Dining Room

Same as in the living room - taking down curtains and heavy window treatments, pulling up old carpet, sanding and refinishing wood floors, painting all trim and woodwork white, removing wallpaper, painting walls. You can't see the fully refinished wood floor here, but I assure you - it is now GORGEOUS!!!

Our Bedroom

Here are pictures of our bedroom. No major renovations here - just pulling up the carpet, refinishing the wood floors, painting the walls blue, painting the ceiling and trim white, and removing heavy window treatments. But as you can see, it makes a big difference. Ralph has a running joke with the painters - he says that my motto is "When in doubt, paint it white!" (as in the baseboard molding, crown molding, window trim, woodwork, radiators, kitchen cabinets, built-ins, closets, doors etc, etc). I can't have enough WHITE, and I can't have enough LIGHT! Again, we kept the color scheme very similar to what we have in our current house in Delaware.

Original bedroom:





Sanding the floors:



Repainted and refinished - check out those gorgeous floors!

Powder Room

The smallest room in the house had quite a few changes as well. The door used to swing inward, which would cause it to hit the sink. Not the best set-up. Ralph had the great idea to flip the door - it now swings out into the foyer, allowing for plenty of room to move in and out of the powder room. To make even more room, we special-ordered a corner sink. (Previously, you could sit on the toilet and lean your head on the sink - as Ralph fondly remembers doing as a kid). We also put in new flooring, the same flooring we put in the kitchen. It is this great vinyl that looks just like ceramic tile, but has the advantage of being warmer, easier to clean and maintain, and less expensive to install.

I wish I had taken a picture of the original wallpaper in the powder room. If I remember correctly, it was silver metallic wallpaper with a purplish paisley pattern. No, really... :)

The Living Room

I think the changes in this room are quite amazing! We pulled up the green shag carpet and found gorgeous hardwood floors underneath. They took a good sanding, some wood filler and a few coats of varnish. They are spectacular now! The walls and ceiling were painted with fresh new tan and white paint, respectively. The woodwork in this house is magnificent!!! New lighting fixtures are next. We are replacing every light fixture in the house, except for one little sconce in the downstairs hallway.

And now Jake's room...

Jake's room in our house in Delaware is painted with these cool big bold thick yellow stripes, alternating darker yellow with a softer more pale yellow. I loved it so much and I think he is used to it, so to make the transition to a new house a lot easier, I wanted to do his new room in the same theme. Jakes room had been a kitchen for many years, when this was a two-family house. It was converted back into a bedroom about 20 years ago. there was still a lot of work to be done.

Jake's room originally:





Jake's room mid-renovation, with all the furniture from the other rooms in his room:





Jake's room with new carpet and paint:

Let's start with the bathroom...

Why not? This is the room that has probably given us the most stress and the most issues so far. And we aren't out of the woods yet! We went back and forth with what to do with this room - considered everything from just sprucing it up, to demolition, gutting it, and starting over again. Then we decided to keep the original subway tiles and just strip off the beige epoxy paint, and maybe put a bathfitter over the tub. So we bought new fixtures for the tub and shower and the plumber went to work.... and the tiles fell off the walls themselves.

We decided to re-evaluate. Got a bathfitter quote. Decided to revisit demo. Here's the final plan - all the tiles come down, drywall goes up. Room gets painted a gorgeous chic grey. White wainscotting goes up halfway on all the walls. Shower gets re-tiled. New sink and fixture, new lighting, new everything! Can't wait. I am most excited about this room. I was hoping for a double sink, but for now, one will suffice. Here is the ongoing transformation:

Original bathroom, with Aunt Joanne doing her best Vanna White impression:





After the first round of changes:





A day after we decided to go for it, knock down all the tile:





It got cleaned up a little, at least all the concrete is off the floors...



The new border for the shower tiles. We are keeping everything in a grey/black/white scheme:

The history of one house

As you all may know from reading the baby blog, we are in the process of renovating Ralph's grandfather's house in Eastchester, NY. We are going to be moving into Papa Joe's house and making lots of changes and updates so that the house can work for our growing family. Many generations have lived in this house, Jake being the fifth generation of Ralph's family to live there. The house was built sometime in the 1920's - before the great depression, by Ralph's great grandfather on his father's side (Ralph's dad's mother's father). There are a lot of wonderful things in the house that are original to that era...but there are also many things about the house that come from the "shag-a-delic" era too (tee hee). There are many things that have changed over the years - in fact, the bedroom that will be Jake's nursery was once a kitchen! And the room that Papa Joe sleeps in was once a sunporch. I have a feeling the powder room was once a closet, but that's just me... ha ha.

There have been many different combinations of Ralph's family to live in this house - parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and now great-grandparents and great-grandchildren. I am very excited to add our own little touches to a home that has seen so many people live in it over the last 80-some years. I will be very proud to call this house my home.