In the Final Stretch It's...Animal Kingdom!??

Warning: Lots of pictures!

So I'm a little late with the Derby reference, but I had to wait on a few things to get done in order to write this post. We are in the final stretch (more on Animal Kingdom at the end)! We move into the house this Friday! ...Pause while I freak out... I'm sharing little snippets of different rooms because I just can't show you the entire rooms until they're all put together. So sorry to tease! :)

Kitchen:

Dining room:

Library:

Children's bath:

Master bath (mirror not installed yet):

Nursery:

Powder room:

Doors:

The painters still have some work to do. Our kitchen backsplash is to be installed this week as well. Then carpet in the basement and a final coat on the hardwoods. We're so excited!

Now for the animals...who knew that we would have so much wildlife living so close to town? "Town" is literally right across the street but the critters seem to have adapted. These are some of our wild friends...

Sally the Squirrel. Sally hangs out in the hollow of our huge star magnolia. I really want to tame her (don't worry, I won't). I miss having a pet!

Foxy the Fox. Foxy was right outside our door one day. One of the boys said, "Mom, there is a fox outside!" I thought, yeah, right. But there she was five feet from our door!

Gordon the Groundhog. Gordon was running through the neighbor's backyard and I snapped him in motion.

Love it! I'll probably be MIA for a few weeks while we're unpacking. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Met Monday!

All the Trimmings

The end is in sight! The majority of the trim work is complete and the painters start spraying tomorrow! I'm holding the baby as I type one handed, so I'm short on words. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

I do want to note the newel post at the staircase. The original stair parts were in the attic and the "stair guys" were able to salvage two posts and turn them into one. It's beautiful! The stairs themselves, not so much. They still need to be stripped of the yucky carpet glue.

Thanks for stopping by! And thanks to Susan for hosting Met Monday!

You Can't Always Get What You Want

I had originally planned to do a post about our master bathroom, but I decided to wait for the tub to be installed before posting. So this week you'll see where we're headed in the kitchen.


When designing the kitchen for our house, we wanted to go with a look that would be appropriate for an early 1900's Victorian. The kitchen that came with the house was circa 1940's so we didn't know what the original looked like.

This is the vintage/classic look we had in mind for our house:

Image via Southern Accents, photography by Tria Giovan.

I'm sure almost all of you who frequent the home blogosphere have seen this kitchen by Frank Babb Randolf. I love everything about it. So naturally I had my heart set on recreating this kitchen, including the marble counters. Everyone and their brother tried to talk me out of marble. It stains. Yes, I know. I'll seal it and wipe up spills right away. It etches. Yes, I know. It will be honed to help hide etching. It's not kid-friendly. We're putting walnut on the island, where the monkeys eat. But, alas, my honed Carrara marble tops weren't meant to be. It's not available at any stone yard in our immediate area. I almost cried when I heard this news. Too bad statuary is out of our price range! We just weren't sold on quartz look-a-likes. We wanted light, uniform counters, so we just weren't sure about granite, as it's mostly dark and speckled. 

During my visit to the stone yard I became increasingly worried. Nothing much light or uniform...except for the gorgeous statuary we can't afford. But then I spotted something beautiful and...green? We never planned to have green counters, but a slab of Coast Green granite was calling my name. Dear Hubs liked it, too, (he really wanted granite to begin with) so Coast Green it is! Although I really wanted marble, I probably will be happier with granite in the long run. Especially after one of the monkeys spills juice and doesn't clean it up (which is a daily occurrence). Soon the Coast Green granite (on the perimeter) and walnut (on the island) will be installed on these:

Getting closer! Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Met Monday!

Fabulous Floors

I never thought choosing a stain color for floors would be so incredibly difficult! I mean this was harder than coming up with our daughter's name. Okay, maybe not, because we deliberated that for months. But it was still a tough decision and one that's not easy to reverse. We wanted a darker stain than what was previously on the floors. Every sample looked too light or too dark or too red or too green or too brown or too charcoal. Plus, we had the added problem of matching the first floor to the second floor. The first floor is red oak and the second floor is pine. The floors are all original except for the kitchen, office, foyer and downstairs hall. These were mismatched and we replaced them to match the living room and dining room.

Here's the kitchen with the new naked floors (and drywall!):

You may be able to see the test patches on the floor under the board. So after much debate and worry, here are the floors with the first coat of stain. We had the floor guy custom mix two parts Red Mahogany to one part Ebony.

I'm in love! Once they're completely finished, they'll be just the right combination of red and brown. The reflection is throwing off the color a little but trust me...they rock! Who knew this would be so exciting? It's the little things.

These get installed this week:

Woo hoo! Now we're cookin'!

Thanks to Susan for hosting Met Monday! And thanks to you for checking in! Next up...the master bath!

Uncovering the Past

I'm back...finally! I started this post over a week ago and typed most of it one-handed. Little Miss Priss doesn't like to be put down. :)

When we first started the renovations, we hoped to uncover a treasure. We've all heard the stories of people finding old coins, photographs or newspapers during renos. No such luck for us. Apparently past owners never had a hide-y hole or else things have been previously unearthed by others. We did, however, find a date.

We were (and still are) unsure of the exact date the house was built. But from this discovery we learned that these timbers were delivered on or around August 20, 1904.

The previous owners told us that they heard our house was one of the first in town to have electricity. One thing that prompted our total overhaul was the fact that the knob and tube wiring was still being used in some locations! To some of you this may be no biggie, but we were kinda scared of it! All that's left if it now are some of the knobs and tubes.

I'll be back soon with pics of drywall and new floors. Exciting stuff!

Three Rooms and a Baby

I'll get right to the BIG news...our baby girl just couldn't wait until her due date and was born smack dab in the middle of the Great Blizzard of 2011! We're all doing well and she's as sweet as she looks!

Welcome to the world, precious girl!

Now for the house...

The Foyer
Our house was a two-flat when we purchased it. The front staircase had been walled off so the only way to access the upstairs from the inside of the house was via the rear stairs. This room was used as a bedroom. Here is what the "foyer" looked like before:

And here's the foyer now:

There were stairs hiding behind that wall! The original newel post was left in the attic, so we're having it refinished and reinstalled. The original treads are in good shape under the carpet, so we're having them refinished, also. There is a window seat with a hinged lid in the landing which doesn't appear to be original to the house, but we like it so it will stay.

The Living Room
In the previous foyer/bedroom, there was no opening into the living room. This is the view of the living room before the foyer was opened up:

Now here's the same view with the wall opened up in the foyer:

It's very hard to tell with these photos, but opening up that wall makes a world of difference! The living room seems so much larger. Although we're fairly sure the mantel isn't original to the house, we're going to reuse it for now. The biggest challenge with this room will be arranging furniture with that corner fireplace. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

The Kitchen
Ready for some retro? Here's the vintage 1940's kitchen that came with the house:

While the kitchen was cute and had vintage potential, these were the only cabinets and the space was very small. We removed the wall between the former kitchen and mudroom/back stairs and here's the space now:

It's now almost twice the size. I can't wait for cabinets to be installed! We're a while from that, though!

Thanks for stopping by to view our progress! Only a few more months and I'll be ready for what you really want to see...the decorating!

Thanks to Susan at BNOTP for hosting Met Monday!

Now We're Getting Somewhere

Hi, everyone! I'm so, so sorry for being absent for soooo long! I'll try not to be a deadbeat blogger from now on!

If you're new to House Affairs, I'll catch you up to speed. We bought this early 1900's Victorian in a small Mid-Western town last summer. We moved from GA to our town in August. Our original plans were to renovate the house a little bit at a time, but when we started investigating, we learned the house needed more than we thought (of course) and it would be best to do everything at once. So we spent the fall getting bids, choosing a contractor and getting permit approval from the village. We started construction January 4 and have made a lot of progress since then! Almost all of our possessions are in storage while we live in our 700 sq. ft. garage apartment. Oh, and by the way, on top of it all, we're expecting our third child (a girl!) in about two weeks! Yeah, the more chaos, the better! I hope that explains my absence! Plus, I was waiting for something cool to show you and here it is...

Not very pretty, but it's progress! One of our main goals for the house is to return her to her former glory. Sometime in the late 1930's/early 1940's, the house was converted from a single family to a two-flat. The front porch was mutilated enclosed as part of that conversion. Here's what we started with:

As you can see, we've opened up the porch so it will look more like the original house. I blogged about the original porch here. We had to get the village to approve the changes so it was a tedious process, but worth it!

The house needed a small addition on the back for a mudroom. It's no fun living in the snowy Mid-West without one. We're expanding the kitchen into what used to be the mudroom. Here's what the back looked like before:

And now:

It looks kind of ugly goofy without the deck and the siding, but you get the idea. I also just noticed that it looks like it's leaning. It's not. It's just the angle of the photo (and the photographer). Dear Hubs says I always stand crooked.

A lot of people are interested in our coach house. So I'll show you the outside loveliness (haha). You don't get to see the inside until we move out. Two adults + two active boys + soon-to-be baby + 700 sq. ft. = A LOT of mess.

Don't ya just love the blue powder room? I'm thinking the purple refuse receptacle is my fave! What I always dreamed of in my yard! But, seriously, the coach house was one of the reasons we fell in love with this property. It's very unusual to have a detached living space in this town. It will be perfect for out-of-town visitors (we have many) and it is great that we have a place to live while the house is under construction. It's also warm and dry, something for which we are thankful.

By the way, did you notice the new header photo? That is the cupola and weather vane on top of the coach house. It really was the horse barn and was converted to a garage and apartment in the mid-1940's. In the distance to the right, you can see our neighbor's barn that hasn't been touched. A little bit of country in town!

Thanks for stopping by! Stay with me...we'll get to the "pretty" pics soon (I hope)!

Thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Metamorphosis Monday! Once I get all of my tableware unpacked I'll be back for Tablescape Thursday as well!

Updates!

Hello to my few followers! Thanks for hanging in there with me. The past several months have been a whirlwind, to say the least. We moved to IL and are shacked up (almost literally) in our garage apartment. We decided to do all of the construction on the house at once, so we've been getting bids and going through the village for permit approval. Everything should be finalized next week and we'll begin construction the first week of January. I promise to start posting pics once things get moving along!

Our episode of HGTV's "Bang for Your Buck" will air on Saturday, December 18 at 3:30e/2:30c. Tune in to get a good laugh at our expense. :-)

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed holiday season!

The Way She Was

Last week I shared a photo of what our soon-to-be house looks like today. Here's what she looked like 100 years ago...

Thanks to the current owners for providing us with this photo.

I'm a porch enthusiast. I grew up in a house with a front porch (swing included). All three of the houses we have lived in since we married have had porches (ok, one was little more than a stoop, but it was covered!). Call me silly or whatever, but I can't wait to have a front porch like this! I can just imagine it festooned with garlands and lights at Christmas, bunting for the Fourth of July, and creepy crawlies at Halloween. This house is "in town" so I long to sit out on the porch to watch the passers-by and hopefully meet some new neighbors.

Dear Hubs is excited, too. Here's a composite he put together of the current house with the old porch:

Ok, I'll admit that it looks a little weird. But it helps to imagine what can be (and hopefully will be soon).

Only another month until we make the move! I'd better start packing!

Thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Met Monday. And, thank you for stopping by!

Something Old, But New To Us

A few weeks ago I posted Something Old, Something New and showed you this picture and hinted of things to come.

Now I can finally tell you about it! That shot is the back of this...

Our soon-to-be new old house!! We are moving to Illinois this summer and we are buying this 1903 (approximately) Victorian! Right now it is divided into two flats (notice the two front doors) but we are going to open it back up and restore the porch and the interior to it's original state. It is in very good condition as is, so it won't need too much right away. We're going to do things in stages and hopefully one day end up with our dream home.

While we're doing some renovations on the house, we'll be living in this...

The coach house behind the main house. (Sorry for the bad photo. I took this from a video and didn't have a full shot.) This was the original stable for the house and was converted to a garage/workshop/apartment in the 1940's. It's so charming inside and will be so fun to decorate!

So hop along for the ride! I'll have A LOT to blog about with this project!

I'm posting to Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday this week because this is a MAJOR change for us! Thanks to Susan for hosting!