Anxious...

I am so anxious for the place to be FINISHED! Until then, I'm spending a lot of my free time looking at furniture, wallpaper and paint colors. I have purchased a few things already. All of these can be returned, just in case my impulse buys don't match up with the final product.

Pretty printed chair. Will be a dining room extra chair.

Another printed chair from Target. I'll use this in the library room.

Master Bedding from Urban Outfitters.

Materials

The two highest costs in the remodel are the wood floors and the kitchen countertop. I am rather decisive, so it was a pretty speedy decision making process. I did not use design books or look for inspiration pieces. Rather, I thought about my personal tastes and went with my gut. Here are the basic building blocks for the home.

The floors are Hand-Scraped Maple, in a Saddle finish. They are from Home Depot and the hand-scraped texture gives the wood a lived-in, semi-rustic look. It is not matte, but definitely not a glossy finish. We went with the traditional 3 1/2 inch width to make the room seem larger - although I did love the thick cut pieces.


Since this is the ground floor of the building, and it is a concrete slab, we went with engineered "click" wood. It is less expensive than solid hardwood and will lay better on concrete than solid hardwood.

The kitchen counters will pick up the blue colors from my inspiration piece! I am excited about these countertops. Since the kitchen appliances are white, we wanted to choose a counter that would blend well with them and also be extremely durable, but also could work with stainless steel appliances if I or another owner wants to upgrade. Quartz countertops are non-porous, which means they will not stain, even from things like food coloring! The kitchen cabinets repainted in a creamy white will blend nicely with this. And of course, I can accessorize the kitchen in blues and yellows! This is Silestone brand quartz in Blue Sahara.

I chose lighting that I thought would anchor the house in traditional, so when I eventually sell it the empty home has a consistent look. I found the look I liked in Hampton Bay's "Caffe Patina" line of fixtures.

The chandelier is a nice 5-light fixture that will be slightly offset to fit exactly over the dining room table in the large living/dining room. Since it is slightly formal looking, we decided to dress up the new can lights with can light covers from the same collection. Again, looking for consistency. There will be four cans in the living space, and they will be on dimmers.

The bedroom ceiling fans are not from the same collection. Since the condo has traditional 8 foot ceilings, we needed a fan that would mount flush to the ceiling. It would not be nice to bump your head! The Caffe Patina fan is not flush mount, so it was not an option. This fan, Hampton Bay Carriage House II, has a 52" spread, perfect for the large bedrooms. The four lights will brighten the rooms significantly. This is important for the 2nd bedroom, which has a rather small window. They will be installed on a dimmer switch.

I have not made a decision on the kitchen sink, but I have picked out my faucet! I am enamored with Delta's Pilar Touch2Ofaucet. With a small space, I think it is important that all aspects are high quality. This is especially important for the items that are used every single day, such as the kitchen faucet. This has a high arch that will allow for large pots to fit underneath it, and the pull out hose provides flexibility. Since there is no utility sink in the home, the touch technology will prevent messy hands from ruining the nice kitchen faucet!

Demolition Day!

Today was Demolition Day! The contractor and crew came in and ripped EVERYTHING out... kind of scary to walk into!

No more ugly carpet in the (soon to be) library!

Hole in the wall to recess the fridge, and future bar space.

Baiiii ugly countertop and sink! See you soon, cabinet doors!

Ugly kitchen carpet is gone!

Living room... ceiling is cut out to install can lighting.

70's mirrored wall follows disco music to the garbage can.

And the bathroom vanity is completely gone!

This was pretty shocking to walk into, but it will be great soon. The floors should be the first thing finished, hopefully on the 28th. The last project to finish will be the bar.

Renovations

I love color, and definitely want to draw from an inspiration piece so I don't get too carried away! I decided that the common living space (nook, kitchen, combined living/dining room) will use colors from Van Gogh's "Wheat Field with Cypresses," one of my favorite works of art.

My color palette is a range of blues, greens, yellows, cream, and hints of red. I am adding brown to the colors as well. I have a framed art print of this picture that will hang prominently in the dining area, and I hope that I can create a space reminiscent of this great piece!

We will be doing five major updates in the condo:

1. Flooring & Lighting. We are removing all flooring (carpet and some tile) in the living areas and hallways and replacing with warm, medium-brown hardwood. The kitchen and living room are getting recessed lighting, and both bedrooms will have ceiling fans and lights. This should provide an instant and significant increase in the value of the home. We will also add decorative crown molding to create a more formal feel.
2. Kitchen. This is where the bulk of the cost of the renovation will come from. The cabinets will be refinished in an off-white color. The fridge will be recessed so it is flush with the cabinets. We will install new quartz countertops, and top it off with some funky drawer pulls & knobs. Hopefully this will make the best use of the small space.
3. Library. The breakfast nook will become a library. I am searching for unique wallpaper, a great easy chair or two and rug. This room is the first you see when you enter the home, so I want it to be perfect. It will probably take a while to find all the right pieces.
4. Bar. Recessing the fridge into the hall closet would make the closet too shallow to be useful, so we are turning the remaining space on the other side into a bar! The dry bar will have a beverage refrigerator, shallow cabinets and shelving for glassware. I am very excited about the bar, and believe it will increase the value of the home.
5. Master Suite Vanity. The current vanity is in poor condition, and must be replaced. We will build a custom cabinet to fit the space (it is not a standard size) and add more storage. The countertop will also be replaced.

Wow! Now that I write it out, this is quite a bit of work. We will be doing additional small updates that I have not highlighted above, including updating all switchplates, updating the cable jacks, installing a closet system and of course painting. We are holding off on some projects due to budget, including both bathrooms, painting the patio, outdoor carpet, and replacing the carpet in both bedrooms.

I can't wait for the contractor to get started today!

I bought a home!

I am so excited to begin the adventure that is home ownership! I purchased a condo in downtown. The units were built in 1975, and mine has only been updated a little bit. I have decided to do a pretty major overhaul to do some necessary updates and give it a more modern look. Here are the "before" photos!

"Breakfast Nook" off the entryway.

View of the living room from the deck.

I am in love with this deck... this is only half of it. It is so big and the view is amazing!

Master Suite - Vanity area

Master Suite - Bedroom. Here you can see the rest of the deck!

Part of the 2nd bedroom. It is about 14x14 - pretty spacious for a roommate, with a wall of closets!

Entry hall

Kitchen - about 8 feet long, galley. So much potential, but right now all I can think about is how awful the lights are!