Some new "Before & Afters" of our new house

[MelissaSue]

Thought I''d share.. Some of the "afters" are really "in betweens" as nothing is really finished.. We have done a lot in a month though and have three months to go before the wedding. The biggest problem is stripping the paint off the woodwork in the living room. Anyone have any advice on this?

Without further ado.. here is the link to our house page

Our House!

 

[sunkist]

!! Melissa!!!! You are the luckiest ever! You''re house is toooo cute! I love the way you are fixing it up. It will be perfect. Decorating houses is my absolute favorite. Where do you live? Your house looks like it''s an old one, is it? My parents live in a 1929 house and it has some similar features as your house.

Well, congrats on the new home

 

[Mara]

I really love the yellow kitchen and the dining room looks oodles better with the fab new paint color, love the trim on the windows and the baseboards!! The whole house looks much brighter and cheery!

Gotta ask though, what is up with the crazy hot pink bathroom?!?!?!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Melissa, I love it! Looks like you guys have put some real work into the house since you bought it!

I used to have bathroom just like that - white wainescoting with a red upper-half! I loooove the pink! It''s very unique and just screams you!

Congrats!

 

[Mara]

Melissa, also do you mind sharing your paint choices, esp for the dining room area, it looks really great with the contrast on the dark wood....I am a total neutral lover so I''d like to add that one to my ''list''...!!!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Wow, all that ugly wallpaper must''ve been a pain to remove! I love the changes though and I really like the seperater between the dining and living room. I''m a huge fan of dark wood.

 

[Kaleigh]

I love the kitchen. Love that cheery yellow. You guys have done a terrific job!!!

 

[MelissaSue]

Sunkist - The house was built in 1926. Its in East Aurora NY near Buffalo. East Aurora is a great little town, very historic with lots of houses like that. If you''ve ever heard of the Roycroft movement (part of the arts and crafts movement in the early 1900''s), that started in East Aurora..

Mara - I LOOOVE my hot pink bathroom. I''m getting hot pink towels to match. Its called Scribble Pink from the Nickelodeon collection at Lowe''s. It had a picture of Tommy Pickles from Rugrats on the swatch. HeHeHe.. You HAVE to admit it looks better than the awful floral wallpaper that was there. I am having a little fun with the upstairs, while the downstairs is staying al ittle more neutral and true to the original style of the house.

All my paint is from Lowe''s. The other colors.. which I''m sure you''re much more interested in.. are Bungalow Gold in the dining room, and Daffodil in the Kitchen, both from the Eddie Bauer collection. The bedroom is obviously just standard black and white.

 

[Mara]

Date: 2/25/2006 11:14:32 PM
Author: MelissaSue
Sunkist - The house was built in 1926. Its in East Aurora NY near Buffalo. East Aurora is a great little town, very historic with lots of houses like that. If you've ever heard of the Roycroft movement (part of the arts and crafts movement in the early 1900's), that started in East Aurora..

Mara - I LOOOVE my hot pink bathroom. I'm getting hot pink towels to match. Its called Scribble Pink from the Nickelodeon collection at Lowe's. It had a picture of Tommy Pickles from Rugrats on the swatch. HeHeHe.. You HAVE to admit it looks better than the awful floral wallpaper that was there. I am having a little fun with the upstairs, while the downstairs is staying al ittle more neutral and true to the original style of the house.

All my paint is from Lowe's. The other colors.. which I'm sure you're much more interested in.. are Bungalow Gold in the dining room, and Daffodil in the Kitchen, both from the Eddie Bauer collection. The bedroom is obviously just standard black and white.

Of course! That was never in question....I'm not a fan of floral wallpaper at all.

Really, the house looks awesome..I'm just not a big pink person. I am soooo neutral sometimes it kills me. I could stand to be a bit more daring with color .... I am more an accent color person with alot of neutral bases. So far in the last few years, my big venture into color in the house are sage greens and soft blues, haven't made it to anything brighter yet!!

 

[E B]

Melissa,

I''m so jealous I could cry. Your house is perfect. Congratulations!

 

[Tybee]

MelissaSue,
I am so happy for you. I am completely mad about looking at houses lately! It''s taken over my wedding planning obsession!
Were those beautiful hardwood floors really hidden under that red carpet? Unreal!
What a cute little house.

 

[MelissaSue]

Tybee- Yes! The hardwood floors under the red carpet are in FANTASTIC shape, well.. after we washed a 1/2 thick layer of MOLD off them. I am SO glad we ripped up that carpet. It looks like the padding had started disintegrating.. but the whole floor was just covered in gross black mold. We could have been living there with all of that.. icky.. Its still not completely cleaned.. but all the stairs/upstairs hallway is going to need is some new stain. They''re actually probably in better condition than any other room in the house.

We LOVE the house. Can''t wait to get it all finished and put together. And to paint the outside.. The outside is in REALLY rough shape.. Worse than it looks in the pictures.. Hopefully early May we are having it painted.. (Having painters come is EXPENSIVE!!)

 

[gingerBcookie]

Wow MS your house looks great!!!! I really really love the how you''ve changed the kitchen, it looks so updated and bright and cheery! Awesome paint choice! The bathroom cracked me up...it really is so you! I''m a very very very neutral person to so of course i''m loving the rest of your house. my fave look is the neutrals with the dark woods. i think about doing fun colors, but am too scared to try -- so much props to you!

 

[teebee]

WOW MS!!! It looks great!! I''m impressed by all the progress you''ve made!! I just love Craftsman style homes and I love the Bungalow Gold in the dining room - it compliments the wood so beautifully. And the kitchen - isn''t it always amazing what some paint can do?!?!!?! Getting rid of all that nasty wallpaper makes a world of difference too. Do you have your furniture yet? I saw it at the bottom of the page and was curious if you''re having to work around furniture? I think that''s always my biggest obstacle...

I''m no help with stripping wood - been wondering about that myself as I think I''ve determined that I really wish all of the wood trim in our living room were a darker stain... but there''s so much else to do that it will be a low priority item for us. We also have a wood staircase leading up to the finished attic that has been painted mint green by a previous owner (blech!!! makes me want to hunt them down and ask them what the hell they were thinking!!) so eventually we will need to strip that also... For right now, at least it is not an open staircase and I can shut the door to get it out of sight. I just can''t seem to find the time to finish any of my projects so I totally understand the "in between" pics - I just call them "progress" pics.

 

[Mara]

Melissa re: stripping paint, I stripped my cabinets in my old place with the help of a friend and it is a messy, smelly job. It was pretty straightforward (I think I read up online on how to do it in the basic way...there are so many home remodeling/redecorating sites out there!) but it just was NO FUN at all. I think I took about 10 coats of paint off and each one was uglier than the last! Then I redid them all in Ralph Lauren linen texture paint in a soft beige with white as the linen contrast, I loved it but man it was hard work. Not sure if you''d need to do something different since the wookwork is inside the house, but just be careful with the chemicals, they are very harsh, so protect your skin and also the carpet/wood etc you are working on. And be patient. Good luck!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Looks like it is all coming along Melissa. Being a home owner is the best feeling in the world. You and your FI will love it!!! I think the pink bathroom is fun. We did the same thing with our house. The downstairs is beige with white trim but the upstairs is all color. I guess after living in apartments I wanted a little excitement with the walls.

 

[MelissaSue]

Mara - You''re not kidding about the paint stripping. FI started doing it with the chemicals.. it started going really well.. until he almost PASSED OUT FROM IT. I went to the store and came back to find him leaning over the back deck just trying to get some air.. and then even from me being in the house for a few minutes I started feeling light headed. If you look in some of the pictures, you can see the half-stripped wood. We bought some 3-M "Safest Stripper" and while it does not have any fumes and won''t hurt your skin, it also is not very effective at taking off paint. You have to let it sit for three hours and then even still some spots wouldn''t even BUDGE.. We did two rounds of that, and then gave up.. Next we are trying a heat gun... but I''m doubting it will work, because i believe it is only effective for latex paint, and I have a feeling the undercoats of paint aren''t latex. Don''t know for sure one way or another though. There are Three different colors.. The gray/blue that was there when we moved in, a pink-ish color and an ivory-ish.. Don''t know WHY any one ever painted the woodwork.. but apparently no one else was brave enough to try to strip it so they kept painting over it.

Teebee - Yeah! It is amazing what the paint did in the kitchen. Its funny, because the kitchen was "good" to start with and I had no plans of changing it.. I forget why, but FI insisted we paint it.. even if it was just more white.. but since he insisted on painting it, I figured I''d add some color.. and honestly, the yellow was a total impulse decision.. The gold in the dining room I changed my mind on a zillion times before I decided on gold.. but the kitchen.. we just walked into Lowes.. and I decided I wanted to do yellow.. and we went back and forth between a lighter yellow and the one we picked.. And we just went with that one and went home.. started painting.. and it looks SO good.. and it matches all the kitchen towels and everything I have, and flows really nice with the gold in the dining room.. It came out perfect for me not giving it any thought! Our furniture is currently living with FI''s parents. They are wonderful enough to keep it in thier garage and family room for us since last summer! The bedroom set and probably the dining room set will hopefully make it into the house within the next week or so. Want to get the bedroom set up the stairs before we try to paint the stairway.

Ginger - hehe.. yeah.. the pink bathroom IS me.. It took a lot of convincing for FI to let me paint it hot pink.. I had long ago decided that I was getting hot pink towels, so I was trying to come up with a good match for them.. but there really wasn''t a good option.. It was a little scary at first. FMIL actually painted it for me.. and she''s pretty conservative.. so when she started.. she was like "are you SURE this is what you want?".. and when I first saw it on the wall it was a little scary, but after it was all done, and the paint dried not quite as bright as it was wet.. .. it looks GREAT! Even FMIL loves it.. Sure, Hot pink is not for everyone.. but it is for me! The rooms with dark woods really do look best with neutrals. The "guest" bedroom has all the original woodwork in it still, so I think I am going to do a neutral tan in there.. Thought about a fun green, but with the wood it wouldn''t look right..

Our living room is going to get painted blue but the wall with the ugly wallpaper and all the way up the stairway is going to be a light brown to accent the woodwork.

 

[sunkist]

Date: 2/25/2006 11:14:32 PM
Author: MelissaSue
I LOOOVE my hot pink bathroom. I''m getting hot pink towels to match. Its called Scribble Pink from the Nickelodeon collection at Lowe''s. It had a picture of Tommy Pickles from Rugrats on the swatch. HeHeHe.. You HAVE to admit it looks better than the awful floral wallpaper that was there. I am having a little fun with the upstairs, while the downstairs is staying al ittle more neutral and true to the original style of the house.

Melissa, your hot pink bathroom reminds me of Victoria Secret, which is very fitting for a bathroom! I think it''s fun! I''m not sure if I''d personally choose hot pink but I''d have no problem going with a bold color

I''m glad you went bold!

 

[MelissaSue]

Sunkist - LOL - Did you know I worked at Victoria''s Secret for almost two years?

 

[AndyRosse]

Wow MS, your place is definitely coming along! I love it!!

 

[moon river]

I just love you new house. It''s so ''homey''. BTW getting rid of the RED CARPETING up the stairway is a MAJOR improvement.

 

[Mara]

Melissa, what about a very soft sage green for the guest room? That would be FAB with dark woodwork...I am such a fan of sage green with dark contrasts. Also pale bluish grays for contrast with mahoganies...that is how our master bedroom is setup, pale blue walls with dark woods and then white and blue accents. It's very calming.

ETA that all this talk of painting etc is making me want to paint my next few project rooms (office, guest bedroom and guest bath) but Greg's sister is coming to see us this week, so I am instead busy with cleaning and re-organizing, hanging some pictures I bought for the guest room, getting the carpets cleaned etc....damn! I get the painting bug but then it passes usually within a day. Those rooms will so never get done.

 

[flopkins]

MS- it looks great!! I am SOOOO jealous! FI and I really can''t afford anything in the Bay Area... sigh.

I''m loving the lighter colors in the living room etc... makes it a lot brighter!

 

[selflove]

How cute!!!! You must be having such a fun time with it. The house and the yard makes me nostalgic for my hometown...

Are you having part of your wedding in your backyard...or am I making that up??????

I love the woodwork inside and I love the soft colors you used in the living room and stairway. I remember years ago when I lived in the midwest and actually did a lot of refinishing of old wood furniture. Well, I should be more accurate and say I started refinishing a lot of old furniture but I''m not sure I ever finished one project b/c it was so freaking hard!!!! I know we used a sander a few times on flat surfaces...that''s about the only advice I could offer you...which doesn''t help much on built-in woodwork.

 

[MelissaSue]

Self-love - No, none of the wedding is in the backyard. It would have to be a VERY small wedding Our rehearsal dinner is a block from our new house though. Which is cool, considering we booked the rehearsal waaaay before we even started LOOKING for a house.