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.

Friday, March 25, 2011

More Progress

 Carpenter Craig is making headway with the kitchen installation.  He may never install another Ikea again.  Although he may be fluent in Swedish by now...

 Check out the gleaming new ceilings! I think I'm in love...

At least now you can start to see the layout... a small but very efficient galley kitchen.  I call it layers of white dreaminess.  Soapstone counters, stainless appliances, and refinished pine floors (next week) will bring some color balance and textural interest.

 The loft is starting to take shape as well.  More gleaming panelled ceilings. The paneling came from Lowes.  All installed by Carpenter Craig.  I'm a bit stiff from painting all these odd angled walls and ceilings! The ceilings are Valspar Swiss Coffee in semi-gloss from Lowes and the walls are Behr Vermont Cream in a flat enamel finish.  I used their paint plus primer which probably saved me a coat of paint.  (3 instead of 4).  The new walls were raw drywall but the old ones were a stubborn dark charcoal gray.


 New England white pine 5" flooring from Lumber Liquidators all installed by Craig and Robert.

Sanding and polyurethane in a super matte finish will be done next week.

Upstairs bath tiled in ceramic hexagon dot tile bought right off the shelf from Home Depot.  White matte with a dark charcoal grout.  Love it.

Side entry overhang is taking shape thanks to Jim and crew from Hostetler Construction out of London.  They also built the dormer and front porch and will be tackling the new garage next.  Real quality.

This will be topped with a corrugated galvanized steel roof.

Here's the inspiration from Napa.  The new door similar to this one is waiting in the basement.

We'll be going with vinyl siding instead of wood.  Easier on the budget and the maintenance.  Nick from New Look Sidings out in Gahanna has been great to work with.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Making Progress

The old porch is gone (but not too far) and the new one is taking shape.

This will be covered with a galvanized and corrugated steel roof.  Vinyl wraps will be added to posts and vinyl railings and balusters will make it a cozy place to hang out.

Here's a little reminder of our inspiration house in Napa rescued and designed by Carolyn Leonhart.  We recently found out that Jerome township previously applied to have this house torn down.  Their request was denied because the surrounding area was "too affulent."  So I guess this project qualifies as a rescue as well!
This is how tough Jim is to work with...  "Jim, do you think we could move this old porch to the back door?"  "I don't see why not."  This will actually work great until we figure out exactly what we're doing back here.

Remember these rather sorry looking steps?  I had thought to keep them in tact and paint... but with all the construction traffic they were falling apart and becoming unsafe.
Carpenter Craig Beechy is really giving them new life now!

Now what to do... I'm thinking of painting the risers white to add some definition (and safety) and leaving the tops natural with a couple coats of poly.  Even though I originally wasn't going to do anything here... it's a major improvement.