Revitalized Hutch

There had been a gem of potential sitting in my basement for a while in the shape of a hutch.  It was the only thing left (of value!! they left a lot of trash!!) by the the "tenants" that stayed in the house for 5 months.  It is an interesting piece, with lots of unique details.  I wanted an opportunity to experiment with chalk paint, so I took this low risk opportunity to try it out!

The hutch can be seen below in two pieces, with the door taken off (sometimes I forget to take the "before" pic at the very beginning!!):

I decided to take off the glass panels on the sides as well because the one on the left had a crack in it and I didn't want to mess with finding replacement glass!!  Not very "rehab addict" of me (for any of you familiar with the show!), I know.  The next step would be to have Gabe use an oscillating multi tool to remove the side lights (the attached side glass panels). This proved to be tricky since we would have to deal with the articulation of the sides where Gabe cut them.  I found a 3/4" trim detail at Home Depot that fit perfectly, so Gabe glued/nailed it into place.

Here is an after shot!

I used Annie Sloan's English Yellow color.  It was a little bit expensive, but I thought it was worth it!  After two coats of the chalk paint, I used a couple coats of the wax that they recommend too.  I really love how it turned out!

And some detail shots:

with flash

And I really loved the original handles for this piece, so I kept 'em.  I did have to give them a good spray paint job--a dark dark brown, resembling oil rubbed bronze.  You might be able to see how I distressed the pristine paint job to give it a unique look.

without flash

I didn't paint inside, because the wood finish still looked so good.

Once our basement renovation is finished and our bedrooms are all switched around and finalized, I will make the final decision about where to put this large yellow hutch.  It's rather bulky and heavy so I need to see where the dust settles with everything else first.  My first thought was the dining room, but it's such a small room and the dining table barely fits anyways.  My second thought was the living room, but I'm not 100% sure, so I'm just going to wait it out!!  Currently, it is fulfilling the role of housing breakable storage in the basement.

Until next time!

Transforming House to Home: Part II

Continued from Part I!

The main reason we aren't living in the house is the unfinished shower.  

SO, on Saturday, June 8th, we started with grouting the shower.  Gabe applied the grout, and I worked behind him to wipe the grout off the tiles, so it would just remain in the crevices.

Mom and I went back a few days later and scraped off the remaining grout from the cracks and crevices.  It was hard work!  Now the only thing is to clean it one last time, seal it, caulk the corners and seal it one more time.

Here you can see the tile after it has been cleaned a sealed a few times.  We still needed to caulk the corners:

Left and right corner

Below, it can be seen that the front of the tub has not been covered.  We wanted to make sure the tub worked before we closed it in.  Then we will add the cement board, waterproof membrane, mortar, tile, grout/caulk, and sealer.  The tub is also very dirty from all the work laying tiles!  (Don't worry, most of it cleaned right up).

During the next week, our subcontractor Rene came and worked on the stoop in front of the house so we don't have to walk in the mud any more from the driveway up to the front porch.  Mom & Dad had stained the wooden boards that would be used to line the flower beds, so he used those.

Some of the landscaping:

Here you can see that the washer/dryer has been installed in the upstairs hall closet:

The double sink faucets installed upstairs:

I like the nod to an old fashioned water pump myself.

A few more light fixtures been installed:

In 2nd bedroom (or the "blue room"):

Wheel chandelier over the dining table:

Which, as you can see at this point, is still a construction site. :)

Gabe also worked for a little bit to get the electrical right with the dim-able fan light and fan:

We took the cardboard off the floor in the kitchen and entry:

And last but not least, a Craigslist find:

And he's off!

He got the riding lawn mower for $160 from a guy about 15 minutes away!  It has a little bit of trouble starting, but Gabe's specialty is tinkering, so I think it will be no problem.

Welp, I would love to share pictures of the "finished product", but alas, it is not!

BUT, here is what we DO have so far--I took pics after we cleaned up from Gabe's birthday soiree:

Living Room

Toward the entry:

Our dining room:

SO excited about the old antique desk top (base was made to match) that was sitting up in Mom & Dad's attic just waiting for a place to live!  It is perfect for stashing mail, etc in an efficient space.  The card table is temporary solution until I get around to refinishing Mom & Dad's old antique square table and 4 chairs I found to match at an antique store in Lucketts, VA.

Our friend Mark saved the day and installed our pot rack that we had lost the installation instructions to:

POT RACK!!  in context:

Another angle looking into the kitchen:

Looking into the foyer:

In the above shot, the closet under the stairs will have a custom heart pine door, mimicking how the door was originally constructed.  It's built and beautiful, just not installed! 

Moving to the upstairs:

The master bath is hard to photograph, since it it's a more compact space.

Moving into the master bedroom:

lovely large window

from the hall door

A shot of our currently, messy study desk space:

Part of the blue, 2nd bedroom:

The dresser seen above, was a dumpster (or at least side of the road) find that I re-imagined.  It had a dis-assembled bottom drawer, and was the 80's wood finish with aged brass hardware.  I painted it a silver color on the drawer outlines and a pearly white color everywhere else.  I also distressed the edges with sandpaper and spray painted the knobs and handles a dark espresso.  I am very pleased with the results.  It is a substantial piece!  This room will hold a white metal bed if we can get it up the stairs and down the hall.

Gabe installing the shower faucet plumbing just yesterday:

Enough house stuff!

Here is a picture of our 20 week old babe, in utero:

We still don't know the gender of our baby, but we think it's a boy!  Watch us be pleasantly surprised.... :)

Well, now we are barreling down Rt. 95 for a much needed week-long vacation.

I will continue to post sporadically with small projects from here on out.

Happy summer!!