Does anyone want to buy a house in the mountains?

"You mean, the next time we visit we can just vacation??" 

We are proud to announce that our house is finished. Yes, the one that we have spent 9 out of 22 weekends of our married life fixing up, yes, the one that has taken 2 years and 11 months to complete. I know, we can't believe we're saying it either...WE ARE FINISHED!

Before

     In the yard of our little house on a hill once stood a giant pine tree with limbs all the way to the ground and a pretty large magnolia that unfortunately blocked our beautiful view. The blue/grey color scheme was a little dated and the fascia boards were rotten.

After

 Now: The pine and magnolia trees no longer adorn our front yard. And those overgrown shrubs in the first picture? Justin took those out before I had the pleasure of seeing them in person. Although the landscape still leaves something to be desired, we now have an (almost) uninterrupted view of the mountains across the valley. Not to mention, the blue/grey color scheme has been changed, and I finally got my red door!

Before:

The storage shed on the property was in awful condition when Justin bought the house. The hillside behind had slowly creeped up on the shed, rotting out the back corner, the floor joists, and all of the plywood. The foundation was too low for the site and had no ventilation. The inside had only bare studs, there was no electricity, and only two small windows to let in light.

After:

Now: The foundation is a layer of cinderblocks higher and has adequate ventilation. The floor joists are made of 2x10 treated lumber instead of rotted 2x8s. The swinging door that took up half the floor space in the shop when it was opened has been replaced by a sliding barn-style door. The two small windows are gone, and three larger windows have taken their place, And of course the color scheme has been slightly modified!



The bare studs inside the shop are covered with 12" wide knotty pine paneling. The lighting is more than sufficient, and there are 110V and 220V outlets throughout the shop for the plentiful power tools that now inhabit the space.

Before

I mentioned how awful the kitchen used to look in a previous post, but here you can see it in its full glory: dingy yellow walls, dark plantation blinds, and of course the old fake-walnut cabinets and fake-marble countertops.

After:

Now: The old cabinets have been given new life with a fresh coat (several coats, actually) of white paint, new doors and drawers, brushed nickel hardware, and a couple additional lower cabinets. The walls are a more inviting blue, the ceilings are adorned with crown molding, and the linoleum is gone, in favor of solid white oak floors. Although you can't see the partition in the old photos, the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room is now gone, and we have a spacious great room instead.

Before

Believe it or not, this photo actually doesn't reveal just how awful the living room looked. The flash must have brightened it up considerably, because walking into this room was much like walking into a bat cave. Add up the dark fake wood paneling, the plantation shutters, the overgrown shrubs and trees in front of the tiny window, and the single, 40-watt light bulb that was intended to illuminate this space, and you have strong evidence that the previous inhabitants were descended from vampires one very dreary room.

After

Now: The room is now much more open, much brighter, and much more inviting. Out with dark wood paneling, in with a cheerier paint color on our new drywall. Out with the dark green(ish) molding, in with the white. And one of my favorite touches - out with the ridiculously placed closet in the middle of our living room, and in with a brightly painted entertainment center (well, actually, a space where one could put an entertainment center if one so desired).

Another view of our entertainment center, and the hallway that also used to have fake wood paneling halfway up the walls.

Before

The "Master" bedroom pretty much speaks for itself. Off-white walls coupled with a delightful pink wallpaper border. A giant king-sized bed that took up half of the floor space. But hey, at least the bedspread matched the wallpaper, right?

After

Now: It looks a bit bare without any furniture it, but it's definitely not bland anymore!

The closet that was once completely covered by an oversized dresser (functional, huh?), is now adorned with cedar shelves and wainscoting and smells as good as it looks!

Before

The hallway bathroom continued the "fake wood paneling" theme that you saw earlier, but this time the paneling was not dark brown, but rather off-white with little gold cracks. Yeesh. The cabinetry matched the kitchen cabinets, and colorful linoleum floor didn't improve its appearance. Although it was not caught by the appraiser, the inspector, or by my own dear husband before he purcharsed the house, the toilet in this bathroom had a very small crack in it that was slowly leaking water under the linoleum and rotting out the subfloor beneath. For this reason, this was the first room to be tackled when he finally did notice it. (I really am quite saddened, by the way, that I never got to see this bathroom in all its original glory. Justin was already laying tile in here during the first few nights that we spoke on the phone.)

After

Now: In this room, my jack-of-all-trades husband really earned his title. He tore the bathroom down to the bare studs, except for the tub which was still in good condition, and reworked the wiring and plumbing, hung new drywall, patched the subfloor, installed tile floor and walls, and built a new cabinet and molding from lumber that he sawed himself. The floor, the lower 3' of the wall, and all around and above the shower are now covered with ceramic and slate tiles. The wallpaper has been replaced by a nice sage paint color. The leaky toilet is long gone, and a new throne stands in its place. And best of all, the cabinet, the door frame, and the crown molding are all made from beautiful solid cherry wood.

Before

  The "Master" bathroom was hardly better than the hallway bathroom. Although the shower was tiled, decades of mildew and changing styles had taken their toll. The wallpaper, which was peeling, the linoleum, and the cabinets were equally outdated. We weren't too fond of the pink towels but those were a quick fix!

After

Now: The bathroom has a new, larger vanity with a granite countertop, new tile floors, new paint and drywall, crown molding, new toilet, new shower doors, and my personal favorite, a shower tiled floor-to-ceiling with multicolored slate tiles on the floor.

Before

You can't see much in this picture, but there's not much to see anyway. (Just as a side note, the table seen in this photo is actually a crib with a piece of plywood on top and a sheet covering it.)

Now: The wall color is rich chocolate brown, which really isn't too dark because of the three large windows, two of which overlook the mountains. 

This is a third bedroom and there is no before for this one, just an after (but you got the idea from the previous two bedrooms: beige walls, greenish-brown trim, and outdated furniture.) This room only had a small single window, so we gave it a bright color to lighten things up. 

Just picture some dark wood paneling and orange linoleum and you will be grateful there is no before picture for this one either. The laundry room now has drywall, tile floors, and plenty of functional shelves - not to mention a brand-new water heater.
  As you can see we have put a lot of sweat, a lot of time, and a lot of money into our little mountain getaway. Now that we finally have a beautiful, comfortable, and inviting place to spend the weekends....does anyone want to buy it? ;)