Welcome!

Alright, time for the interior reveal, starting with just the photos from the online listing. You may be horrified and that's okay, in it's current state it's kind of a mess. Hopefully though you'll be able to see that the bones are good. While there are changes we want to make, which I'll detail here, in large part its a matter of updating surfaces.


First, the entry:
It's a rectangular space, sort of made up of two square bays. If you look up towards the ceiling you'll see that there are two divided spaces with coved ceilings. There is lighting behind the crown, which is nice. What's not nice is the pony wall to your left with the scrolley iron and the planter. Originally I wanted the entire entry opened to the living room, but after a great deal of thinking and doodling I think it just needs to become three square columns that line up with the ceiling bays. Open, but with some visual separation. The entry to the family room is straight ahead, and should be closed up.


Living room:
So here is the living room. Wouldn't that end wall be better just being columns? You're also thinking "Why would you close up that entry to the family room?" Well, look to the left of the photo and you'll see that there's a huge picture window between the living and family rooms. Not an addition, the house was built this way, and this is the single thing about the house that Brett hates. I dislike it as well, and think it's the perfect spot to open up the wall. The rooms then would be open to each other, but with a bit of separation again. Yes, those are original barkcloth drapes, which will head to either eBay or the auction house. The planned paint color is a pale silvery gray.


Hungry? Here's the dining room:
Through the living room to the corner of the house is the dining room. Making an appearance again here is the coved ceiling with the backlit crown. This will eventually open to the kitchen, but that's last on a list that will take us years to get through, so we'll just treat it like we're keeping it that way for now. So much window and not much wall is the perfect opportunity for a black room. Flooring throughout will be refinished in a medium gray, all trim will be white. Also, Brett's not only on board with the black walls, but with painting the ceiling in here as well. I'm going to try a really pale gray blue. I've always wanted to do that, hopefully it works. And if not it's just paint.


Come on into the kitchen:
Sporting it's original metal cabinetry (and lots of it!) as well as it's original 1952 range, it's a flashback in black and white. Yes, they papered the ceiling. What's nice is that it's an eat-in kitchen, so there's already all the room needed to expand. The plan is to eventually open the kitchen to the dining room with large pocket doors so that the dining room becomes the eating area. Lots of people have mentioned keeping the kitchen as much in tact as possible, and uh, I can't. I need new cabinetry, more gray wood flooring, quartz counters, stainless appliances, and an island. Anyone who's in love with the vintage charm can have first crack at the cabinets as they're removed to the driveway.


Here's the other end of the L shaped kitchen, what was the eat-in area. We'll keep the functionality of the built-in, just in updated material. What we WILL reuse is the dinner plate-sized hardware. The french doors lead conveniently to the patio where we'll have to retrofit the built-in stone grill.

Back through the kitchen is the family room:

Retro fireplace anyone? How about one with a little bar built in next to it? The bar cabinetry needs updated (it's pretty beat), and that parquet has to become more gray hardwood to match everything else. Also, it's got a tile ceiling that will have to be dealt with. Should we happen onto a buttload of money we'd vault the ceiling in here and replace that picture window with three pairs of french doors. Until then we'll want to just fix the floor and cabinetry and get rid of the paneling.

Looking the other direction:

That cabinetry originally held a TV. Back when TVs were big monsters. So it's not only unnecessarily deep, but there's a walk in closet behind it. Also pretty beat, this will have to be replaced to match the bar. I'm thinking a gray-stained cerused oak. Also back there is the pink tiled half bath with the purple toilet and pedestal sink and smoked mirrors. When we get to bathrooms this will be the easiest to remedy, plus I like it's location sort of away from where people would tend to congregate.

Where the magic happens! The master:

There's not much to see, but it should give you an idea. The room is 14 by 18, with two large closets and a bath off the east end. Love love love the corner window, and even the integrated valance. Floors will be finished to match everything else, and we're planning on a pewtery gray, finely scaled grasscloth for in here. For drapes I've found a silver geometric fabric from Kravet that I love. I'm currently scouring the net to find at a discount.

There are two other bedrooms bookending a hollywood bath, and really all they need are the floors refinished and the walls de-papered and painted. Each has sliding closet doors that I'd prefer to convert to regular hinged doors in a modern, three panel design.

Finally, the back yard:

Hard to see much here. It's a nicely sized yard, needs a fence, and someday a pool. That building on the right is the garage, which along with a side entry is off the kitchen.

So there you go, the Befores of our new place. It'll take most of our time and all of our money, but eventually we should end up with a nice spot. I'll try not to let the blog be taken over by the mundane details of updating a house, but if anything interesting happens or I have any good After shots I'll be sure to share.