I have recently been inspired, and I admit a bit addicted, to
YoungHouseLove - a blog written by a couple who has been renovating and redecorating their rancher in Virginia. They have a very clean style, and some really great ideas/motivation for tackling tough projects. Inspired to try some of these great DIY projects? Yes. But perhaps I am even more inspired by them to document the transformation of our very own stone rancher over the course of the next, well... who knows how long it will all take. Sherry over at YHL does this blogging thing as her full-time job, so although I know I won't be able to post detailed directions to all of our makeover projects, you'll at least be able to check out the before and after shots (and make suggestions, if you like!) as we make our first place our very own. So here's the BEFORE tour. Enjoy! And remember it's okay if you cringe, because let's be honest... this house needs a whole lot of updating and TLC.
The exterior of the house, from the front corner. The bushes need a little work, the windows need painted, but there is a lot of natural light that will be great. And I have a bit of a hankering for a red door...
This is the enclosed stone patio overlooking our great backyard. One of our long-term projects at this point will be to make this a glass enclosed room and then create an outdoor stone patio around it.
If Rob ever looses his day job, he might be able to get his inspector's license. From this picture, you can see our nice, flat driveway and spacious 2 car garage. The large evergreen tree on the right of the picture will be getting cut down, as you can see the hindrance it is to the door into the porch.
A view of the backyard from the edge of the driveway. The shed is ours, and we have a great view of preserved farmland.
Rob on the roof, which has another 5-10 year lifespan.
This is the door/hallway between the porch and the kitchen. Right now this area has three doors within 2 square feet of space. Between the brown door and white door, there is a door to the right which leads to the walk-up attic. The brown door will probably be getting taken down... the previous owners were a bit door-crazy!
Great windows over the kitchen sink! I am so glad I won't have to look at the wall anymore while cleaning up. Though you can't really tell by the picture, the Formica countertops are a deep peachy, coral-ly color...
which you can see a bit better in this picture. In this room, we'd like to paint the cabinets white, redo the floor, get new appliances, install a new counter top... and the list goes on.
Oh, right. And take down the wallpaper with the bunches of wheat. Luckily this is the only wallpaper in the entire house!
A very dark shot of the master bedroom. Not sure how we will do the window treatments in this room...
We plan to paint the drab brown fireplace white for a clean, finished look. And like I mentioned in an earlier post, there are hardwoods under all this lovely carpet, ripping it up after we paint, of course.
The view of the living room when you walk in the front door, with the hallway to the 3 bedrooms and bathroom to the back right corner and a really nice bay window to the left.
The entrance door from the front of the house into the living room is just to the right of the couch. A wall of faux built-in bookshelves, possibly?
Saving the best for last... the bathrooms. I don't really know what else to say. Above is the half-bath in the master suite. If you sit on the toilet, your knees go under the sink. It's pretty much non-functional, so we're thinking of making it into a closet. The full bathroom has a pink toilet, sink and tub. Let's just say we're not really the pink type. So this bathroom, along with updating the kitchen and eventually finishing the basement (not pictured yet) are on our list of MAJOR projects. Until then, hopefully we'll come up with some solutions that will make it at least livable for a while.
So that's our new house! After November 20th, check back for updates to track our progress.
The exterior of the house, from the front corner. The bushes need a little work, the windows need painted, but there is a lot of natural light that will be great. And I have a bit of a hankering for a red door...
This is the enclosed stone patio overlooking our great backyard. One of our long-term projects at this point will be to make this a glass enclosed room and then create an outdoor stone patio around it.
If Rob ever looses his day job, he might be able to get his inspector's license. From this picture, you can see our nice, flat driveway and spacious 2 car garage. The large evergreen tree on the right of the picture will be getting cut down, as you can see the hindrance it is to the door into the porch.
A view of the backyard from the edge of the driveway. The shed is ours, and we have a great view of preserved farmland.
Rob on the roof, which has another 5-10 year lifespan.
This is the door/hallway between the porch and the kitchen. Right now this area has three doors within 2 square feet of space. Between the brown door and white door, there is a door to the right which leads to the walk-up attic. The brown door will probably be getting taken down... the previous owners were a bit door-crazy!
Great windows over the kitchen sink! I am so glad I won't have to look at the wall anymore while cleaning up. Though you can't really tell by the picture, the Formica countertops are a deep peachy, coral-ly color...
which you can see a bit better in this picture. In this room, we'd like to paint the cabinets white, redo the floor, get new appliances, install a new counter top... and the list goes on.
Oh, right. And take down the wallpaper with the bunches of wheat. Luckily this is the only wallpaper in the entire house!
A very dark shot of the master bedroom. Not sure how we will do the window treatments in this room...
We plan to paint the drab brown fireplace white for a clean, finished look. And like I mentioned in an earlier post, there are hardwoods under all this lovely carpet, ripping it up after we paint, of course.
The view of the living room when you walk in the front door, with the hallway to the 3 bedrooms and bathroom to the back right corner and a really nice bay window to the left.
The entrance door from the front of the house into the living room is just to the right of the couch. A wall of faux built-in bookshelves, possibly?
Saving the best for last... the bathrooms. I don't really know what else to say. Above is the half-bath in the master suite. If you sit on the toilet, your knees go under the sink. It's pretty much non-functional, so we're thinking of making it into a closet. The full bathroom has a pink toilet, sink and tub. Let's just say we're not really the pink type. So this bathroom, along with updating the kitchen and eventually finishing the basement (not pictured yet) are on our list of MAJOR projects. Until then, hopefully we'll come up with some solutions that will make it at least livable for a while.
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