Progress Report

Ryan and I have been living in our new house for about 1.5 months and boy have we made lots of changes already. Although we've been out of town a bunch we've still managed to get some of the major things on the top of our list completed.

And now I will narrate with photos...

We're homeowners!!! Finally!! After a not-so-smooth closing. But hey, no one ever said closing was easy!
It was such a great feeling getting ahold of these keys for good!

Day 1 we sold the elevator, so we took it for its last ride...

Going up!

Arriving in the kitchen... this thing was so cool, but we needed to have the subfloor laid so we could refinish the hardwoods before we moved in... otherwise, we totally would have kept it longer

Bye bye elevator

The guts

All gone

The black hole

Sadie was not allowed in the house for a couple days...

Tackling electrical... Dad showed Ryan how to ground an outlet

Playing with power tools

Ryan's first grounded outlet! But it didn't come without being shocked once. Dad failed to mention not to hold both sides... gotta learn somehow!

And now for the floors... this is the before pic

Sanded and patched to perfection

We were very fortunate that the beautiful 50+ year old red oak floors were in great condition; however, we wanted to keep them protected so we chose to refinish them. I have to say this is one of the best decisions we've made so far. We loved the idea of staining them darker too.

You can see the original color along the border

This is where the elevator used to be... subfloor, check!

Our flooring company did a superb job of lacing in new red oak boards for a seamless transition to fill the hole where the elevator once was

This was my favorite part -- picking the stain color!

We chose the darkest stain on the left

Ta-dah!
GORGEOUS! We absolutely LOVE how they turned out. They look brand new and we love the color.

Love it!

We cannot wait to knock out this wall and open up the kitchen... that's a still a ways down the road though

The floors were refinished all throughout

Ryan and his Dad building a header for the third bedroom closet (where the elevator was)

Gotta get that TV up! First things first :)

TV, check!

A lot of brown, but look at those trees... LOVE our views!

Next, on the list - the wood paneling.
Ryan and I are ones that can appreciate real wood paneling (not the cheap veneer stuff), but this wasn't the look we wanted for our house. We wanted a more updated, lighter, fresher look. And although we like the look of painted wood paneling we decided to try something a little different-- a white wash, or a pickling. We wanted to keep the integrity of the wood, but lighten the room. And this is how it turned out...

First, we sand...

Then clean...

50 years of dirt!

Thank God for Mrs. Debbie coming in town to help. We couldn't have done it without you!

Ryan and his mama

I have to say, the white wash really doesn't photograph well so you're going to have to take my word for it. Ryan and I absolutely love the unique look it gives without completely compromising the wood look. And it looks so much more polished and finished with white trim... so just wait...

Joe held down the couch for us :)

Coming around...

It lightens the room ten fold

Up close -- you like?

We took off the border in the kitchen and painted the top half a light gray. We're going to paint the wood paneling in here a solid white color. (no after picture yet...)

This baby is going WHITE

Ryan painted the insert black and it made a huge difference.

No turning back now!

Finished!! Ryan and I love it white!

It really freshens the space, don't you think?
Notice our new ceiling fan too! And this is just the beginning...

Side note: Ryan and I are having so much fun picking apart this house and making it ours. We have really enjoyed being homeowners together and figuring things out along the way. We have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but are determined to enjoy every step of it. I am so thankful for our parents for spending the time to come up and help us with different projects. We are so grateful for your help and hard work.

And I must brag on Ryan for a minute. He has been so great with the house and has really jumped in head first. He is soaking up everything there is to learn and is doing a great job! He is one of the most handy and creative people I know and I feel so lucky that I get to share this experience of owning and renovating a home with him. I truly believe he can do anything if he puts his mind to it. He can rig something up with the best of 'em!