Beany's House Project.

[jbeany]

Okay, here's some pics, some mine, some from the real estate listings.  It's work in progress, and will be for a while, but it's solid under the ugly parts and quite a bit of it is fabulous already.  Just ignore the time warp that sucks you back to 1979 when you look at the kitchen.

[okarol]

It's got lovely bones, and a kitchen is just a box with cabinets and counters, easy to remedy a little at a time.
I love the yard, looks like a sweet place - so happy for you!
I can't recall, are you on Pinterest? I have been collecting painted floors samples and stencil ideas. Would be a perfect project on old floors. Another thing I love are photo or picture walls. Here are my boards if you're interested: http://pinterest.com/okarol/

[jbeany]

Now following you!   

[Jean]

 I think it is just darling jbeany. And I admire you for tackling a project this size by yourself. You are living in it in the meantime???

[jbeany]

No, I'm going to stay in my apartment, at least until the only bathroom is finished.  I'm not officially in possession yet, so all I'm doing at this stage is planning.  I got to spend a couple of hours there yesterday after I signed papers, taking pics and measurements so I could start figuring out what must be done before I can move in.  The sooner I move in, the better for my budget, since I can quit paying rent!

I've got some technical assistance from my sister and her husband, thankfully.  They both have remodeled a number of houses, so they know the quickest, best, and cheapest ways to do things - or at least the best people in town to hire.  I've been picking their brains a lot.  I've always been pretty handy, though, so I'll be doing a lot myself.  Painting and refinishing projects are well within my skill set, and I'm willing to learn new ones as I go.

My budget will be screamingly tight for a while, so the time warp kitchen will only be getting paint and appliances for the moment.  I'll be saving every spare penny for the next year so I can make it go away as soon as possible!

[willowtreewren]

What a gem! 

Yep....I would lose the kitchen floor ASAP! 

Aleta

[paris]

Love it! So charming.  And the Craft Room?  Oh my goodness!  I would be in there and lose all sense of time. There is so much room to spread things out!!  People dream of a craft room this size. 

The kitchen is well layed out and little steps will freshen it up.  Quick fix is to paint the cabinets (pinterest has great DIY) and put down peel and stick tile (some look amazing and wear well.    I am a great believer in Kilz and paint!    Sometimes tearing everything our just isn't a financial possibility.  Sounds like you, your sister and her husband know what you are doing.  Plus, you are crafty! 

Who would have thought 3 years ago that this would be happening.    My blessing for a house "Peace to all who enter, God's Grace to those who depart".  May you have a lifetime of happiness and rooms filled with laughter and love.     

[MooseMom]

"Time warp kitchen" ....LOL!

I love this house.  It's perfect for you!  Thanks for starting this thread so that we can all share your new domestic adventures.  Can't wait for the action to begin!

[conchman]

Congrats again JB.  Having reno'ed a couple of house's, it look like you have a house with real goods, solid bones, and some character to boot...one room at a time, work on one prioritiy at a time and next thing you know...poof  "house of dreams".

[MooseMom]

So,what do you think will be your very first project?  Have you decided on any color schemes?  Any particular style you are going for?  What ideas have you had so far?

[jbeany]

The bathroom is first.  The previous owners started to tile the room and quit partway through, with only the shower grouted and the rest just roughed in.  I think I can pop off the last row where they started to spread into the room,  add a decorative border at the edge of the tub, match it with a back splash over the sink to make it look intentional, paint the rest of the room and call it good.  The sink is awful and needs to be replaced.  There was a drop ceiling at some point, but it's gone now, and there are two awful naked florescent bulbs tacked on the ceiling that they were using as work lights and no vanity light.  Happily, the tub, toilet, and floor are in fine shape.  There's even a new window in the room already.

While the bathroom is being redone, I'm peeling the nasty 70's green shag carpet off the stairs.  If they aren't a nice wood under there, I'll paint them.

The master needs a bit of sage green under the chair rail to match all my bedroom linens and it's good to go.  The second bedroom/office needs a coat of white paint to cover all the dings and smudges on the white that is in there.  The living room just needs some touch up spots, as it's already a warm beige color that I like well enough to leave for now, as well as some white trim redone.  Upstairs, the craft room just needs some white touch ups as well.
Downstairs I'm ignoring for now.  It's usable as is, and I'll deal with it later.

The kitchen....ummmm......
yeah, I've seen the DIY instructions for painting laminate cupboards and counter tops.  I've pinned them so I can find them again.  The cupboards need it most.  I'm debating if I want to paint them a nice bright white for now.  I want to tear the entire kitchen out and remodel it in a year or two, so I don't want to sink a lot of money in it now.  I've got to wait until I can save the money to do it all at once.  But the paint on the cupboards might be worth it, just so it isn't quite so ugly in the meantime.
The ugly floor, unfortunately, is in fine shape, which makes me hesitant to sink the money into stick-downs when I plan to pull it all up and redo it in something really nice next year.  I bet with bright cupboards and a big rug though, it wouldn't be so obvious. 

Landscaping will be an ongoing project, depending on the weather and what I can plant by the time I can get in there.  There's not so much as a bulb now, but the beds are all there and already have a good covering of gravel.  There are a lot of perennials spreading freely at the back of the lot, so I can transplant some easily, as well as get bits from my sister and her gardening-mad mother-in-law.  I'll wait until the fall clearance sales to get some shrubs for the front of the house.

The house was at the top end of my budget, but an incredible deal, so well worth having to scrimp on remodeling for now.  I got it for $90,000 LESS than the last owners paid for it during the boom.  It was a HUD foreclosure that I put a crazy-low, under-listing-price bid on, just because it was everything I wanted. HUD houses around here tend to sell for anywhere from $5K to $10K over the listing price, if not more. Never thought I'd get it.  I didn't at first.  I got outbid, of course.  But the first bidder couldn't get financing in time.  HUD has very strict deadlines.  It dropped back to my measly little offer only because HUD looks at them in chronological order.  It might have only been luck, but I'll take it!

[MooseMom]

Well, there's no rush!  You'll have many wonderful months to work on your house, and it will be such fun.  I agree that it is worth scrimping on remodeling now so that you had the money up front to buy the house in the first place.  How wonderful that you don't have to waste your precious time sitting in a dialysis chair!  These are the kinds of prayers that can come true if you're fortunate enough to have a transplant, and goodness knows that you of all people deserve to finally be able to take advantage of a dialysis-free life!

[monrein]

Great house and I really look forward to seeing how you fix it up and make it yours...like all your projects I know it'll look amazing.

[paris]

I think you are right on target with the immediate fixes.   I love paint.  It does wonderws!   I painted our cabinets -- I am more a redoer than tear out.  The cabinets were formica, but with the right steps and products, the paint will look great.  Our has lasted for years.   And a pretty rug works miracles! 
   
We are like a bunch of mother hens looking out for our chick as she builds her new home! 

Thanks for sharing the pictures and letting us be excited along with you.  So happy for you. 

BTW, my best friend in life grew up in the same style home;  BUT there were 7 kids and 2 parents living there!  Can you imagine??

[Chris]

That dishwasher brings back memories of my childhood, we had one just like it (albiet an ugly yellow goldish color.

[Poppylicious]

Yep....I would lose the kitchen floor ASAP! 

Oh gosh, no!  That is a kitchen floor to die for! It's so old fashioned it's now fashionably retro. (Honestly, I like it!)

Loving your new little home, jb.  I particularly love those built in drawers.  So cute!

[jbeany]

Too retro for me!  I think it's an awful pattern, and it's worse in person.  But I'm going to live with it for a while, so I'm going to paint the walls a yellow that tones in with it.

[MooseMom]

You mentioned rugs in a previous post.  Go with that...a BIG one!

[paris]

The prototype picture of the kitchen looks wonderful.  Of course, I have a vintage yellow kitchen with white cabinets!  I accent with lime and 50's vintage blue.  This is as much fun as pinterest!

[jbeany]

Friday! The closing is scheduled for next Friday!  I'm in shock, I thought it would take HUD the full month to get the paperwork organized.

Someone remind me to pack a paper sack to hyperventilate into after I've handed over the cashier's check.   

Right, going to pack another box of knickknacks and artwork now.

[Chris]

 

[okarol]

The Showcase House i am involved has has some great ideas to do at home. A couple of floors were painted using Dunn Edwards Floor and Porch paint, and they look great. I don't mind the kitchen floor pattern, its the color that is wonky.

[natnnnat]

Oh gosh, no!  That is a kitchen floor to die for! It's so old fashioned it's now fashionably retro. (Honestly, I like it!)

I was going to speak in favour of the kitchen floor, I like it too. 
This is great, I love real estate!  And omigod omigod omigod look at that craft room!!!!
 
 

[jbeany]

From that built-in desk in the craft room to the wall behind where the pic was taken is 20 feet long.  The room is 11 ft'6" wide.  Out of view are two long, single shelf built-in bookcases with plugs in them in the side walls, meant to go next to twin beds on either side of the room when it is used as a bedroom.  They will be a wonderful display area for all kinds of projects.  There are also two 4 foot wide closets on either side of the window behind where I was standing as well.  My large, expandable, pub height dining room table won't fit into the tiny kitchen eating area, so it's going upstairs to be my standing work area.

It is craft heaven!  Who wants to come craft at my house?   

[MaryJoe]

 A craft room... I want a craft room... I'm seriously jealous!  It's a lovely house.  I love the yard. 

MJ