New stairs & kitchen cabinets

Onto some fun stuff! 

First up the gorgeous new stairs! This was one of the few things we hired out for-stairs are complicated and it would have taken us much longer than the 2 days it took the hired crew to complete them. 

The new stairs with no switch back.

onwards

Hey there! Sorry about the long delay between posts. Between catching a horrible cold and the bf's finals there has not been much progress made. You will also have a to wait a bit longer for the new floor plans to be put up- I am having trouble getting my scanner to connect with this computer. All in all lots of apologies all around.

Lets move onward.

So if you havent picked up on it by now I am writing in the past tense- I did not get the idea to write a blog  about our experiences until about 5 months into the project. So I am playing a bit of catch up trying to get the blog caught up to our current state.

After the closing went through we tackled 3 areas at once. The stairs, the utility bathroom, & kitchen. First thing first was DEMOLITION. The boys tore out everything themselves- all the flooring, walls and fixtures in the bathroom, the stairs and all cabinets & counters in the kitchen. Nothing was working in the orignal layout so we had already decided to start completely from scratch.

One of our friends standing in what used to be the stairs. The doorway directly behind him
leads to the utility hallway & bathroom. The doorway on the left leads into the kitchen.
The plan for the new stairs is to straighten them to remove the overhang in the kitchen
were the switchback was. 

No more cabinets! You can see in the top right corner the start of the original switchback for the stairs. There is still
drywall and the vinyl flooring in this photo but that was all removed before we put in new cabinets and fixtures. 

Next post: cabinets & the NEW stairs

Upstairs: Bathroom, 2nd, 3rd & 4th bedrooms

OK. We have covered all of the ground floor and are about to tour the upstairs. This is might seem a bit confusing because all the rooms upstairs are interconnected- take a look at the original floor plan if you get a bit lost.  

First up the 1st bathroom. This bathroom is shared by the 2nd, 3rd & 4th bedrooms and is the only room upstairs that does not lead into another room. 

Its hard to see in this photo but that dark stuff under the faucet
lining the tub, its carpet. Who puts carpet around the tub? 

Sink/vanity

The toilet. 

Dining room, living room & stairs

I am grouping the last 2 rooms and the stairs together to finish out the ground floor.

Far end of the living room with fireplace and bookshelves.
The wall to the right is an exterior wall and looks out onto
the porte-cochere. The wall to the left is the dividing wall
along the house and separates the living room from the stairs,
dining room and kitchen

The Kitchen Before

Onto the KITCHEN

This area is going to receive the most changes. As it was the actual working kitchen space was cramped-just enough space for one person to move around from sink to stove and there wasn't really a space for a refrigerator.  See for yourselves. 

the back wall of the kitchen.
the nook to the utility hallways is off to the right 

Utility Hallway & Closet

More before photos!

My boyfriends mother had taken a ton of before pictures and is letting me use them on the blog!

So now we can go more in depth on what the house looked like before we started tearing down walls.

OK here we go! I am going to start at the back of the first floor and move toward the front of the house.


The Utility Hallway & Bathroom:
So this bathroom is an addition to the original house- its great that it puts a bathroom on the first floor but it is only accessible now by nearly crouching and walking under the stairs. After we straighten the stairs we will have a normal size doorway off the kitchen to enter this hallway/bathroom area.

Looking straight into the bathroom from the utility hallway

A quick tour

I've put a few before pictures so you can get a sense of the house. The next several posts will give a full tour with photos. See more photos after the jump!

The living room!

Floor Plans

First Floor

Second Floor

Floor Plans!  

So this is how the house was originally laid out. The big change for the first floor was removing the switch back in the stairs by straightening them out into the dining room and eliminating the overhang in the kitchen. The breakfast nook and stair landing/closet area has been absorbed by the kitchen which started as a tiny box. The back bathroom and hallway will structurally stay the same- the layout of the bathroom will be reworked and a under the stairs pantry added.  

The second story is all sorts of strange. You could only directly access 2 of the bedrooms, the other two are only accessible by entering another room and the second bathroom is only accessible by walking through 3 rooms. Needless to say this is all getting reworked. The plan is to create 3 bedrooms including a master suite with a bathroom, walk-in closet, bedroom and study. 

I will put up pictures of the insides soon followed by the NEW floor plans!  

Welcome to love&nest

the nest! 

Hello!
So begins my blog!

My boyfriend and I are in the process of doing a total home renovation. The house was built in the 1920's and has not had much upkeep in the past 10 years with the last renovation most likely done in the 60's or 70's. The house has no A/C, a crazy bathroom addition accessible only by going under the stairs and 4 bedrooms upstairs all with connecting doors. All these issues plus other fun "quirks" that come with old homes will certainly make this a long renovation process. My boyfriend comes from quite the handyman family so the idea is to do as much of the work ourselves as possible. The house is in a prime location and has wonderful potential. With a few years of love and hard work this house will be a lovely nest once more.

We started the renovations back in July so I'm playing a bit of catch up here on the blog but we have got lots of pictures of the process.

A tour of the inside before the renovations begin to follow soon!