Our New House Renovation (Before & After Photos)
It’s been almost 4 months since we moved out of our house on Cherry Crest Lane, so I figured it was time for me to share some pictures of the new house before I can’t call it “new” anymore.
About the House
Our new house is in a neighborhood in southwest Springfield not far from the Walmart on South Campbell. I actually didn’t think I wanted to live anywhere south of Sunshine Street, but after seeing this house (especially the back yard) and comparing it to the houses in a similar price range in my favorite neighborhoods, I decided maybe location was something I could compromise on.
The house was built in 1957. It’s really cute on the outside. For safety I’m not going to post a picture of the whole house from the outside (since it would be very easy to figure out the exact location by Googling the image), but here’s a picture of the outside I took in the fall.
According to a note left by a previous owner, it was the first house to be built in the neighborhood, built by the developer who also built the five houses surrounding it. We like the house, but we really fell in love with the three giant American Elm trees in the large fenced backyard. We also love how the yard is surrounded by hedges, giving it a “nature-y” feel. Makes it a little easier to leave our last house, where deer and other wildlife were frequent visitors.
Closing Day
After we closed on the house on August 30, we drove straight over and ripped out all the carpet because we were so eager to see the condition of the hardwood we suspected was underneath.
The hardwood was in excellent condition! No repairs or major stains…just a ton of staples to pull out. (Shout out to my sister-in-law Lillie for helping us pull out staples!)
The Renovation Begins
The next day, still riding a wave of enthusiasm, we started to demo the bathroom. Here’s what it looked like when we bought it:
The tile on the walls was vintage tile that had been painted. On the floors was peel-and-stick vinyl tile. I was eager to see what color the tile was under the paint, so I did a scratch test, hoping for green or blue. Sadly, it was bubblegum pink.
Even though I’ve seen some pictures online of cute bathrooms with modern wallpaper and pink vintage tile, it’s just not my style, and I’m not one to feel obligated to keep something just because it’s old. I figure, if a 1950’s housewife was able to pick out the tile color she wanted, why shouldn’t I?
Josiah got right down to business and tore out the vanity and removed the toilet. Under the laminate flooring was matching pink tile covered with adhesive.
Since we bought this house to lower our expenses, we had the idea of removing all the paint from the tile and then reglazing the tile with actual tile glaze, not just paint. Josiah spent a full day scraping paint off the tile walls.
His momentum slowed down when he got to the shower. The plastic shower surround was attached to the walls with construction adhesive, and he ended up having to tear the drywall to remove it. That’s when he discovered that the tile wasn’t just stuck to the wall…it WAS the wall, embedded in a thick layer of cement encasing a layer of wire mesh.
The bathroom looked like this when we decided to call in an expert.
I found Clarence DeVol when he helped us repair water damaged sheetrock in our old house, so I gave him a call and asked him if he wanted to bid our project. We ended up hiring him to fully remodel our bathroom as well as replacing the flooring in the kitchen and installing a tile backsplash, and he did an excellent job.
Meanwhile, I removed all the baseboard heaters (which had been previously disconnected) and repaired the plaster walls, and then we started on the painting.
The Hardwood Floors
We decided to hire someone our realtor recommended to refinish all the hardwood floors. After they were sanded, I loved their light natural color. But when our flooring guy put some stain samples on the floor to let me pick the color, none of them were what I was wanting.
Having just sanded off the dark colored stain, I didn’t want to make the floors dark again…I wanted to keep them the same light color, only with a protective finish. But as it turns out, ANY oil-based stain, even clear polyurethane, will turn red oak hardwood floors an orangey color,
After doing some research online, I found a water-based product from a company called Bona that seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. It was pricey, but we decided to pull the trigger, and I’m so glad we did.
Here’s a picture of what the two Bona finishes I tried out looked like on the floor next to the oil-based stains I tried. Unfortunately Bona doesn’t sell sample-sized containers, so I had to buy a full gallon of each color in order to test them. I’m glad I did though, because I ended up choosing a different color than the one I was leaning toward.
On the right in the picture below is Nordic seal, and on the left is Classic seal. I ended up going with the Classic seal, to enhance the wood grain.
I chose a waterbased semi-gloss finish (Bona Traffic HD) on top of the stain, and I absolutely love how the floors turned out.
Landscaping the Front Flower Bed
I had invested a TON of money and effort into the landscaping at our old house, and I ended up bringing a lot of my plants with me, especially my native perennials. Since it was fall, I needed to get them in the ground as soon as possible, but the front flower bed where I wanted to put them was overgrown with weeds and Bermuda grass. There was no other choice but to completely dig out all the grass and weeds before adding my plants.
This was a big job, but I’m so glad I got it done before fall and I can’t wait to see everything come up in a month or two.
In the corner of the flower bed was a Japanese Maple that looked like it hadn’t been pruned in years. It was pretty, it but completely overpowered the flower bed. It looked something like this:
I found this picture online of the same species of Japense Maple having been pruned like a giant bonsai tree, so I decided to give mine a haircut.
Here’s how it looked when I was done. It looked so pretty in fall when the leaves turned red, but I can’t find a photo….
The Kitchen Remodel
Here’s what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house–gray Formica countertops, gray vinyl plank flooring, and a gray tile backsplash.
I know it’s been very popular over the last ten years or so, but I don’t care for the look of gray vinyl plank flooring. It doesn’t look like any real wood I’ve ever seen, and looked especially bad next to the beautiful real hard wood flooring. So, it had to go.
Josiah picked out the tile we replaced it with. I was a bit hesitant about shiny tile kitchen floors thinking they might be hard to keep looking nice, but we both love them.
We chose white quartz countertops and white matte tile for the backsplash in a “fish scale” pattern. Originally we ordered our countertops from Lowe’s, but when a month had passed and I hadn’t heard any order updates, I called and found out there was a likely shipping delay. I promptly cancelled our order and placed a new order with local company East Coast Granite (who I should have gone with in the first place). They took excellent care of us and our countertops were installed less than 2 weeks later.f
Painting cabinets white has been a big trend lately, but I actually love the look of maple cabinets, and it just so happens that natural wood is making comeback, so instead of painting the beautiful maple cabinets, we just cleaned them and replaced the handles. We picked a color called “champagne bronze” for the hardware.
The Bathroom Vanity
The last big project we decided to tackle ourselves was making and installing our new bathroom vanity. After shopping online for bathroom vanities and finding out how expensive they are, I decided instead to copy an idea I’d seen in a real estate listing and turn a media console I ordered from Wayfair into a floating vanity.
It was easier said than done, and ended up taking both me and Josiah two full Saturday afternoons. The math of all the measuring was the hardest part. We also had a bit of an accident with a hole saw that I had to repair.
But finally, we got it mounted on the wall and were sure it wasn’t going to come down.
Here’s a picture of how Josiah felt about the project:
Moving In
Our closing date for selling our old house was scheduled for December 16, so we had to get serious about finishing up the project and moving it. One weekend, a friend helped me move my plants over. Here’s 75% of them all in one room.
Then we had the grand piano moved over, and it started to feel real.
We spent December 13-15 moving in. Josiah told me he never realized before this move just how much work goes into moving before and after moving day!
We managed to get the main rooms livable before Christmas, but then we went out of town for 3 weeks for a combined ski vacation and work trip where Josiah and his co-founders launched their new business, so we didn’t really get to unpack and settle in until late January.
The Final Project: Grasscloth Wallpaper
The last big project before I felt ready to take pictures was wallpapering three walls in the living and dining room. I actually bought this wallpaper to put in the dining area of our last house but never got around to it, so I decided I should use it here. The project took me about 8 hours to compete, but I love how it turned out.
After Photos: A Whole House Tour
The last two areas you’re not seeing here are our garage and our basement. The garage is still full to the brim with stuff from moving and cardboard boxes from the renovation. I have a dream of one day parking in it though! The basement is huge, but isn’t quite photo worthy yet! Maybe I’ll add a picture after we put down Jiu Jitsu mats.
Final Thoughts
The decision to move (which you can read about here if you haven’t already) wasn’t easy for me because of all the time, energy, and money invested in making our Cherry Crest house the way we wanted it, but we are both enjoying our new house and I’m grateful we had the opportunity to make it our own before moving in. We’re also liking our new neighborhood, enjoying daily walks and looking forward to summer bike rides. I’m ready for the next chapter!
