When we eliminated the pantry closet in our kitchen remodel so we could move the backdoor we also eliminated the wall where we hung all our coats, bags etc. So I have been on a hunt for a hall tree that was sturdy, simple, and could not be knocked over my a 16 month old.
Target came through with this Madison Coat Rack on casters.
Although downsizing has its challenges we really enjoy living in more of our home.
We are so enjoying our “new” home. While there are still some areas that need work we have come so far! We are so thankful for all the contractors, including my dad, who spent hours on our home and for my parents who let us live with them for 10 weeks.
NWH Enterprises (tile installation)
And so many more!
We are on day 70ish of our remodel. And hopefully we are moving back into our home this weekend. Fingers crossed!
We spent last week in Michigan visiting extended family, but while we were gone lots got accomplished on the house. Next up is trim, paint, new exterior door and window, and countertops. 
We are hoping to be finished sometime mid September…. because I am supposed to have a baby shower at my house Sept 30😱.
We are on day 35 of our house renovation project.
I knew most of the light fixtures, tile and decor that I wanted before we started this project, but there were a few things I wanted my husband’s help with so last week he and I finalized our paint colors and picked our new toilets.
Sheetrock and hardwood floors went in this week.
At the last minute we decided to tear out the tiny built-in on the right side of the fireplace.
While it was cute it was not very practical. And once we tore it out we realized there was actually quite a bit of dead space behind it. We plan to do some stained wood shelves with over-sized baskets like the photo above for extra storage.
Bathroom tile, cabinets, and trim will be installed in the next week or so!
Seeing as I am the IT person for this blog I’m not surprised that the videos from Wednesday’s post did not work.
Sheetrocking starts this week so I walked through part of the house so you all could see all the work that has been done in the last week and a half.
And because I screwed up yesterday’s post here is a video of my baby laughing. You are welcome.
So when we moved into this house we knew that the kitchen and bathrooms would be the first things we remodeled. I was a dummy and forgot to take before photos of the jack and jill bath, but it was finished exactly the same as our other bathroom in the photo below. Lots of white tile, retro flooring and a cast iron tub.
The primary issue with this bathroom was ALL THE DOORS. It is a good sized bath, but all the doors made it feel cramped. By converting the jack and jill bath into the main guest/kid bath we added lots of floor space that was originally taken up by the door swings.
While I would have loved to turn this into a girly powder bath with fun wallpaper it will be the primary bath for my son AND guests. So I tried to keep the girliness to a minimum.
I had hoped to reuse the old cast iron tub, but it was damaged accidentally during demolition so we are replacing it with a new cast iron tub.
We are planning to do a white hex tile on the floor, and an over-sized subway tile on the walls of the shower, all with an antimicrobial grey/beige grout.
Next post is a video walking tour of the whole project in process…
Let’s recap. Below is our new floor plan: move the back door, open up the entrance to the dining room, add a big island and remove the l-shaped cabinet in the kitchen. 
My selections: Silestone Countertop in Calypso, Walker Zanger Cocoon Tile in Fog, Frigidaire Professional line appliances, Hansgrohe Focus HighArc Kitchen w/PullDown, Cavaliere-Euro 30-inch Wall-mount Modern Range Hood
To view our preliminary cabinet design click here ⇒Beagle Design 7-13.Â
I am going with a simple white cabinet. It reflected both my husband and mine style the best. We are replacing the HUGE 8ft sliding glass door that is almost impossible to open and close. We LOVE all the light it provides. The kitchen window is also getting replaced with a big picture window.
So in addition to new cabinets, we are adding open shelving similar to what we had in our other home. We really have missed having it. While the overall look will be different this photo really shows the look I am going for with the shelving.
We had hoped that there were original hardwood floors under the carpet and vinyl flooring in the kitchen and family room but there was not. Thankfully the contractor is going to match the new hardwood flooring to what is in the rest of the house.
Next post…the bathroom renovation.
I am going to warn you. It’s going to get really ugly before it gets pretty again. Here is the “torn apart living spaces” as we packed and sorted to get ready for all the demolition. This also shows what little updating we had done. We just painted the cabinets and paneling in the kitchen and keeping room. And the reason for painting these rooms was that I knew that I have a tendency to really be affected badly by dark rooms. So that combined with a new baby and postpartum hormones made for a bad combo. The lightness the paint created really helped my mental state.
That buffet-like piece of furniture is in the middle of the kitchen to help us envision the size of the island. 
Right now the two rooms feel a little cramped and choppy despite being quite large.
Here is the old floor plan. There were two main structural issues with these rooms. The first being the giant L-shaped cabinets that block most of the natural light and the beautiful bricked fireplace. The other issue is the opening into the dining room is a very narrow door.
So as we lived in the house for the last few months we were able to make notes of what worked and what didn’t with the spaces. Below are the drawings I came up with. While it temporarily eliminates the pantry behind the door, I gain a LOT of usable cabinet space. I also plan to add a large island and open up the spaces between the kitchen and dining room. During phase 2 of our remodeling I plan to add a mudroom/pantry as well as a laundry room.
Next post is cabinet design and selections of tile, appliances, etc…
personal life and small business blog by Rene' Beagle 