A year ago we bought this house. You may remember it, but I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. This update is coming an entire year after we bought the house AND I haven’t blogged about it since last May. Progress has been happening over the last year but it’s been so slow that it wasn’t worth blogging. Why so slow? We’re doing a lot of the renovations ourselves (I say we, but I mean Neil) and while we’re plenty capable, it takes money to renovate an old house and also man hours. With Neil working his normal Monday through Friday job and then shooting weddings with me almost every Saturday for most of the year, he only recently has had the time to spend renovating. Two things have happened since November that have given the renovation a giant boost: wedding season ended and Neil’s father, who taught him most of what he knows, retired! My father-in-law’s increased involvement in the project has been a huge blessing and now we are finally seeing a tiny tiny tiny light at the end of the very very very long tunnel. Guys, we still have so much to do and I want to show you what we’ve done so far but you need a starting point… Here are the before photos that I took soon after we took possession, and brace yourselves, there are a lot:

The house, the front: There was snow on the ground this time last year 🙁

The foyer: The stairs are awesome and the water damage, while visible, was minimal

The living room: The floors are amazing! Check out how it borders each individual room!

The dining room: Oh the wall paper!

The library: this room gets amazing light!

The kitchen: this was an addition in the early 30’s (we think)

The mudroom and pantry: this was a porch when the kitchen was built and then later enclosed it to make the two small rooms

The half bath: this and the laundry room (below) were additions at some point

The laundry room: plaster cracks galore!

The stair case: definitely one of my favorite things about the house!

The second floor hallway:

Bedroom 1: this room has THE BEST light in all the house… I love love love that front window!

Bedroom 2: it sits above the living room so duh, it has a fireplace. Really bad plaster cracks and a fair amount of water damage.

Bedroom 3: built-ins!

Second floor bathroom: It’s giant, y’all. The claw foot bathtub is, no joke, 6 feet long. Yeah.

The sunroom: It was added in the 70’s, and built on top of the kitchen and porches that were added in the 30’s. It is the farthest thing from level in the history of unlevel things. Check out that slant!

The floors! The first floor floors are original to the home and are the most stunning hardwood floors… I can’t wait to revitalized them! The second floor floors are original to when they finished the second floor, sometime in the 50’s (we think). They are not as gorgeous but will be once revitalized!