The Downsizing:

The Downsizing: Follow our adventure as we prepare to send one child to college, the other to kindergarten and attempt to renovate a tiny, circa 1950 farmhouse of just under 1200 s.f. The house has been sitting vacant for several years following a past renovation attempt that went awry by a previous owner. Our goal is to accomodate an active family of 4 (plus Mulligan the Westie) in a much smaller (yet stylish) space which will hopefully free up more of our time and financial resources. In addition to renovating the house and half acre of land, we'll be doing some serious editing of our possessions since we're coming from a home twice the size. The property borders an up and coming development featuring new homes along with a town center, shopping, and schools all set in a rural farm village setting.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

A Few Details

Interior Doors- These are 5-panel solid wood doors from Jeld-Wen (Home Depot). I loved them from the beginning but had to push hard to get them into the project.  It was worth it.  When you don't have very many, you can splurge a little.

Interior Door Knobs- White porcelain with satin nickel trim by Emtek from Direct Door Hardware online.

Our bathroom towel rack... zig zag hooks from Terrain.com.

Above the toilet storage, with very limited storage, you have to use every space you can find.  My constant challenge is editing!  The goal is to make "functional display."  Not just pretty stuff.  Wire cube storage from CB2.

Trying to pick just the right color lime green for the front door.  Looking for "fresh" but not shocking.

Monday, May 23, 2011

A Bit of Gray Paint

 The garage door and foundation of house both got a coat of charcoal gray paint to match the siding.  Somehow managed to squeeze it between the rains.  Not an easy task lately.

Friday, May 20, 2011

A Little Update

Rain, rain go away!  Things have been slow due to weather and mess and it's been hard to even get out to snap a photo or two.... but there have been some big changes to the exterior.

 New siding and front porch railing really change the look of things... still have some trim painting to do and the front door will get a new color soon.

 The dormer looks cute with it's tiny over the shower windows.

 Screened back porch will make a great 3 seasons dining room when they finish up the siding and electric so we can move our 104" long table in!  Still some painting to do.

The new garage is really taking shape.  Cedar shake look shingles for the front.  The remaining 3 sides are dark gray same as the house and the garage door will be painted gray also.  Hoping to pour a cement floor also one day soon and add more smaller gravel to the driveway.

Interior photos to come soon... still getting boxes unpacked!

Monday, May 2, 2011

We're In!

It's been a bit crazy... we've been in for about 2 weeks now but have been living in an active construction zone- so we've been moving in in stages.  My internet access and space to work have been limited so I'm a bit behind on the blogging.  Meanwhile we've been busy!

Logan signed his National Letter of Intent to play college golf at Butler University on April 13.  Little sister was quite proud.

We celebrated Logan's 19th birthday 2 days later followed by Senior Prom the next day!


A little peek at the kitchen....

The new metal roof and front porch rails going in.  Also under serious construction are the garage and back screened porch and driveway...

Time out to attend Logan's pre-registration at Butler this week.
If it ever stops raining we'll be getting vinyl siding this week and finishing up several other things.  Meanwhile the inside is full of boxes waiting to be unpacked.  More photos to come soon!