We’re still at it! Slow but steady, we are getting there with this house renovation. There are a lot of little details to work on and one of these days, there will be some huge changes going on. In the meantime, here are a few updates from this week.
My sister and I went to pick up some things from Lowes and dad got the table saw back out to finish cutting the MDF boards for the rest of our board and batten in the dining room. We pulled back in the driveway and saw this scene in the back yard. Mom’s a good helper too! Aren’t they great? Mom’s birthday was Friday, the 4th. She turned 84 years old. I love my folks!
Dad and I headed over to the house and finished up the rest of the board and batten. It’s looking SO good and now I can’t wait to get it all painted. I just finished caulking in here this week and soon will be painting this room. Our next big project will be priming and painting the trim.
Bit by bit, this house will come to life.
So glad I decided to do this treatment in this small 10 1/2 by 10 1/2’ dining room. Board and batten will really add a lot of impact in here. I’ve ordered a pretty 8’ square seagrass rug for here too from Overstock. My old seagrass rug got ruined in my sister’s basement flood and we got a payoff from the insurance company, so the new one will look fantastic in here. This 8’ square one will fit perfect in this small dining room.
The rest of the room.
Dad came up with a nifty idea for the lightswitch, which is in the middle of our top row. He got longer screws and pulled it out flush with the board.
So, now when I get new white covers for all my plates, it will sit on top of the board. Genius, huh?!
We got the grass mowed last week too. Dad started the back and the next day I finished off the back and then mowed the front. At least it is a yard I can handle and can do it myself.
I sure don’t have to work out with a renovation going on, exercise is happening on a daily basis!
We started working on finishing the window trim in the kitchen. It was done in a really rustic way (as is most of the house), so it really needed an update to make that trim look better. Here’s a closeup of the existing inside of the window trim. Very rough and basic. He took off the front boards, which were basically 2×4’s and not very pretty at all.
We are covering it back up with plain wood too, but at least it will look much more uniform and better.
You wouldn’t believe all the discussions one can have with their fathers over window trim. Yep, that head-butting thing keeps happening. He wants to do it one way and I want to do it another. We are compromising, but mostly I say, with a little extra effort on this trim-out on the windows it will make a big difference in the overall look. He’s going with my plan for the most part. 🙂 It is not going to be fancy trim at all, since this house is on the rustic side. It has basic traditional trim all over with baseboards and door trim, but then they did some really rustic trims on the bigger windows and I’m OK with that, just want to make it all look good when painted out white.
He added a little window sill and that looks better already. Once it is all caulked and painted out white, that will make a huge difference too.
Here they are after both are trimmed out.
We did a basic Craftsman style header across the top.
With the window sill at the bottom.
We also added a trim piece inside left and right and top on each window to hide some of these seams (using baseboard, the perfect fit inside these windows). I’ll show you that part later. After caulking and painting, it will be a world of difference. Next week will be a ton of caulking and then I think we’ll be ready to tackle priming the trim.
Another lunch in the living room with some rest for the weary. They are troopers and hanging in there. I caught them with their mouths full so that’s why they aren’t smiling.
Atlanta girls!
One week from Saturday, May 19th, we are going to plan for a painting party. Anyone in the area who’d like to show up and help, I will give you a room and let you all go to town on priming that stained trim. We are going to have to prime with oil-based primer to get it ready for the latex trim paint. I sure appreciate the help so much! That will just get us further down the road to getting the house painted.
If you can make it, please bring a paintbrush with you. And if you have an extra tray for paint, that would be great too! We will only be doing trim primer that day. I’d love to meet you, so let me know if you’d like to come out and help. We’ll feed you too!! Not sure what, but we will come up with something for lunch. You can stay as long as you want to, no pressure on time. Email me at: [email protected] if you’d like to come out and I’ll give you directions.
Thanks so much! That’s this week’s update.
Next week, I’ll tell you about the floors. Looks like that old engineered hardwood in the diningroom and kitchen is going to come out. It’s not worth saving, unfortunately and that is the conclusion we have come to. I’m probably going to be putting down all new prefinished hardwoods (we are going to do it ourselves). I am hoping to do all the rest of the house in hardwoods, Lord willing! I should be finalizing my choices on that soon and I’ll share with you.
Cabinets are another story. I’ve gotten a couple of estimates and I’m not really happy with either of them, so we will continue checking around for a better deal. If I have to, I will totally get Shaker style cabinets from Ikea. They are very pretty too!
Jojo says
If I didn’t already have plans I would join you for the paint party. That sound like so much fun! Your parents are amazing, no doubt.
John @ Our Home from Scratch says
Love the board and batten! Windows look good too! Looking forward to watching this whole project. We’re attempting raised panel wainscoting with MDF in our dining room now, so I’ll be checking out your progress for tips. We just added prefinished hardwood flooring too and it came out great. Good luck!!
Teresa Kissell says
Rhoda: I would have loved to help, but my hubby and I are escaping for a long weekend to the Outer Banks of NC. However if you have any planned in the future, we’d both love to help!
Teresa
Laura at Top This Top That says
good for you and your renovations. Love your parents- how awesome is that to get all of their help!
marie says
looking good! i love your parents, btw. :o)
Karen says
The renovations are looking so great ! Wish I lived closer and I would come help! Love the updates on your home !
(Your parents are awesome !!)
Karen in Texas
shirley@Housepitality Designs says
Love seeing all your progress…..and what a wonderful and talented dad!
If I lived closer to you, I would definitely be there with a brush..or two!!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Jane @ Cottage at the Crossroads says
It is so exciting to watch the renovations of your home and to see your parents helping you. They are as cute as can be! If I lived closer, I’d join the painting party! Hope you’ll be able to get those hardwoods for the whole house.
Mary says
I love watching the progress! Your parents are fantastic.
Missi @ havoc to heaven says
Rhoda – I will see you next Saturday. I also want to let you know that I have a great cabinet gal who I think you would really like. If you are interested, send me a quick email with directions to your house and I will respond with her name and contact info. She just furnished cabinets for my kitchen redo and I couldn’t be happier. You can see my kitchen reveal on my blog if you want to take a look. See you soon! Missi
Cyndia Montgomery says
Rhoda, y’all are really making progress! I’m a bit jealous of all your window trim; I got windows installed a year ago and still haven’t got around to putting on trim! 🙂 the board and batten is looking fine too!
Have you looked at Restore or Craigslist for cabinets? Or the local trade papers? I’ve found some awesome cabinets at Restore, sometimes enough for a whole kitchen! Amazing what some people will tear out because they want an upgrade. A friend got all her solid cherry kitchen cabinets for under $3000 and they are gorgeous! In perfect shape! Good luck with the search!
Cynthia says
Rhoda, things are really progressing. I can tell the dining room is going be beautiful. I enjoy seeing these updates.
Cynthia
Arlene Grimm says
HGTV should feature your home re-do Rhoda!! Honestly, it is better than that White Room mess that is being featured right now!lol…When I see you have a post about your house, I get so excited. Love seeing photos of your parents too. My hat is off to them! My birthday and Mothers Day are close together so this year I asked my hubs for Parsons chairs for my dining room table. I had some antique chairs to match the table but they were SO uncomfortable and life is too short for that. I scored six chairs at Steinmart for $60 each!! I needed six so I got four plain pleather ones and then two that are taupe linen with cursive writing on them for the ends of the table…they look so PERFECT in my dining room. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together like you picture it in your mind?
Rhoda says
Ha, Arlene! Wouldn’t that be a crazy show?! They haven’t knocked on my door yet and I doubt we would be entertaining to mainstream TV watchers.
Tara G. says
I love your weekly updates- it’s my “reality TV” (since we don’t have one!). 🙂
nancy says
I agree 100% with the post by Arlene Grimm, cancel the diaster White Room Challenge and do a series on you and your parents. I just love the storyline of your transformation on this house. If I lived closer I would help.
I really love the stone fireplace and feel it’s the highpoint of your house. I’m so glad the previous owners didn’t ruin it.
Theresa says
Rhoda, you and your parents are amazing people, love the pictures of your parents! Thanks for sharing all the details of projects, we are all learning many tips about remodeling from you. I love and get excited about decorating and remodeling, like to see how much can be saved by doing projects yourself. Good luck on kitchen cabinets and flooring, see you are getting lots of suggestion for review – wonderful friends!
Sallie Baker says
Rhoda, you are going to cherish this project with your parents some day! I teared up just reading because I am missing my parents so, and remembering the little projects my daddy used to help me with!
Wish I could come help you paint….but i’m in Texas! ha!
Annie in Marietta says
A few things:
1. Your parents are awesome!
2. I wish I could come help paint but I’m frantically trying to finish stenciling our bedroom wall before we get a new bed delivered!
3. We used stock unfinished oak cabinets from Home Depot, then painted with oil-based primer and bright white paint. I forget what cabinet finish you were going for, but we did it for less than $2000. I have a paint sprayer you can borrow if you need one – it gave our cabinets a professional finish. I guess the most finished pictures are here: http://diyrocketscience.blogspot.com/2011/04/pictures.html
Rhoda says
HI, Annie! Thanks for the note, love your cabinets and in fact, we have just thought about unfinished cabinets. I found a place called Builders Surplus & they have unfinished maple Shaker cabinets that I’m going to check out. They look really nice online, so I have to get over there and see them in person. I am totally fine with painting them myself to save money. THanks on the paint sprayer offer, I have a friend who has one too & I’m trying really hard to score one myself.
Your cabinets really look nice!!
deb says
Another fantastic week for you guys! You mentioned priming the trim. I’ve been using the white Behr paint with primer from Home Depot and it works great and saves the priming step. You might consider buying a quart of that to see if it works for you. Might still have to do 2 coats, but I always found with primer that I had to do one coat of primer and two coats of paint, so I save myself one step by using the paint/primer combo. Just a thought…
Rhoda says
Hey, Deb, I thought of that too & will probably be using paint+primer on the trim. Since this is old stained trim though, the best thing to do is cover it with oil based primer first, then the latex paint can go on. I just don’t want to take a chance of any latex paint/primer not sticking well to this old stained/polyed trim.
Mary@athomeonthebay says
Rhoda, you are making so much progress with the help of your sweet parents. If I lived in Atlanta, I would come to the paint party. I love to meet you and your parents.
All the best,
Mary