Girls Bedrooms come together

Christmas at Edgewood La Chute continues with a tour of the Girls rooms.  Because the second story was added in the early 1900's the architectural style of the moldings and details were different from the downstairs but attractive all the same. The rooms were not in as much disrepair but our plans were to bring EVERYTHING up to current standards while keeping the original detail. 

Here are a few before photos.....

These photos were taken immediately after we acquired the house. There were items left behind by the previous owner that had to be removed. As you can see the drywall appeared stained and the closet space was minimal to say the least. Because this house contained a dog trot design there were Jack & Jill access to the two upstairs bathrooms on either side of the hallway. We opted to reconfigure the space to create better storage and eliminate the wasted space. So the closet to the left of the fireplace was removed and the access to the bathroom on the right was converted to a much larger closet.

All of the rooms received the same process. Repair, Replace and Re-texture the drywall. Scrape, sand and remove all old trim paint. New crown molding, Primer, Caulk, and Paint. I give credit to the girls for flying solo on most of this in their own rooms! Here is a look at Mallory's finished product. We are still in the process of furnishing but that's the fun part!

She selected Benjamin Moore Seapearl for her wall color and BM White Dove for the trim.

Yes, that is Blondie posing in the middle of all the pillows!

The bedroom closets had integrated mirrors in the doors which we re-used.

And here is the before and after of Jordan's room.....

There was a lot of clean up needed.  You can see the condition of the exterior doors and windows were in need of some repair. We created an additional closet space in this room to the left of the fireplace and installed drywall inside the old mini closet for extra storage. Decorative ceiling fans with crystal chandeliers were installed in all the girls bedrooms. They all implored their personal style to their bedrooms!

This room was painted in BM Classic Gray and Trimmed with BM White Dove. All of the hardware was removed, sanded and repainted by Steve to look fresh and new.








 

And Biscuit wouldn't be outdone by his mother. He had to get in on the photo shoot!

More to come Soon!

Christmas at Edgewood: The Renovation continues

Finally, a long overdue update on the progress of our old house renovation! A lot has been accomplished since my last post. I would say we are 90% complete with the interior renovations.  I haven't posted in some time because this project was massive. I previously told you I took over the general contractor role and once we completed all sub-contracted work we stepped in to do all of the painting!  This while both of us maintained our full-time jobs.  I must give mega kudos to my girls for all their help in this process.  If it weren't for their help Steve and I would probably be locked away by now! They say building a house is tough but that is nothing compared to renovating a 140 year old 4500 square foot house. Especially if your renovation plans include restoring this home to 2017 amenities.

Here is the house as a single story as it sat on the Red River in the late 1800's. The second story was added in the early 1900's following a 6 month relocation to the present site just a mile away. The Victorian style transformed into the colonial design that was all the rage in 1920. Here is Edgewood after a light snowfall in Louisiana.

In September, we were able to move into the home and finish our work on site.  We have two rooms left to complete inside, the Parlor and Sun Porch. At this time we are performing finishing touches to all the other living spaces and furnishing the rooms to our design style. We slowed down a bit to enjoy the holidays and some of our long, hard work!

Today I'm going to begin sharing a room by room review of the transformation. Yes, it is a transformation. Not one space has been untouched.  We practically rebuilt this house. Everything is new except for the shell and even some of it was replaced!

So let's look at the kitchen..........

So this is where we started. Pay close attention to the sink. You will see it again!

We relocated the back door. Shifted the double window over the sink to the back wall, relocated the kitchen doorway into the hall, and opened up the closed off breakfast area with built-in china cabinet to create an open-concept with the new family room. We were also able to configure the space around the elevator shaft to make way for a nice sized walk-in pantry.

Here we are after the demo was complete and framing had started. This was also followed by all new electrical & plumbing, new insulation (self-installed) and drywall.

Framing for new pantry on the left

Check out the wide plank cypress shiplap and colorful wallpaper we found under the old drywall.

We removed all of the wood back to studs cleaned out all the old dirty insulation and readied for drywall.

I forgot to mention we had to remove the old peeling linoleum, put down new subfloors, and match up the existing real wood oak flooring. We had to install ceiling support beams for the walls we removed and so we decided to add additional beams for aesthetic appeal. We installed new bead-board ceilings over the old ones as they had developed some instability after so many years. Custom cabinets were installed, Trim Carpenters installed all new stepped crown molding in keeping with the era of the home. Finally we were ready to begin the daunting task of painting. Every door facing and existing window trim and door had to be scraped, sanded and stripped almost bare of its multiple layers of paint. It was truly a family effort.

Steve, having experience painting old cars with a spray gun was able to paint all of our cabinetry. We chose Benjamin Moore White Dove for our kitchen cabinets and trim. We stained the beams dark walnut. The wall color is BM Edgecomb Gray, a nice neutral taupe. The kitchen island is featured in Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray. We selected Cambria Quartz countertops and a unique Byzantine Arabesque tile for the backsplash in a soft pale blue-green tone. I admit this was a bold move but I couldn't resist. Make note now of the refinished farmhouse sink. It's amazing! We love our new kitchen and we hope you will too.  Enjoy the finished pictures!!

Spring is Here.....And the Renovation Continues!

When last I shared we were hopeful that the holidays having passed would make way for more rapid progress of the renovation. But alas, a changing of the guard, or a parting of ways with our original crew was the only way to get the job done!  So I took on the role of General Contractor and I can honestly say more has been done in 3 months than occurred in the first 6 months combined. 

The photo above makes the home look so beautiful sitting among the new green foliage of the oak and pecan trees. The beautiful brick paver driveway that was already here and if you look closely the new brick steps to the front porch.  New siding and a little primer later.

Look at Steve Go!

Last post I mentioned the new back porch.  You cannot fully appreciate where we are today without remembering where we started.  So here is the before and after of the rear of the house.  Keep in mind we still have to prime and paint all of the unfinished wood you see in my photos. The white picket fence you see below will need to be relocated to create a more aesthetic look for the posterior yard. This is also your first look at the new rear French doors onto our grand back porch. I'm longing for the day I can sit in a porch swing and drink fresh lemonade!

Before

During

Almost After!!

The groundskeeper (aka: Steve) and my 83 year old Dad have come a long way on the clearing the land.  During this process Steve was also thrilled to get his long awaited "Shop"!  May he one day have time to spend countless hours piddling with his old cars here:

The gooseneck barn-lights were my added touch!



Moving to the inside I must show you the transformation of the open concept kitchen - living space to date.  It is by far one of my favorite rooms but so many changes to share.  As a reminder, we had to remove 2 walls between the kitchen and old dining room to create this space. Along the way we removed a built-in china cabinet with glass paned doors (repurposed), found an old door with transom inside a wall, and discovered a staircase hidden in the dropped ceiling.

Help me!

This cabinet wall had to be removed to open up the kitchen but stay tuned for the re-purpose!



This wall was also had to be removed

 

Full-Blown Demo

Two Walls Down

Open all the way through!

And here is the big reveal......drum roll please

Finishes still to come but you get the picture!

 And here is the old view into the new open concept living room!

Removed the old closet on left to make way for another doorway and easy traffic flow between this room and the adjacent Parlor!

Say hello to Bruce and his woodworking talents!

I may be back tomorrow or it could be another 3 months! These days I never know what tomorrow brings until it arrives.

Thanks for stopping by!