Category Archives: Reno

The Garage Gets a Makeover

Categories: Reno

To say that our garage was looking dilapidated when we found it would be somewhat of an understatement.  Originally a carriage house, this sad little detached garage was in serious need of a whole lot of love!

A few before shots…

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As you can see, the sides and back of the garage were somewhat….overgrown.  After clearing out all of the overgrowth and giving the front a coat of paint, so at least it didn’t look so awful from the street, the new metal roof went on.

Side note: Many people have commented about loving our new metal roof on the house, but the truth is, it’s not new at all! We just painted the black metal gray.  It does look brand new, which we love, but it also helps lower the temperature in our uninsulated attic, helping greatly with our energy bills in the summer.

Ok, back to the garage roof.  The original roof was basically wood and tar paper, and our insurance company didn’t like that at all.  So we found a metal that matched what we did on the roof of the house and ran with it.

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After that, the sides and back got a good scraping and some fresh paint to match the house.

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We also added new black hinges to really give the front a little pop.  We think it’s a pretty nice transformation from start to end…er, middle.

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I say middle because this is far from the end for this sweet little garage. Come back tomorrow and I’ll be sharing the 3 phases we have planned for this garage renovation!

Subtle Changes

Categories: Reno

We’re going to play a little game. Can you find the two major differences in the house from August (on the left) and October (on the right)?

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Did you catch them?

First, the foundation has been painted.  We had the brick repointed several months ago, making our foundation safer and sturdier.  But it left our foundation looking unfinished.  So last weekend, Charles got busy with the paint sprayer and took care of the ugliness.  The result: a fresh, crisp looking foundation all the way around!

The other thing we did is so small you might not have even noticed. We finally got around to hanging our house numbers!  The original house numbers were very small and hung above the screen door.  Since our door is not centered on the house or between the front columns, it made the numbers hard to see from certain angles.  So we upgraded to some larger numbers and hung them on the very front.  I could not be happier with them!

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What subtle differences have you been making lately?

Why We Stuck a Tub In Our Shower

Categories: Reno

I keep getting this question, so I figured I’d go ahead and answer it.  We love the way that our office bathroom turned out, but I realize that it’s strange to a lot of people that we stuck a tub in what looks like a tile shower. (It’s actually not a shower, it’s just tile on a wall surrounding a tub that has a shower attached…if you want to get technical.)

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Two main reasons: 1) babies, and 2) shower curtain phobias.  Let me explain…

We are so happy with our master bathroom, and know that we really want to keep that as a sort of retreat in the future. But as my mom likes to remind us, we “need a tub for washing babies.”  So to keep future bath toys, baby shampoos, and baby tub seats out of our spa-like bathroom, we decided to add a tub to the office bathroom (the only other full bathroom upstairs).  The appropriately-named baby clawfoot is just the right size, and the tile curb of the shower makes a great place for kneeling. (I should note here that I am not pregnant, nor do I plan to be any time soon. But you have to plan ahead people!)

The next reason is strange.  Charles and I both have issues with shower curtains touching us. I know it’s weird to a lot of people, but damnit it’s our house and we can do what we want!  (See how worked up I get about these things?!)  I don’t know why, but there is nothing grosser to me than being in the shower and having the liner stick to you, and it’s even worse in a clawfoot.  Ugh I’m cringing just thinking about it.

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Because we both feel so strongly about shower curtains, we decided that having the curtain on the outside of the tub would be best.  But that sends water all over the floor, so we needed to remedy that. Solution: tile in the area all around the tub and put a drain in the center of the floor.  Actually, the tub doesn’t even have a drain pipe…water flows straight from the tub onto the floor and down to the center drain.  An added bonus, having a curtain (on the outside of the tub of course) around the back of the tub protects the window with wood trim.  If we had made this space into solely a shower, that window would have gotten wet and we would have some nasty mold and/or rot to deal with.

One thing I’ve learned in renovating our house: do what works for you.  Some people will like it, some people won’t.  Whatevs. We had the luxury of knowing that we plan to stay in this house forever, meaning we don’t have to worry so much about resale value.  But in any house, do the things that make sense to you.  This was our only shower for a few months while our master bathroom was being finished, and we both really love it!

Do you have any more questions for me? Send them on over!

PS- you can see the step by step process of refinishing this tub here!

Master Bathroom Sources

Categories: Reno

It must be master bathroom week around here!

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Last week I revealed our master bathroom to you, and yesterday I took you through the steps we took to get it there.  I’ve had a lot of questions about sources, so today I thought I would share those with  you.  As you can see, we saved and splurged on different items to pull this room together.

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PS- Today I’m over at The Girl Creative sharing my DIY mid-century dresser makeover.  Hop on over and say hi — there’s lots of good projects to be found!

Master Bathroom Reveal

Categories: Reno

This bathroom finally took shape a few weeks ago and felt complete…or at least really really close.  We still have a few finishing touches to add (vanity hardware, rugs, new overhead lighting, towel hooks, and a new shower head), but I’m pretty excited to share the results thus far with you!

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Come back next week to see the full transformation from beginning to end, and a lot more photos!