This project was a labor of love. Pete and I agree to this day that it's a good thing we did this before we were married.
With the help of our very gracious family and friends, we spent roughly 6 weeks of nights and weekends renovating our fixer upper.
The demo days were definitely our favorites. We tore up the old laminate floors and carpeting, gently removed the kitchen cabinets and header, and removed the wall dividing the kitchen from the front living area.
The cabinets were still in really great shape. So rather than throw them out, we salvaged them! This involved scrubbing and sanding to de-grease, then a coat of primer, two finish coats of an oil-based white paint, and new hardware. They're still in really great shape today - three years later. 🙂
It's hard to tell in our before pictures, but the house came with everyone's favorite ceiling finish...popcorn!
I'll never forgot the night we jumped in on removing it. This was actually one of our first projects. With a garden sprayer full of water, and a mudding knife in hand, we went to town. I'd pre-treat the ceiling with water (the more saturated it was, the easier it came down). Then Pete followed me with his ladder and mudding knife.
Boy was it messy! But oh so satisfying to watch.
^^^It may not look like it, but this fur baby here loves having his picture taken.
Look at me standing there acting like I hoisted that beam up. What this picture is missing is the six beefy men that stopped by to help us put this beauty in place.
I purchased this beam long before we had even set eyes on this house. It was too pretty to pass up, and truth be told I had plans of using it my old house; but then love happened, and Pete and I decided we needed a place of our very own.
