While I started 2019 off strong on the home-updating front — getting my attic studio painted and refurbishing some old cabinets to create more storage in the room — things unfortunately came to a halt after late spring/early summer. Which is why my last house update was almost an entire year ago!
Fortunately, I was able to finish 2019 off strong by squeezing in some pretty substantial projects near the end. And while my house is still a little bit of a construction zone (especially outside, where my entire yard has now been reduced to mud), it’s high time I took you on a tour:
A New Porch!
In November, I was able to start working on replacing the old crumbling porch. And by “I was able to”, I mean my contractor and his guys were able to start working on replacing the porch.
Just keeping it honest here.
But anyway, if you can remember, the old porch was cracked everywhere, collecting water, and slowly caving in on the front portion. It was always a major priority to get this fixed, mostly because the pooling water was ruining the exterior of the house, and it was only a matter of time before the front porch caved in entirely. (Also, all the cracking just looked horrendous.)
So we redid the concrete on the sides, this time grading it away from the house though so water can’t pool and collect like last time. We also built a new wood porch for the front section, which I absolutely love (especially with the new railings that were put in). I feel like the porch is now much more authentic to this home’s farmhouse history.
What I want to do next on the porch:
- Resurface the stairs with brick tiles
- Put up simple, but beautiful metal railings on the sides
- Get some patio furniture so I can really enjoy all the updates
*The images below are on a carousel. Click the arrows (in grey) to see the before images!*
New Windows
Another big priority was replacing all the existing windows, which were aluminum, mostly broken, and very NOT energy efficient. So after the porch was completed, my contractor was able to get started on that process. They finished just a few weeks ago and I am SO happy with how they look!
All the windows in the house are now energy efficient, which will hopefully help me save on the amount of propane used to heat my house (which is ridiculously expensive). My favorite part about the new windows, though, is that they don’t have the fake plastic pane lines in them, so they now give a completely clear view of all the beautiful woods and fields outside my house.
I also made some of the windows in the living room and kitchen bigger, which has made a HUGE improvement in the amount of light in those rooms. Everything now seems so much happier!
New Front Door
Speaking of more light, I also got a new front door, which has also gone a long way in brightening up my living room. The best part is that the door was free! Some friends are renovating their house and felt their old door (which doesn’t match their new modern aesthetic) was perfect for my farmhouse. I’m pretty sure my old door was used on basically every house built from 1975 – 1989, so this quaint wood door was a VAST improvement!
What I want to do next with the front door:
- I’m thinking of either painting the door (the inside would be grey and the outside light blue) – OR – striping the door back down to the wood and staining it. I haven’t quite decided, but right now I’m leaning towards painting, since stripping paint is always such a huge pain. Also, there’s the simple fact that I REALLY want a light blue front door!
Paint
I’ve also been able to brighten up the house a lot by painting the living room, the upstairs hallway, and (most of) the kitchen. Painting the second half of the kitchen will have to wait until we’ve finished a few things in there, but already the new white walls have made the space feel fresh and clean. Unfortunately it doesn’t show up very well in photos, but I’m attaching a few before and afters anyway, so you can see the other updates I’ve made around the house, like some new furniture I’ve found for the living room.
As far as the color scheme, though, nothing has changed since my last update. I am still going with all white walls and eventually grey trim and doors. The grey trim will be the same soft grey as the kitchen cabinets, which I’m showing off next!
Remodeled Kitchen
I purposefully saved the kitchen for last, because it’s my favorite transformation in the house so far! While I was on vacation with Hoki this past December, my family decided to surprise me and start working on the kitchen as an early Christmas present. I must have been talking their ear off about the changes I wanted to make, because they did everything exactly how I wanted it.
In all seriousness though, this has been one of my favorite presents. Ever. I was VERY impressed with how much they were able to get done, especially since Hoki and I were only gone for ONE WEEK.
While we were gone, they:
took down the top cabinets
ripped out the drop-down ceiling
reinstalled the top cabinets a few inches higher (so I can finally fit my mixer underneath!)
painted the cabinets grey
took out most of the large column in the middle
took out the desk that was never, ever going to be used
moved the pantry next to the fridge, where the desk used to be
started drywalling a new (higher) ceiling
and started adding trim to the top of the cabinets, so they look like they reach all the way to the ceiling
The kitchen looks HUGE now, and combined with the new window, it’s now such a bright, happy place to be! Unfortunately, for structural reasons we couldn’t entirely remove the column in the middle of the kitchen, but there will be open shelves there, so it doesn’t obstruct too much.
What I want to do next:
Add white beadboard to the ceiling (the ceiling is textured on the unrenovated side, and I don’t want to bother with the hassle and expense of replicating that. Plus, I think the beadboard will add a homey, farmhouse touch)
Encase the rest of the beam in wood like in the unrenovated side, and paint white (the ceilings are pretty low in the kitchen, so painting the beam white will help it not feel so low)
Finish the trim on top of all the cabinets so they look like they go all the way to the ceiling (which will also help the room feel a lot taller)
When I think about it, I’m impressed that all this work was accomplished in just the last two months of the year! The next project on the list is finishing all the painting in the house (I need to finish the upstairs hallway and then the two bedrooms), and then I think it’ll be time to turn my attention back outside with the arrival of spring here in Arkansas. My yard is currently a giant mud pit, but we’ve started clearing out some of the debris and making plans for the future of my garden.
And that’s everything that has been going on since May! I will do my best to not wait another nine months before my next update!
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