I've been waiting to finish the last few projects so that I could (finally!) post before and after pictures of our remodel. I still have a couple of things left to do, but since the bulk is done and the sun was shining today, it seems like the right day to finally post!
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| BEFORE: This window will be replaced with a back door! |
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AFTER: We added a back door where the side window used to be (now we have access directly to the backyard). We also added stairs into the living room--more pics of that to come!
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| BEFORE: This bumped out area is where the fridge once stood, and it will become a new opening to the kitchen. The door next to it will be closed off, and in that corner where the wood is stacked, we''ll have an opening to the living room. |
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| AFTER: Staircase, closed off wall, and opening to the kitchen! |
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| BEFORE: The garage from the driveway. Not a bad space, but since it's at a 90 degree angle to our shared driveway, we never used it for the car. We built a shed for lawn equipment, moved tools to the utility room, and got rid of a LOT of clutter! |
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| AFTER: The new view from the driveway. We added a window and sided this whole section of the house so that it would blend in. These windows will have panes added to match the rest of the windows in our house (one of the projects I still have left to do...) |
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| AFTER: The view from the back of the dining room facing the driveway. We gave the original built-ins a face lift and moved them to the new dining room! |
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| BEFORE: The sink under the window and our cabinets (as seen from the basement steps). The left of the picture is a wall between the original kitchen and dining room (we removed it). To the right just outside this shot is our old bumped out wall with the fridge. |
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| AFTER: The sink under the window, as seen from our basement steps. The steps will be finished off soon (another project we haven't finished just yet). To the right is the new opening to the dining room. |
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| BEFORE: The old dining room front corner, next to the living room. |
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| AFTER: The same corner (seen from the living room) now has the fridge and a pantry. |
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| BEFORE: The old dining room (with original built-ins). The left side of the frame faces the front of the house. The wall to the right will be removed. |
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| BEFORE: Dining room with wall to kitchen. |
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| BEFORE: Kitchen on the other side of the dining room wall. |
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| AFTER: The new kitchen spans the space of both the old dining room and kitchen. |
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| AFTER: The space to the left was the old dining room, to the right was the old kitchen. The opening is where the fridge once stood. |
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| AFTER: One of Micah's favorite features, in the front corner of the old dining room: our coffee bar. Next to it is a window seat where the kids spend most of their time these days! |
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| BEFORE: The old kitchen with the fridge tucked into the wall. |
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| AFTER: The wall was opened into the dining room (and a LOOONG island was added spanning the space--it's 9 feet long!) |
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| BEFORE: The wall along the back of the kitchen and dining room with swinging door. |
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| BEFORE: The same wall on the dining room side. |
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| AFTER: The wall now. It's a work in progress: eventually this will be my "command center" with calendars, shelves, etc., to keep us organized. |
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| AFTER: The kitchen as seen from the dining room. |
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| AFTER: The cabinets with their blue backs. I love how much depth a little color added! |
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| AFTER: My favorite seat in the house, taking in the new windows, new wall, and--best of all--my favorite view of the kitchen. |
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| AFTER: The new steps into the living room. I still need to stain them to match the flooring, but the trim and risers are painted. |
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| AFTER: The view into the dining room from the living room. |
And now, let me take a moment to acknowledge all the people who helped us. I can't even tally the number of hours spent painting, laying flooring, etc., outside of the hours the contractors spent, but I'm so grateful for all the help from family and professionals!
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| Dad Barcalow and Thomas laying dining room flooring (side note: that lovely red door took TEN coats of paint. Ten. This was the reason I couldn't post pictures yet--I finally finished the tenth coat last night!) |
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| Micah and my dad working on the flooring. |
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| Even Henry joined the fun. The boys loved choosing boards and working out the "pattern" of the flooring! |
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| We lived by crockpot and Instant Pot for three months. This was the only working (and available) outlet on this floor of the house, so I spent a lot of nights cooking on a bare floor with no lights. This particular night we were closer to being finished and Cora did the cooking. |
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| Laying the kitchen flooring. My parents helped early on, and then Dad Barcalow, Micah, and I finished it off. This may have been my favorite part of the project! |
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I had lots of help from my parents with painting. Let's just say with an average of 3-4 coats of paint on everything (we had to repaint several areas as work progressed), there was no shortage of time spent with brush in hand.
I should have gotten pictures of us eating our first meals in the space, but needless to say it's good to be "home!" We can't wait to open it up to many of you in the months and years to come!!
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