A House in Progress: Before

We've had the good fortune to buy a solid house that was built in 1965, and beautifully maintained by the original owners. The only thing we had to do before moving in was have the hardwood floors refinished due to some discoloration in some areas. Fortunately, the dark places were only in the finish, so the floors look brand new. We did get some painting done before we moved in, but there is much more to go. There is no basement or garage, but the utility room is large enough for the washer and dryer, as wells as tools, the lawnmower and some other stuff. I'm going to add in some shelves to better organize the space. It's kind of tight, so a shed is in the near future.

When I say the house is beautifully maintained, I mean there is very little wear on anything. I've done more damage to the place in our first 40 days than the original owners did in 40 years. And the place looks like 1965, too. Check out the den, and that green lamp hanging in it. It looks new, even up close, but it is vintage '60s. Not our taste, so it'll be replaced.

The knotty pine paneling in the den is in great shape, but is kind of dark. That room is on the north side of the house, and the front porch overhang (and big trees in the yard) let in little light, so it's pretty dark in there. We've also just had plantation shutters installed, so it’s even darker. It is, however, cool, even on a 100º day. Right now, I think we’ll add a big mirror ($8.25 at Goodwill) to see how much it brightens the room.

The black lamp put the kitsch in kitchen. Not shown is the egg-shaped receptacle that the cord can retract into to adjust the height of the lamp. It has been replaced by a simple, craftsman-style, square flush-mount lamp that we we bought at a place just around the corner. That wallpaper was the 1980s update. There are two more layers beneath it. The wall to the left, between the kitchen and dining room, will be taken down to a half wall with a bar. This will open up the space, and allow more light in through the dining room to the kitchen. Right now, the kitchen has nice morning light, but is on the dark side the rest of the day.

We're trying to nail down what colors we want to use in the kitchen. Somewhere between Provence and Tuscany, we think. And we'll use the same tile we had in the dining area of our previous home in Georgia. Yeah, we like it that much. Here's that beautiful morning light streaming into the kitchen, as seen from the dining room.

This wallpaper in the dining room was actually the second layer. The first looked very much like it, but with a larger pattern. Ya gotta wonder why they did that. The kitchen cabinets are in great shape. The pulls are copper, and most are fine, but some could use some refinishing. Note the hip angle at which they're placed. The vanities in the full baths have the same pulls, but in chrome. The question is, do we refinish the copper pulls and reuse them, or get more up-to-date hardware? If we keep them, do we put them back on at the same angle, or not at an angle? Do we paint or stain the cabinets? No clue yet.
The master bath vanity. Good morning light, tile is in great shape. That '80s wallpaper was the third layer. The frameless mirror has been cut down and framed in a nice, wide espresso-colored wood. Looks tons better. And that's the master bath lamp. The only socket in the bathroom is a small one on the bottom of the lamp. The lamps in the guest bath and half bath (downstairs) have the same feature.






A few more features of the house:

The front screen door. These louvered doors are popular around here. I like it.















Back of the house. We have 1/2 acre, pretty well wooded. There will be a deck back there some day. A man's gotta have a place to put his grille.








The gas log fireplace is in the den. The utility room is off of the den.



































That's all for now.