Finally, showing off the new digs! Sort of!

It has been nearly 11 months since we were handed the keys to our new house. A lot had to happen to our "sow's ear" to turn it into the "nylon purse" that it is today. I say "nylon" because it's got a ways to go before it becomes silk!!

So, here's some pics of what we started with:

Check out the white vinyl siding. So 80's, don't you think!Big lot - .88 acres - with cherry trees!!    

Hot tub on the back deck hidden behind the red trellis- got rid of that nasty thing!





View of the back of the house - huge deck and a beautiful cherry tree!




As you can see, it had potential - once all the windows, sliders were replaced, the hot tub removed, etc. etc!!

Here's some inside views:

 70's photo-finish cabinets


wood stove in "family room" check out the crooked chimney pipe!


stick-on tiles in front bedroom and on stairs



  notice the lovely sheet rock on the stairway wall!

                                                 

love those fluorescent light fixtures!!




strange wall with lots of outlets
in the attached garage.  hmmmm

There was also a walled-off area in the detached shop with 4 small rooms and tell-tale signs of a small marijuana grow going on. Tom looked diligently for stashed product or money - only found a few dried leaves.  I think this was one of the turn-offs for previous lookers. That and the popcorn ceilings, the mold on the wall facing the front door, the obvious leak from the upstairs bathroom, etc. None of which deterred this determined couple to offer the bank full asking price! That offer was later lowered considerably and accepted gladly after the inspection. Later, we lamented we hadn't lowered it even more!! We're sure any offer would have been accepted just to get it off the bank's books! 

But, with Tom's brother Steve as our contractor, Tom helping when he wasn't working, and me as gofer and general cleaner-upper, we tackled the project head-on! Oh, and about those popcorn ceilings - it took my former co-worker Oran Thompson and I seven hours, but we sprayed and scrapped every room and hallway that had that nasty stuff on it. Now we have nice, slightly textured ceilings! I know, a lot of you have that popcorn stuff in your homes - and, if maintained properly, it doesn't look so bad. But this stuff was nasty! Dirty, mold on some places where there had been leaking, patched-and badly- in some places. It had to come down!

So, demolition began in the kitchen - 

 first - get those ugly cabinets out!
we didn't demolish them, though, like you see on those remodel TV  shows - we reused them in the shop and garage. The guys even cut out the peninsula portion so I can use it in my future hobby shop!

new wiring for more outlets and making adjustments for where the frig and stovetop will be.





"pretty" vinyl under the laminate flooring that we took off - also to be re-used elsewhere. Laminate - not the vinyl!!

 kitchen gutted - now for "super cleaning woman" - that's me!!

then there was that stove and all the bricks to come out of the family room. About a third of the way thru, I mentioned to Tom that I hope Steve didn't come back in a couple days and tell us he had a pneumatic tool that would take this all out a lot easier than the crowbar and hammers we were using. The lightbulb went off and out he went to his shop to find - voila! - a vibrating apparatus with a chisel!! Cleaned out the rest of the brick in 1/2 the time it had taken us to do a couple feet!!  Yay!! Our backs were very happy!!

Now, it's time for the rebuild!! Oh, and did I mention that the laminate that was on the kitchen floor extended thru the family room area as you can see in the picture above? Well, the kitchen laminate came up quite easy - just one board at a time. Thought we would have enough to put in the upstairs hallway. Them it came time to take up the family room section - only these pieces had been glued together!! So, they were taken out in glued sections - to be used in the shop or maybe my hobby room.  Or sent to the dump, unfortunately.

Since we don't have children at home, we don't need a family room. What we did need was a larger kitchen, a 3/4 bath and in-house laundry. So, the guys framed in part of the former family room area for the new bath/laundry and we extended the kitchen to take in part of the rest of the room leaving a nice entry area to the back deck for barbecuing. Originally, we were going to replace the slider with a door and sidelight or small window. After a visit from my good friend, Kerry, we decided it would be nicer to keep the view that came with the slider and just narrowed the bathroom on that wall to accommodate the new, vinyl slider with built-in blinds. Yay! Thank you, Kerry! Looks so much nicer and also gives the view from the back yard a more balanced look with the matching slider off the dining room. Sorry, don't have any pictures of that area with the new slider. Here's some pics of the new bath/laundry area, though. The slider replaced the old metal one showing here.

Ready for new cabinets!!

After taping, texture and painting, the new cabinets went in. 

We went with rustic alder with a cashew stain.

 The frig is now on the opposite end of the left wall and the stove top is on the sink side, giving me a good 6 feet of counter space for baking!!

 Really wanted a farm-style sink and found this stainless steel one on-line on sale for less than 1/2 price and a lot less than a porcelain sink. Love it and the way I can wash large pans without having to tip and do one side at a time! Oh, and that cabinet on the right side of the sink is my pull-out trash bins! Love, love, love that!! No under the sink small trash or walking around the kitchen with wet trash, just pull the door open and out come the trash cans! One for garbage and one for recycling.

 Didn't think I really needed double ovens - boy was I wrong! As it turned out, the cabinet for the built-in was more expensive for a single oven than a double due to all the drawers under the oven. Found the ovens on sale, so it was only about $100 more total to have the double set-up. They have really come in handy!






This is a view with the quartz counter top we chose. Shows the longer kitchen and a bigger peninsula than what was there.
                 

 This is with our tiled backsplash. Took us hours and several trips to Lowe's, Home Depot and several specialty stores before piecing together this design. The center run has sparkles in it to match the sparkles in the countertop.





We went with vinyl plank flooring for all the new stuff. This is a silver elm from Home Depot. Brings out the grays from the countertop, appliances and backsplash with a bit of tan to match the cabinets. It's textured like real wood, perfect for a wet environment.

Remember that ugly stairway? Well, Tom and Steve came up with a plan to take care of that!  Even though we don't live in a log house anymore, Tom still likes the look of wood in the house. So he thought some beautiful tongue-and-groove cedar would be perfect for the entrance way which includes the stairs and the facing wall. I picked out rustic cherry vinyl planks for the runners and Steve trimmed it out nicely. The front door facing wall is a real eye catcher when friends come over!
The stair railing was black - several layers of black, actually. Tom stripped, sanded and repainted it a brushed nickel to match the door handles. Looks clean and modern now!

 Steve also made all the moldings from cedar. This is the kitchen window all trimmed out. It's around the doors as well. Looks great!

Well, there's lots more to show you and stories to tell, but I think that's enough for now! Promise more soon, including Christmas!

I'd like to end this blog with a special Thank You to my credit union- Peninsula Credit Union in Shelton, WA - for coming through with the financing for this house. It was very stressful the last week before we had to close and the gals in the Mortgage Dept really stepped up and got the info to the powers that be to get our loan approved and the signing done on time. And of course, my good friend Carolyn Rich and her crew at First American Title.  Always a pleasure working with them!! No, this is not a commercial, just a heart-felt Thank You!

To be continued…….

Jackie