Old Cottage Renovation Update
Well it’s been over six years since we bought our little house. It seems like an eternity ago and last week somehow at the same time. Our lives have changed a lot in that time, and the house has slowly been evolving. Some days it seems like it’ll never be done, and other days I can appreciate how far we’ve come on our old cottage renovation.
The truth is, I’ve held back on talking much about it because most days it feels like the slowest process in the world. As a major perfectionist it’s hard for me to share things I don’t feel are 100% done. I wish I had one of those fast forward buttons and it would be done in a weekend like the houses on those renovation tv shows. But here we are, and I figured it was high time to come out of my hiding place and talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
DONE
After six years it’s hard to remember every thing we’ve accomplished, but here’s some major things that come to mind:
The guest room
The guest room was one of the first rooms I “finished” renovating. Since it was a space that’s rarely used it was a lot easier to bust out. You can read more about the guest room renovations and see more photos from it on this post.
The Master Bedroom
Our master bedroom was second in line to get renovated and it have made the biggest impactby far. When we first bought the house it was covered in dirty peeling wallpaper. After being sick of starting at the grime we tore down the wallpaper. We were hoping to live with bare plaster walls until we could renovate, but instead found dirty orange walls. they had cracks so big I could stick a finger in them. I’m incredibly sensitive to color and waking up to those orange walls every morning did not put me in the best mood.
Now that it’s renovated I truly love waking up in our room! Read more about our master bedroom renovations here.
The Patio
The patio and backyard has been our biggest transformation to date. The entire backyard was unruly when we purchased the house, with weeds taller than us and a brick patio covered in moss. You would slip when it was even the slightest bit damp out.
You can read more about all of the steps we’ve taken so far on the patio, as well as our future plans, in this blog post all about it!
Other Wins
Frank spent the better part of two years saving the structure. When we bought the house termites had only just been exterminated and left a lot of the structure in danger. In addition there was water damage from moisture sitting against the foundation for years. Frank replaced sill plates, sistered and replaced floor joists and studs. He also rebuilt an entire wall in our living room that had been damaged by the termites, and more.
Lots of concrete. Even though the main footprint of our basement was concrete, the 3 crawlspaces were all dirt floors that all needed concrete. We replaced the very sad driveway with concrete and poured sidewalks around both the front and back of our house. Last summer poured the final batch of concrete to form our nice big patio.
We’ve gutted the kitchen. Of course, it’s still not redone. It currently has large holes in the walls and ceilings. but hey, progress is progress, right?
Scraped wallpaper, skim spackled, and painted our bedroom, the guest room, and the office. I painted the sunroom last summer which felt great after staring at the low quality dreary wood paneling for way too many years.
We’ve conquered the backyard. What was once a hill covered in overgrowth is now clear and walkable. We spent years cutting back plants, removing dead trees, and grading the hill. We redid the entire patio and enclosed it so you don’t feel like you’re going to tumble down the hill. The backyard is one of the most obvious transformations so far.
STILL TO DO
Finishing the kitchen! Having cabinets and countertops will be a luxury we’re unaccustomed to at this point.
Gutting the full bath. We hoped to leave the full bath original, but quickly realized it wasn’t in the cards. So much damage had already been done to the historic tile-work. In order to truly fix the plumbing we’ll need to completely rip out everything.
New windows! The windows are another thing we hoped to save, but now realize is just not realistic. Most are damaged beyond repair. We’re focusing our efforts on just saving the unique windows that give the house it’s character. We will be maintaining the same size and style of all the windows in order to keep the same feel throughout the house.
New floors in the sunroom. The sunroom was an 80’s addition, so the wood floors don’t match the beautiful original 1930’s floors. They’re also warped and sun damaged. We’ll be replacing them with flooring that will be much more sturdy for a room that gets a lot of traffic and a lot of light!
Still so much spackling to do. I’ve got my work cut out for me with a never ending list of rooms that will need the full treatment to get the walls looking back to snuff again.
Refinishing the floors. This will probably be the last thing we do, but will make such a big difference. It’s probably been 30+ years since the floors were treated, and it shows. The stain color is also currently patch-worked, so I can’t wait to someday see them all refinished and uniform!
And since everyone loves some before and afters (or at least I do), here’s some of our bigger transformations so far. Most are still “in progress” but why not celebrate how far we’ve come?
