Painting Progress: Prettying up the Pantry

Next in line for a fresh coast of paint after the dining room was the pantry.

I wanted the kitchen and pantry to be the same color in an effort to help tie the two spaces together. Inspired by the Pottery Barn room seen here, I got a sample of Benjamin Moore's Newburyport Blue. After painting a test patch of color on the walls, I immediately fell in love!

Here's a look at the pantry before (so long yellow doors and linoleum!):

A while back we replaced the old, plain fixture with a lamp-post inspired pendant I picked up at an antique shop (click here for that post) .

And here's a look at the repainted, revamped pantry:

 

 

We are FLOORED - Part II

Last Spring we had the original fir floors upstairs refinished (click here for that post) and always planned to have the main level floors refinished this year. After painting all the rooms on the main level, it was finally go-time for the floors.

Under tiles (many cracked), linoleum and layers of paint we found beautiful, original fir floors throughout the main level. There were a few old, improper patches that had to be addressed and patch correctly with fir. What would a home improvement project be without a few surprises?

Here's a look at the transformation:

Dining Room - Fir floor restoration

Kitchen - Fir floors under tile

Kitchen - Fir floors under tile, Old patch had to be repaired

Old patch in the kitchen...like it never happened!

Pantry -Fir floors under linoleum

Staircase to side door and basement - Fir floors under layer of paint

Entryway - Fir floors under tile

Entryway - Fir floors under file

Privacy Please!

One of the first items on our to-do list upon buying this house was to add a privacy hedge along the North and East side of the property. But as timing, weather and the seasons would have it, the hedge didn't go in until recently. We opted for well-established English Laurel bushes and found a supplier out of Canby, OR that had amazingly low prices (although it did take almost three months to fulfill our order). We bought 27 4-6 ft Laurel bushes but in order to fill our large order with same-size plants, the company gave us 6-8 ft Laurel instead. We certainly can't complain about that! Here's the first few bushes as they arrived:

Our handy man, Enrique, got to work and after two days of digging the 27 bushes were in the ground. The hedge instantly gave us more privacy in the yard and became a much-needed separation from the sidewalk and street. Within a few short years we should have a very solid hedge that reaches 10-12 feet high. David has already put his hedge trimmer to work sheering up the sides of the bushes and we'll let the top growth aim for the sky until next year's trim.

Here's a few shots of the new hedge:

 

Here are a few before-and-after comparisons to the property as it looked when we first bought it:



To complete our quest for privacy in the back yard, we extended the existing fence out to the property line. After a year or two of weather exposure the new section should look just like the existing portion.

Painting Progress: Dining Room Complete

We've been painting like mad over the past few weeks and have made some major progress. The latest room to be transformed is the dining room. The red walls and gold metallic ceilings were begging us to paint over them since the day we bought the house. The ceilings are now white and the walls are a rich, flat-finish tan. The beautiful wainscoting and box beam woodwork were painted glossy black at some point in the past and we decided to keep the black (anything else would have been SO much more work!). In the end I'm so glad we did--the glossy finish of the black reflects the lighter wall and ceiling colors and doesn't feel as dark as it originally did.

We also swapped out the old (read 70's gaudy and tacky) chandelier for the new model we purchased a while back. When the new chandelier arrived we were surprised to see it was quite a bit more red than was advertised. But over the past few months the red grew on us and now I absolutely love the unexpected, rich pop of color it gives to the room.

Here's what the dining room looks like now:

Here's what we started with:

Before and after shots:

Master Bathroom Progress

While we've been busy painting downstairs, a steady stream of contractors have been working their magic upstairs in our master bathroom. Here's a quick run-down of what's been going on:

Electrical Progress:
- Added breaker to the electrical box for new whirlpool tub
- Wired and installed an outlet for the new whirlpool tub to plug into
- Added a second electrical outlet to the wall that will be home to our double vanity
- Wired the new air vent (complete with additional light and heater)
- Added a second double-light switch to control the air vent, light and heater (given that there will be four light switches for the bathroom, it may take me a while to figure out which switch does what!)

Plumbing Progress:
- Pipe adjustments were made to the tub/shower area to accommodate the new tub
- The new whirlpool tub was installed
- The previous single-faucet plumbing was split into two faucet connections
- The toilet to floor connection damaged when the old toilet was removed was replaced

Shower Window Upgrade:
- Old, damaged window (that didn't open) was replaced with a brand spanking new window that actually opens

Tile Prep Work
- Cement board was applied to the shower area and the floor

Wall Repair Work
-The wall that was opened up for plumbing work has been patched

Here's some snapshots of the progress:

My dream come true...two faucets!

Drywall repaired around the new faucets.

Our new whirlpool tub in all it's glory!

David couldn't resist testing out the new tub after a long day of working on the house--beer in hand!
He didn't mind having to turn the water on and off with a wrench.

Before: Water damaged wood window that didn't open.
After: Beautiful new vinyl window that will resist water damage and OPENS!

Inspector Poof checking the cement board progress on the floor.

Cement board installed in the shower area.

Next up the drywall repair will be sanded and textured, and the room will be ready for paint! We've picked out a beautiful light blue color and I can't wait to see up on the walls! Stay tuned. :)

Just for fun, here's a comparison of what we started with and what it looks like now. Even the unfinished bathroom looks a million times better than it did before!

More Painting Completed: The Living Room

Next up in the long line of rooms to paint this Summer was the living room. The walls and ceiling started out  the same dirty, tan/beige/yellow, dull color. We couldn't wait to paint the ceiling white which really opened up the room. We painted the walls the same fresh, brighter yellow that we used in the entryway and did some major touch-up to the black trim. Overall the transformation wasn't shockingly huge, but the room looks so much brighter and feels so much more open now!

Here's a glimpse of the new living room followed by some before and after breakdowns:

The entry and stairs have been painted!

Here's what the space looks like now:

A Before & After breakdown:

Click here for the DIY curtains post.

The next step will be to remove the tile flooring and restore the original wood flooring underneath.That will begin as soon as we finish painting the other rooms on the main level.