Category Archives: Reno

The Exterior Gets Some Love, Part 2

September 3, 2014Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

Last week I showed you the transformation of the front of our house. Today, I’m sharing the back, minus the porches (I’ll show those next week).

Let’s start with a before shot.

Pretty gross, huh? Take a look at it now.

The house was painted and the porches were stabilized, plus we trimmed the trees and added a flower bed using bricks (similar to the front of the house). The porches still need to be painted and we need to rehang our black shutters, but it already looks a gazillion times better.

We also ripped out most of the overgrowth in our backyard and realized that we had at least 10 feet of yard on every side that was being covered up. We even discovered a brick wall that runs along the back of the yard!

Here’s the before.

And the after.

And because I know how much y’all love before and after pictures…

Come back next week to see what we’ve done to the porches and sides of the house! In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to keep up! :)

The Exterior Gets Some Love, Part 1

August 27, 2014Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

We had a little open house last weekend, which really pushed us to wrap a few exterior things up that had been hanging over our heads for some time. Let’s start with the front! First, here’s the “before” of the house when we bought it.

We painted our front door red several months ago and LOVED it, but it’s taken us a while to find the time to get the screen door painted as well. Now it’s finally finished!

We are still in the process of getting all of our shutters reconstructed (there are 2 for every window on the house), and that could take quite a while because they are so expensive. So we decided to just put them up on the front, and it made a world of difference!! The house just looks so much more complete from the street now.

Next, we had the porch painted in a gray that’s slightly darker than the color we chose for the metal roof. Charles picked it out, and it’s perfect!

Next, we hung the historic marker and mailbox, and added a couple sets of chairs with tables and potted flowers. Eventually we’d like to have big rocking chairs on one side of the front porch and a porch swing on the other. But thanks to Charles’ parents, we got to use these sets for free. :)

A few weekends ago, Charles took all the bricks that we had left over from the front and back cheek walls and lined flower beds all around the house. He threw in some pine straw and made everything look neat and tidy.

So here it is. Our curb view!

And just in case you need a before and after…

Come back next week to see what we’ve done to the back! In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to keep up! :)

UPDATE: see the back of the house here!

Room By Room Recap – Mud Room

August 26, 2014Categories: Reno, Room by Room RecapSarah @ 702 Park Project

Next up in the Room By Room Recap series is the mud room! This small room off the entrance from the porte cochere has become our drop zone, and we love that it has doors that we can completely close off and hide the mess, if necessary.

This room was pretty basic before, but had some plaster and water damage issues. We decided to go with the same Kitten White that’s in the foyer for the mud room.

What we’ve finished:

Repair plaster walls and ceiling
Prep, prime, and paint walls and ceiling
Sand and oil the floors
Install built in unit

What’s left:

Paint the outside of the door red to match the front
~~Add a seat cushion to the built ins (thanks Mom!)~~
Add hooks and baskets to the built ins

The figures…this room is 7′ 2″ x 13′ with 11′ ceilings. There are 3 interior doors and 1 exterior door.

You can check out more inspiration for our mud room here!

Now let’s talk about this custom built in for a minute. I’m so in love with it because it was built by none other than my dad! He also built the console table in the mud room. This was his first big piece, so I’d say he’s pretty talented!

He also signed the back of the unit, and I stuck a little note in the wall behind where we cut out the trim. I have this idea of people finding it 100 years from now. Is that silly?!

So there it is…our mud room. We are calling this one finished for the time being!

Be sure to check out these other Room By Room Recaps…

Red At Last

August 20, 2014Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

It’s been over two months since we painted our front door red. The to do list just kept piling higher and higher, but we finally got around to painting the screen door to match the main door and I’m so happy with the result!

We also spiffed up the old mailbox and historic marker.

Next up: painting the porch!

Dining Room Paint Reveal!

August 13, 2014Categories: Decor, RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

After much debate, we finally decided on a color for the dining room a few weeks ago. PURPLE!! This is so far from my neutral-loving comfort zone, but I couldn’t be happier with the results!

Charles cut in the top of the room and I rolled everything else. We went with Classic Violet by Valspar above the chair rail and Kitten White by Glidden (the same as the foyer) below the chair rail. Just like the rest of the house, we did all of the trim in a stark glossy white. We felt like the Classic Violet had enough color to make a statement, but enough gray in it to not be overkill.

This dining room has come a long way from when we found it.

So what’s left, you ask? First of all, this room is in serious need of some decorating. We need an extra large buffet to take the place of the smaller sideboard we have now, plus a big mirror or art piece to hang above it. We need at least 2 more dining chairs, and I’d like to bring in something completely different at the heads of the table. Kind of like this, but in colors that work for our room.

The floors need to eventually be refinished, and I plan to get a new rug for this space. But $100 for a 9×12 neutral rug was hard to pass up! It definitely does the job in the interim.

Oh yeah, and those big huge windows need some treatments in a bad way. But they’ll just have to wait for now. Home girl is out of money. But you can see a bunch of my favorite inspirations here!

Laundry Room Inspiration

July 31, 2014Categories: Decor, RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

UPDATE: Here’s the latest on our laundry room.

Our laundry room has come a long way from where we found it. The paint, plaster, and vinyl flooring were in seriously bad shape, and the floor beneath the vinyl was completely rotted through in the corner due to a leak.

We pulled up all of the vinyl floor, cut out the rotten wood in the corner, and basically laid a new sub floor. Then we tiled the floor, and installed a drain in the center. The drain was easily some of the best money we’ve spent…the first time we used our washer it flooded, but no big deal — we had a drain! No floor damage! If you’re thinking of reflooring your laundry room, I would highly recommend installing a drain!

We installed our new washer and dryer, and the room has pretty much been sitting like this for the past few months.

Pretty boring, right?

The ceilings are 11 feet tall in this room, so we definitely plan to install some cabinets above the washer and dryer. And a countertop is a must. The room isn’t very large, so more folding space would be great. I’d also like to replace the cheap, hand-me-down Ikea shelf with a pull-out drying rack. Here are a few ideas I like (click on the photo for source).

You can see all of my laundry room inspiration here.

This room doesn’t currently have a door. The old door was pretty beat up, so we removed it. Since you basically have to be standing in a cooking spot to be able to see into the laundry room, we’ve gone door-less for a while. We can’t seem to decide between a bi-fold door, a solid door, french doors, or a partial glass door. I would have loved a pocket door or sliding barn door, but it just won’t work with the walls in this space. Here are a few of my favorite options…

Which style door would you choose?