Sunday, February 14, 2010

Home Improvements: before and afters

Here they are...Before and Afters. (Remember, the before shots were taken with a film camera and then scanned. I'm not great with the computer stuff, so the scanned shots are not very good as far as color representation, exposure, and that sort of thing.)
Bathroom
Before: '70's yellow, huge cabinet sink, '80's light fixture, and awkward metal shelf.
And, After: soothing blues and browns, new floor (I actually can't remember the original floor tiles), pedestal sink, and crisp white tiles.
Kitchen:
Before: peel 'n' stick floor tiles to cover unfinished drywall and generic grey floor tiles (not in the picture), plus a fridge that is just too big for the tiny space.
And, after: More blue (after I finished the drywall), floor tiles that bring out the blue in the walls, compliment the not attractive cabinets (replacing the hardware is still on my list), and a new fridge that brings out the grey in the floor (this was a necessity after the old one broke).
Bedroom:
Before: No ceiling fixture, and terrible flowery wallpaper. I hope I never have to take down wallpaper again...what a chore! Oh, and the previous owner left his metal mauve window blinds for us.
And, After: Lovely shade of greens, bamboo shades and I also used bamboo garden posts as trim around the ceiling, we had a fun ceiling fan/lights installed. Forgive the messy room, though, we spend little time in this room and tend to disregard it.
Our 'spare room' which became Hubby's studio:
Before: More wallpaper! THREE layers to be exact! We took down the flowery stuff to expose some stripy stuff, to expose some circus characters. The last layer has some plaster patching OVER it. A huge light fixture hung way too low. Our ceilings are fairly low, and this fixture should've been in a dining room, maybe...over a table.
And, after: Hubby painted in shades of blue and grey and made it his own creative space. At least most of the house has nice hardwood floors. No carpets to tear up.
We also had some issues with the yard...
A new septic had to be dug, so we were left with a less than attractive yard. I'm not sure what the yard looked like before being dug up, though, since it was February when we looked at the house and everything was covered in snow. We did know we'd have that terrible plywood shed to take care of eventually, though. It basically became a home for squirrels after they chewed through most of the walls within a couple years.
So, we got a new shed...
And, we had some grass put in most of the yard.

Last year we started planted flowers near my garden beds and Hubby's working at laying slate in his rock path. I am anxious to see what comes up this spring.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, you really have done a lot to your little place. When summer comes and you get out in the yard and you continue on 'your space' in the basement, you two may find you already own your 'dream house'. Congrats on all the sweat equity.

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  2. wow! what a lot of DIY! the place looks great. good work :-) i love your little shed its so quaint and pretty.

    thanks for your advice on my travel post! cape cod could be an interesting little stop on my trip. i am going to New YOrk so why not come over your way too. i'll keep you in the loop :-)

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  3. I think I saw it once before the renovations began. I didn't realize just how far your home had come! Great jorb, there, Hamstray!

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