Farmhouse Anniversary - Year 3!

Yesterday was the third anniversary of our farmhouse purchase :)  !!!!!!!

Below are a few snap shots of what the house looked like on 4/12/12:

And now a few photos of those SAME rooms on 4/12/15:

Well hello there! It's been exactly one month to the day since my last blog post so I guess I can pat myself on the back for doing a wee bit better with keeping up on my posts......

This week was a productive week at Casa de Dylewski as Andrew was had the week off. We took a quick trip to Austin, TX to visit some friends (what an awesome city!) and then I returned to work on Tuesday. Andrew spent the rest of his week off continuing the renovation madness (seriously the more BRAND NEW homes I find myself showing the more I wonder what the heck was/is wrong with us!)......

Now that the larger stuff is done (sans the re do of the master bath which to be honest is pretty much fine just not my style at all) we've spent some time focusing on the "small project with big impact" stuff.

A few weeks ago we turned the "blah" hallway into a focal point by switching it up a bit and painting some light gray/cream stripes:

Then Andrew painted the staircase BRIGHT white (admittedly this had more to do with the fact that I was going to have a nervous breakdown because of how dark the stair treads were - they collected dog fur like a magnet and I honestly was a day or so from having to commit myself):

Then Andrew laid herringbone marble tile on the fireplace hearth. We'd been talking about doing this for a while. I have a serious obsession with all things marble (my taste and budget DO NOT seem to line up). I've always loved the look of marble bathroom tile and once we put it down in the new guest bath I was hooked. It certainly isn't the cheapest way to upgrade the look of your fireplace but it sure does look beautiful! We plan on doing the remaining three fireplaces upstairs (starting with our master bedroom) in the near future.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Maybe one day we will own one of these "turn key" houses I keep selling....sigh.....

Guest Bath - Nearing Completion

Clearly I'm not doing a very decent job keeping up on my blogging (hello last post from OCTOBER).

The past few months have been pretty darn hectic between work, vacation (to fabulous Mexico nonetheless!), holidays and home projects - I feel like I've hardly had time to catch my breath.

Thankfully, with Spring (hopefully!) around the corner we've decided to refocus and FINALLY (ok - more like MAYBE) finish up the house.

April 12th will officially mark 3 years since this wild adventure began. It has been nothing short of an emotional roller coaster, with lots of tears and disposable income shed along the way.  

Thankfully, we've managed to remain sane (for the most part!) and still have some pennies left in the bank.

The guest bathroom is nearly finished (we still have to install a new fan, redo the ceiling and install crown) but the "guts" are complete. 

Project List: 

*Remove ship lap and replace with new drywall

*Remove odd looking reverse framing (see photo)

*Remove (sadness!) broken vintage toilet circa 1930s and replace

*Remove ceramic tile and replace with marble tile 

*Install sun touch heated floor mat (marble is COLD!)

*Remove old window casing and trim (not part of the original plan but most of it started to crack as we removed ship lap - we ordered vintage window casing and baseboard to match what had been in the room). 

*Remove funky plastic sheet surrounding cast iron tub and replace with Subway tile

*Install new plywood and blue board around tub for subway tile

*Re insulate for a more cozy feel 

*Remove original storage cabinet and replace with vintage piece 

*Polish and buff original cast iron tub

*Polish and buff original tub knobs

*Polish and buff original cast iron sink

*Install new rainfall shower head

*Paint new drywall with a soft gray paint

*Install new mirror above sink

*Install two new scones to flank the mirror above the sink 

In the event that you don't remember, the old bathroom looked like this (unfortunately I don't have anything truly pre demo but you get the idea - UGLY):

In between stages:

Nearly finished:

And.....we're BACK! To blogging and DIY'ing that is! It's been a wildly crazy few months around this old farmhouse.

The real estate biz is booming, the husband is working some crazy hours, and our piggy bank needed a little R&R.

Now that we've recovered (hardly) we've decided to take on yet another major project - the guest bathroom.

The former owners of our house got stuck with all the lame, no frills reno stuff (roof, patio, and the HardiePlank siding) while we've been stupid enough  lucky enough to take on all the cosmetic changes.

Over the last two years, we've completed a laundry list of projects including:

- First floor decorative mouldings
- Installing new hardwood floors throughout the entire house (I'm still in pain financially, emotionally and otherwise from this line item)
- Full kitchen reno (ditto to the pain part)
- Replaced nearly all light fixtures
- Painted the entire house (sans one room!)
- Replaced all mulch on the property with river rock
- Opened up two of the four original fireplaces (one now works!)
- Wall paper in dining room
- Sanded and stained stair treads
- Started (key word here!) repainting all of the original woodwork (this sucks, no doubt about it - it requires lots and lots of paint scraping, sanding, caulk - HORRID)
- Built radiator covers for all rads on the first floor
- Built backyard fire pit
- Built new outdoor sectional sofa

I'm sure I'm forgetting something; however - typing this all out makes me start to dream about a turn key, brand new townhouse....alas....I'm a glutton for punishment....

I digress.

The guest bath.

It's freaking ugly. And we all know that I don't do ugly when it comes to home decor.

So, we started the demo this week.

Currently the bathroom looks like this:

There was this horribly nasty plastic sheet crap on the walls - EW. We're going to use a classic white subway tile to surround the original cast iron tub (circa 1910):

Dog bomb + plastic sheet. Charley can take a pee on that plastic sheet for all I care.....

I found this is be comical - our "happily ever after" is currently a messy bathroom covered in smelly, old tub plastic and broken plaster.... I also have no idea what that freaky blue glow from the sink is. Glare? Nah - it's totally a sign from the DIY goddess that our new bathroom will be fab. Most def.

And...finally...the biggest and BEST discovery of all time:

SHIPLAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Was hiding behind a mirror!)

What is heck is shiplap, you say? Basically it is an AWESOME historic building material used in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It is generally pine, or some other cheap wood. The former owners of our farmhouse had painted the guest bath teal (look, I love me some teal - but not in a house that is 100+ years old that screams french country).......

Our interim solution to the teal equaled some lame tan to make the bathroom look a wee bit less horrid while we plotted our reno.

Now we've got two coats of paint to remove. FAIL.

Fastforward a few weeks and I'm hoping that our guest bath will look like this:

Picture graciously borrowed from here: http://hamptonshabitat.com/media_category/dune-road-revival/page/2/

DIY Outdoor Sectional!

Our deck needs a makeover - BADLY. We've spent a ridiculous amount of time (and dollar bills!) on the interior of our home; therefore it is now time to take a break  move the projects outside ;)

With the warmer weather approaching (all we can do at this point is HOPE that it stops snowing by May!) we've set out to create the perfect outdoor entertaining space......

Last year when we found an AAAAAMAZING outdoor sectional at Pottery Barn for the bargain basement price of roughly 4K our wheels started turning.....

Clearly, we aren't strangers to a little  a lot of manual labor around this place.....

Alas: http://www.iliketomakestuff.com/outdoor-sectional/

Cute, functional and a very doable DIY build.

Here is a preview of what we've completed thus far:
*Note we modified the plans slightly to build two separate pieces verse one*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013 "Big" Project Photos!

2013 was the year of broken piggy banks and big changes. You've all seen the finished product - how about a little in-between fun?

Organized chaos? How about just chaos.....

Kitchen Project:
Photo 1 = In the process of refinishing the existing cabinets
Photo 2 = Running water line
Photo 3 = Post stove install. Honestly, that thing seriously weighs 600 lbs (just ask my husband and his good friend Gio - they'll confirm)
Photo 4 = Building the kitchen island. My amazing husband did this by himself, no joke.

 

 

 

 

 

Flooring Project:

Photo 1= Andrew installing the living room floors

Photo 2 = Our BFF for the weekend

Photo 3 = Floors going down in the hallway

Photo 4 = Extreme concentration required for the quarter round!

Photo 5 = My love for the almighty nail gun shows :)

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behold, chalk paint awesomeness!

Chalk paint is pretty much my BFF right now, and here are some reasons why:

• NO MORE SANDING, NO MORE PRIMER! (UM, hello - this is reason alone. period.)

• You can take the most ridiculous looking, FREE piece of crap from Craig's List, slap some chalk paint on it and miraculously make it an awesome looking piece of furniture. 

• It is easy to use, dries quickly and produces the most amazingly quirky finish.

• One quart of the stuff goes a LONG way. You could honestly paint pretty much everything in your entire house with a quart or two. Better pick a color you like!

• The finish holds up. I've painted pieces before with a combo of primer and outdoor latex and the results ended up being a wee bit underwhelming. Our most recent project (desk and desk chair - see below! Done by the amazingly fab Andrew Dylewski) is painted with chalk paint and the finish is holding up like a CHAMP. I put glasses with ice on the top of this desk, no issue!

My favorite chalk paint is made by Annie Sloan. She offers a wide array of colors, and the paint is really high quality (http://www.anniesloan.com/)

You can also make your own chalk paint (http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-i-make-chalk-paint.html) ....side note, this blog is AWESOME!).....and she also LOVES Annie Sloan ;)

Behold, our most recent chalk paint project!

Budget Breakdown:
The hubs found this bad boy FOR FREE on the good 'old CL (Craig's List). The chair I bought for $5.00 bucks at an antique shop......

Project total (hardware, chalk paint, chair, fabric for chair = $60.00!)


DESK BEFORE: (sorry this picture is fuzzy and saving weird, I give....). You get the idea though - it's fugly and VERY beat up.

 

 

DESK AFTER: (a 'lil chalk paint and new hardware makes this desk shine!) I have no idea why my pictures look fuzzy, ugh!

 

CHAIR BEFORE:

CHAIR AFTER:



It feels great to make something new again. Can't beat the bargain basement price either. Not too shabby!