What's to Come

So now you are all caught up on the rooms that have been remodeled. Some were redone several times but now the house is starting to look cohesive, which makes this lady happy. The husband is coming around more to the remodels, I have to talk him into it less.

A view from our field road to the back of the house.

There is one room in the house I am not going to touch, at least not for a really really long time and that is the mud/utility room. It is a narrow room and crowded with shelves. This room was also renamed the room of death since all the deer heads and ducks were relocated to this room (or the little boys room). It still has the wallpaper that Great Uncle Henry put up and quit frankly I have zero desire to remove it. It is the mud/catch all room so I am going to leave it be. I can sector this room from the rest of the house by putting a curtain over the window and just like that, with the opening of a door, you will be in a whole new unexpected world. 

I have a super fun but very nonfunctional screened in porch, more of a three seasons room. Currently it is my catch all for all my empty Amazon boxes and also where I store my tools and paint supplies that I want to keep close. Lord knows when it is -10 and snowing and I get a wild hair to paint I don't want to have to go to a shed a search for the items I need. This porch will see my love but it won't be until the following four areas of the house are complete.

The orange stairs no longer (nor ever did) match the house. I have recently discovered they cannot be taken apart and have new rise and treads put on without tearing out the WHOLE stairs. This is another one of Great Uncle Henry's doings, and the millionth time I have probably cursed his name. I will have to do some research to figure out how to fill gaps and give these stairs a face lift with stain and paint. Initially I was planning on tiles or tile patterns but that will not work, due to all the measurements NOT being square. Perks of living in a late 1800's  home I guess. The stair well and hall attached will get a fresh coat of paint. I am also thinking of turning my turquoise wall into something a bit more fun, maybe even wallpaper (this I have to sell Tim on).

Defiantly have to figure out hand rails too, old ones are breaking.

Another room on the list is my teenage son's room. When we first moved into this house he was a bit traumatized, he has some bad anxiety and does not take change at all. He loved the room he had when we lived just the two of us. That was his room from the time he was born until he was 4.5 when we moved into a small apartment for the next year. SO when we moved into this home we asked Carter what he wanted to do to his room and he wanted it to be just like the "New Athens House". This was simple enough AND there wasn't actually wall paper in this room that had to be removed. There was however missing trim pieces and missing rosettes on the windows. Not long after we started this room I found out I was pregnant with Oliver so the room got a few coats of paint and we moved him in, never completing anything else. Carter now wants more of a grown up room. 

He is a messy kid and needs to organized. 

The upstairs bathroom was in its remodeled phase when I moved in, we tore it apart before the wedding and it was to the studs when I moved in. There was a door only in Carter's room so we moved it to the hall and blocked the one to Carter's room. We painted the vanity and removed the ugly floral wallpaper and painted the walls and ceiling. That was it! We have since had to cut a hole in our brand new drywall'ed wall due to our shower leaking onto our kitchen table (the real story was during dinner onto Carter's plate of spaghetti). So, this bathroom now needs a 24" x 24" hole fixed, a new coat of paint (due to my blow dryer blowing up and almost burning the house down, resulting in a mark on the bathroom wall). This room also got slapped together, because I was pregnant with Oliver and was super sick during all it's remodeling, so the husband just did what ever to get it done. 

The updated but needs newly updated bathroom.

FINALLY and most likely our next project. The downstairs bathroom! This room is just down right nasty and I refuse to use it, if I can help it. It never looks or smells clean, even after I have cleaned it. It has 1970's wallpaper, a plastic commercial grade wall board nail glued to the bottom of the wall (I know because it was what was upstairs too and tore the drywall off the wall), a toilet that leaks and has been cracked since I moved in, and a sink that has seen it's better days.

The much desired bathroom.

Now, our house ONLY has a shower (you can imagine bathing toddlers wasn't the easiest). We have heard from family members that this bathroom used to have a tub in it, so the plan is to put one back in. We will install a very small sink and a new toilet. Since it is such a small bathroom we decided on a barn door instead of a regular swing in door. A barn door will save space when multiple people are in the bathroom at once (because lets face it, mom's don't get to use the bathroom alone). Thankfully my brother and dad are plumbers and everything else can Tim and I can do ourselves. I am the most excited about this remodel. I have already started purchasing or searching second hand places for items. I have the new toilet, sink, mirror, lights for above the mirror, and part of the diy towel rack (knobs). Now, my grandma just remodeled her bathroom and got rid of her tub. The measurements and color are right so we are planning on using it, we will just have to purchase shower walls. The tub, toilet and sink are the most expensive parts and I have gotten the all for a total of $35 (you are reading that right). I think the rest we can handle for under $1,000. I am so ready to get started.

Stay tuned... SO much more is to come.