.

As we move closer and closer to moving in, I am having more feelings of anticipation.  Even though I will miss our current home with it's low utility bills, cozy wood heat, all of the work that we have into it, and the memories made there, I will also enjoy the feelings of adventure and accomplishment in this new chapter of our lives.

This is the kitchen before - counted as a bedroom by the realtor. The roof had leaked above this room and the original plaster ceiling was in really bad shape.

Lots of work had to be done to install the rough electrical and plumbing for the new kitchen.

The "skeleton" of the ceiling.

With the drywall complete, we cleaned up the old floor and slathered on a fresh coat of polyurethane. We think the wood is long-leaf pine. 

The flash is a little harsh in this picture; but this gives you an idea of what the refinished cabinets will look like.

We're very happy with the mini-chandelier and the arched ceiling. 

Color Reveal

Although the blog has been quiet lately, things are really happening at the brick house.  This project has really consumed our summer, but the progress has been steady and the house is really taking shape.

My brother, Brandon, has been working on our old windows, scraping off old glaze and putting on new, fitting them for the colder months ahead.  We went ahead and replaced the windows in the attic because they were not worth trying to save.  However, we will repair the rest of the windows throughout the home.  The cost of replacement windows for this house is way out of our league.   The old windows, once repaired, look and work great, and we don't lose any of the original character.  

Picking out the color for the window trim and the trim around the roof was extremely difficult for me. I have a really hard time making decisions, especially ones that seem permanent.  And even though paint is not permanent, we don't want to be redoing it any time soon.  We initially went with Dover White, which is a creamy white color.  It looked alright, but I didn't love it.  It was too much contrast with the old, worn brick, and it looked a little sterile to me.  So, after weeks of trial and trips back and forth to Sherwin Williams, we have finally settled on the colors for the exterior.  The trim color is called Colony Buff, and it looks like heavy cream.  It really accents the brick nicely and also looks great with the windows and roof.  We originally thought we'd use a grayish green or blue to paint the peak accent pieces, but after some thought we decided that would be too dark.  We mixed some Dover White with Colonial Buff and came up with our own color.  It really blends well with the heavy cream color and it looks pretty classy.  I can now say that I love it.

Jack had to do some repair work on one area where the roof leaked for years, but other than that it's in decent shape.  Cleaning, priming, and painting the trim and corbels have really given them new life.  

Painting in process.  Notice the contrast between the painted & unpainted trim.  The trim on the left has only been primed.

Window repair

Lookin' sharp!