House. Meet internet. Internet. Meet house.

I would like to take a moment to introduce you to my new baby. She’s a middle aged beauty, who has only seen one owner. Until now. And we plan to love her just as much as her previous owners did.

We spent nearly 2 years looking for the perfect house to buy. Unfortunately, as a young couple with limited finances, we were not seen as a particularly hot prospect for sellers (on paper). Add to that the irritating habit people got into of offering significantly more than asking on homes in our neighborhood, and you’re left with one frustrated and discouraged Zephyr. Eventually though, we hired a new real estate agent, one extremely well connected not only in the real estate world, but in the city in general, and she found us this baby. It was, in fact, her friend that was selling the house. Kismet.

I kept telling Austin (my partner in life) that all we had to do was appeal to someone on a personal level…surely, if they met us and knew how excited we were and how much love we would have for our future home, they would practically want to throw their home in our lap! And talk about the power of manifestation. Our real estate agent brought us to the house and we got to meet the lovely woman who cared for this house for the majority of her life. Mrs. B is an incredibly sweet person. We ended up spending a good amount of time with her, learning about her life and her future (she sold the house to move all.the.way.across.the.country) and sharing some of ourselves with her. In the end, we all felt lucky to have made this connection. She knew her beloved home would be going to a family that would cherish it, and we knew that our beloved home had been well taken care of…I’m all for rescue operations, but on an investment this big, it felt great to know the house hadn’t been trashed by renters in the past. And the perfect thing? It was imperfect. The whole house was a blank slate. The last renovation had been in the mid ’80s, so things were still in very useable shape, yet were calling out for some attention. We love projects, and all I could see was the potential in this house.

Frankly, most of the house was blank. White walls, white carpet. The look on Austin’s face as we walked in was one of hesitation and disappointment…all he could see was the seller’s belongings in there. It took me quite some time to convince him to look past the floral couch and ornate furniture, and I don’t honestly think he believed me until we got into the empty house.

Here it is as we saw it the first time (sorry for the crappy pictures…cell phone excuse):

The Entry:

This is really the living room…but it has some of its own merits/issues.

What we like:

• sky light
• bright, large window
• storm door (that locks)
• windowed front door

What we want to improve:

• paint front door
• install deadbolt to front door
• replace door knob (it’s the kind that can be opened from the inside while locked…I am forever locking myself out)
• paint walls and ceiling

The Living Room:

As you come in the door. Look. This is what you see.

What we like:

• fireplace
• large (double pane) window
• opens into dining room

What we want to improve:

• paint
• flooring
• new window treatment
• open into kitchen more (that wall to the right)?
• build mantle for fireplace
• built-ins around fireplace

The Kitchen:

Through the dining room (no photo, sorry) to the kitchen.

What we like:

• everything works
• it is relatively large for a house this size
• room for improvement!

What we want to improve:

• move washer and dryer out
• new flooring. anybody notice the beautiful CARPET in our kitchen??
• move refrigerator to back wall once washer and dryer are moved
• add pantry next to new refrigerator location
• new cabinet doors
• paint cabinets (white or gray)
• new countertops (butcherblock)
• new appliances (stainless)
• new lighting (maybe pendants?)
• paint the walls (gray or green?)
• new backsplash (colored glass subway tiles)
• open wall into living room (the wall in the right of this photo)?
• garden window?
• there are two doors to the outside here. a slider slightly behind where I was standing to take this photo and a normal door by the washer and dryer. we want to get rid of the one by the washer and dryer, it isn’t really useful and it leaves a decent chunk of space unusable.

The Guest Bathroom:

It’s pink.

What we like:

• There is a window. Though it is kinda big and low to be in the shower, but it lets in good light and is frosted, so when closed it’s not big deal.

What we would like to improve:

• remove shower door and get shower curtain instead. our inspector told us these doors have the lovely ability to become a human cheese grater if broken (there is wire mesh inside the glass).
• the flooring
• painting
• new tile in shower
• new bath tub…this one is looking pretty dingy
• new toilet, see above
• new vanity or paint current vanity
• new storage system. there is a wall cabinet above the toilet…and it matches the kitchen cabinets
• new lighting? we actually kind of like the light fixture..but the frilly bulb covers are a bit much for us.
• new/no window treatment in shower

The Guest Room:

This was the room where something magical happened. We looked into the closet and saw hardwood. Beautiful, solid, narrow (1 1/2″ wide boards) oak flooring. I quickly ran into the living room to ask the looming question: “is it everywhere?” Affirmative. Except for the kitchen. Step 1: remove all the carpets!

This was the seller’s office. We want it to be the guest room. It is the first door in the hallway, so furthest from the master bedroom and right across the hall from the guest bath. Makes the most sense. Both of the additional bedrooms are the exact same size…so there’s no real reason to choose one over the other, aside from some oddly place electrical outlets. There’s one in this room right at desk height.

What we like:

• it has a good window (double pane)
• it has a light fixture

What we want to improve:

• new paint
• flooring
• build a murphy bed (this room is really small)
• window treatments (the blinds are kind of yellowed)
• new light fixture

The Office:

You can see here how small these rooms are. We want this to be our office. It is furthest from the living room (and distractions). It also shares a wall with both other bedrooms, so it gives a privacy buffer when we have guests over.

What we like:

• it has a good window
• it has a light fixture

What we want to improve:

• new paint
• flooring
• window treatments
• install some built-in looking shelving, that adds utility but keeps it flexible if this ever needs to be reverted back to a bedroom

The Master Bedroom:

It’s small. But fortunately, so are we. Oh, and hey…that’s the back of Austin. The way the seller’s furniture is set up makes this room actually look significantly smaller than it is. We easily fit our king sized bed and dressers in here.

What we like:

• good window
• ceiling fan
• deep and large closet (not walk-in, but much deeper than a standard reach-in)
• en-suit bathroom

What we want to change:

• paint
• flooring
• new ceiling fan (this one is frightening…I can’t really deal with sleeping under it while it is running)
• widen the door to the bathroom (french or barn doors)
• we will be utilizing some of the closet space for the washer and dryer (accessible from the hallway), so the closet will be smaller and we’ll need a new door for it (probably barn door too, matching the bathroom)

The Master Bathroom:

It’s teal. It has ZERO windows. It is smaller than our guest bathroom.

What we like:

• ….

What we’d like to change:

• we will open a small nook into one of the closets in the hallway to house the toilet. this will give us significantly more room for a larger bathtub and vanity
• install a larger bathtub
• build a new vanity
• remove shower doors and replace with curtain
• new shower tiling
• new flooring (it has the same blue vinyl as the guest bathroom)
• new mirror/medicine cabinet
• new storage options. this bathroom also has a wall cabinet that matches the kitchen
• add a sky light to bring in some natural light
• wainscoting or some wall treatment
• new light fixture
• new exhaust fan (this one frightens me)

Other projects we’re interested in doing:

• baseboard for the whole house. Right now it is oak, and it isn’t in very good shape. Still trying to decide if we’ll go with white or wood trim, but we’d like something a bit taller than we have right now.
• crown molding
• new doors and trim
• new window trim

Whew…I’m exhausted from writing that. And this is just the AESTHETIC, interior things we want to do…there are many more projects we will be working on in the next few years, both to improve energy efficiency and curb appeal. Stay tuned!

SPOILERS: We’ve already got a good amount of work done, which I’ll be sharing soon!