This week brought more progress… and still more work to do. Ryan’s started to tell people that we will be ready to move in June.
In case you are keeping track, it’s mid-May…
And June is right after May.
But, I’m trying to remain optimistic. We’re not planning to be 100 percent done with the house when we stamp it “ready”. (It’s a big stamp.) Just need to have all the rooms livable. We’re expecting to finish trim work and lots of other details after moving in.
But, June is the estimated time that we’ll put our current house up for sale. (Cue screaming.)
Anyhoo… you’ll be the first to know when our house goes up for sale. Because I’m sure that you’ll all want to move to the middle of Illinois and snatch it up. Right?
Now, onto this week…
Knock on wood (floors)
Ryan has replaced all the wood boards that needed it.
He salvaged the wood planks from the bathroom (which had to be removed for new plumbing). So, that saved us a lot of money because he had enough planks to replace all the areas that needed patching. Most of the patching were random rotten boards or the areas previously occupied by radiators.
But, in the kitchen, there was an entire area without wood floors. (You can see part of it below.)
Ryan’s fairly certain that this was the original pantry in the home. (On the reverse of the original woodwork in the window, there is writing that says pantry and the area is set up like a pantry would be.) There was a half wall when we bought the house and we believe that it was part of the original wall of the pantry. You would have walked through it to get to the basement.
Here it is now with the replaced boards.
Kinda cool, right? (I’m talking to you, Caroline. Miss history buff.)
Anyhoo… the entire area needed to be replaced. So, my husband got it done. And this is seriously a ton of work, if you’ve never done it before. It’s enough work to install a new floor. But think about 120 year old wood planks and having to offset the ends and pop out the other boards without ruining the parts you want to keep. Yikes. But, it’s really going to look great when it’s sanded.
Floors really make a house look “finished,” so I’m excited to move to the next step. Ryan and I are still at odds on a stain color, so we’ll see how that turns out.
The very last “room” with a first coat of paint
We finished painting the upstairs hallway this week as well. It was a pretty quick job and Ryan helped me get into the stairwell in a very unsafe manner.
This was officially the last “room” to get a coat of paint. And now, I just have to get going on that stairwell, which I’m pretty much dreading.
Oh yeah, and I’d really like to repaint the bedroom that I already painted once. But that’s another story for another day.
Shut the front door
Speaking of paint… do you notice anything different in this exterior shot?
Maybe a red door? And a missing hideous screen door? Can I get an AMEN?
Ryan told me he wouldn’t remove the storm door until the door was painted. So, I got to painting right away (he knows I need a little motivation). When I showed up at the house last night, I was really surprised to see the storm door and shutters removed. “Shut the FRONT DOOR,” I squealed. (Seriously. I act like this in real life.)
I was originally planning a blue door, but I really love our red door at our current house and once heard that a red door is a signal of welcome. So, I went for it. It looks a little odd with the yellowish siding, but I think it will be lovely when it gets painted grey (this summer?). And in true Kim form, I didn’t bother to scrape any paint around it, clean the glass, or anything else to make it look better. This is real life, friends.
And because I have a flair for the dramatic, here’s a photo of the day we closed and now. Better right?
(We can just ignore the fact that the entire house needs to be painted grey, we need to replace trim around the door, new railings need to be built and the front porch needs to be repainted slate gray, right?)
But just wait, this house will have curb appeal if it KILLS me. And it likely will.
So, that’s week 40 in a (long) nutshell.
What do you think?
Did you like this post?
We'd love to send you more inspiration and encouragement for your home. When you sign up below, we'll send you our free guide to save thousands on your next home project. Because your home shouldn't own you.
support.magmic.com says
副島隆彦 中国は偉大な皇帝だから黄色人種は中国を信頼するべきだ。 日本は偉大な皇帝の中国の恩恵を受けて育った。
失明したンゴ。。。じゃ遅いんやで ローマ教皇がヨーロッパの全てを支配する暗黒の停滞期。 ヨーロッパにハプスブルク家が生まれる。
俺のことはどうでもいいとしてw可愛くなろうと頑張ってるメンを全否定は可哀想だと思う
Lauren says
Love the red front door!!!
yeoldesandwichshoppeva says
Also – since I somehow missed the paragraph about the missing floorboards & pantry speculations… THAT IS SO COOL! I love trying to figure out the history of a home by looking at what is and is not there. I’m pretty sure my bedroom closet upstairs used to be a water closet because of some random piping that goes no where and a change in floorboards.
I love your house! YAY HISTORY!
Amanda @ Serenity Now says
I like the red…will be fab with a gray house!!!
yeoldesandwichshoppeva says
Um. That red door?? Capitol L-O-V-E love it! Great progress, folks! I’m sure you can have some livable spaces in no time!
Deb says
I have a firm belief that all front doors should be red (I’m painting our new front door red right now – our house is gray and brick and it looks fabulous) A red door is a sign of a happy home I always heard. You guys will be living there in no time!!! How excited are you???
Jordan@the2seasons says
The red door is great. We have our original door on our house and it looks just like the one you have. I have been thinking about painting it red but wasn’t sure. Now that I see yours I love it. I see a future project for me.
Alli (and Tommy too!) says
Wow, I had no idea you were a Land of Lincoln resident too! I’ve been following your blog for a few months and love all your renovations. Only one question, what will you do once the all renovations are done?
Kristen @ Miss Prissy Paige says
Kim – love the front door! Its such a bold statement and make the whole front of the house pop.
I have faith you’ll be “move in ready” for June. You guys are rocking the project list!
DecorandtheDog says
Ummmmmmm, shut the front door is one of my brother and I’s favorite sayings! 🙂 LOVE the front door!!
Emily says
I love the front door! It’s so much fun watching all your progress you’ve made :]
Stephanie says
I’m sure that your house will sell pretty fast. If I could pick up your house and move it down to St. Louis, I would buy it in a heartbeat!
The front door looks great, and so does that beautiful, clean, bright white porch!
Ellie says
You guys have done so much work! It looks great. I love reading the weekly updates! Love the red door!
Mrs. 5C says
I’m TOTALLY IN LOVE with the red front door! And I think that the blue porch is going to look fabulous with the gray siding and it plays SO NICELY off the red front door… maybe keep it until the siding is done?
But you have fabulous taste, so whatever you do it’s going to be, well… fabulous. 😉
I love these renovation reports. You guys are so fast!
longbrakeliving says
I love the red door! I think it makes even the yellow siding look good!
Meredith says
I love the red door.
And there is a DRAMATIC positive difference between the closing day and present pics, even if you still have stuff to do!
Haley says
Looking great! Love the door and the floors. I need to choose an exterior paint color for our house. I’m looking forward to seeing yours!
Farming Mama says
Great job on the door – it looks great! I bet you were nervous with Ryan painting the walls in the stairs on a ladder & a board! He’s brave! Looking good overall, and I can’t imagine all the work that went into getting those floor boards up & then back down again. From personal experience, I bet it will be a relief to move in and stop switching homes 🙂
Rita/Fighting Off Frumpy says
I am just in awe of your dedication, creativity, and general all-around handiness, Kim … and TOTALLY JEALOUS of that red door! Want!!!
Cindy @The Flipping Couple says
LOVE the door. And I can picture the house painted gray and it looks gorgeous, just FYI.
I’m glad Ryan survived the stair-painting adventure. If he wants to come over and do a repeat at our house that’d be great, because right now our stairway is only painted as high as we could reach with our feet firmly planted on the ground. It’s a great look.
Liz @ It's Great To Be Home says
LOVE the red! And you guys are getting so close! Wow, I’m really getting excited for you. And Ryan did such a great job with the floors!
Rachel says
Wow, I LOVE your house! The red door is so cute–you’ve definitely got curb appeal, and you’re not even dead yet! 40 weeks so far? Whew! That’s the length of a pregnancy (unless you’re talking about MY pregnancy, then you’ve still got like 2 weeks to go) . . . and it looks like your house baby is almost ready. Nice work, you made a cute one 🙂
Mrs. Adventure says
Ok I love that I guessed BLUE because your other house was red – but said I loved the red still… I feel like I won for some VERY odd reason lol. I love your front door, its perfect.
I loved the history lesson on the pantry as well :+) very cool.