We are currently slowly renovation our home. As we finish rooms, I will post updated photos.
Stuck in the seventies, our little ranch farmhouse was/is in desperate need of some updating. Dark heavy curtains and plastic roller shades enrobed every window. Dark wood paneling hung on many walls. Carpets, carpets everywhere! Except the bathroom thankfully. The kitchen was not so fortunate. Why would anyone put carpets in the kitchen? I’ve wondered that too and have yet to come up with a good reason.
However, there are many wonderful features of our little farmhouse. For one it is very solidly built. It has good bones. After looking at many farms and farmhouses over the several years we looked, we really appreciate the sturdiness of this house.
And although it is lacking in many charming features that old farmhouses offer, it is kind of like a blank slate ready to be written on. And oh, I have so many ideas! But they all take time and money both of which we are lacking in right now.
Thankfully paint is cheap and that definitely goes a long way to making a place feel fresh and clean and like home.
Farmhouse Video Tour Before Renovations
Living Room Before
We have lots of plans for the living room. Shhh…we’ve already done some work to the living room. Stay tuned for an update soon. Plans for the living room include the painting the paneling, ceiling and trim, new curtains/blinds, eventually hardwood floors and new furniture.
Here’s a picture of the living room with its old heavy curtain from before we purchased the farmhouse. Removing them was one of the first things we did. It definitely improved the overall feel of the house. We do have plans to get new blinds and curtains but I’m kind of stuck on what I want still…
Here’s after we moved in and removed the curtain and plopped down our own furniture.
I have a couple ideas for the fireplace which involve painting the brick or perhaps lightening the grout between the bricks or maybe even cover over the bricks. At some point we either want to get a fireplace insert or a wood burning stove to help heat the house in the winter.
We decided to make the front room (used to be a formal living room) into a dining room by opening up the wall between it and the kitchen. This former dining area has turned into a kids play nook for now. I plan to share it soon so stay tuned! Way in the future, I’d love to rearrange the kitchen and maybe put in some french doors leading to an outdoor patio eating area. But that’s way down the road.
Kitchen Before
We had to replace the stove right away because it didn’t work and within a few months of moving in the dishwasher broke too. We went for a few months without a dishwasher, I kind of wanted to see what it would be like to not have one. Let’s just say Ben and I spent way too much time washing dishes. Maybe we have too many dishes but eventually I just couldn’t take it anymore and we purchased a new one.
Like with the rest of the house, we plan to paint the kitchen but I do dream of a kitchen remodel some day…in the future… That’s probably what I miss most about our little bungalow, that beautiful bright kitchen!
Dining Room Before
We opened up the wall between this room and the kitchen and ripped out the carpets and painted everything. We now use this room as a dining room. It’s a big room! But we have a decent sized table so it doesn’t feel too cavernous. I’d love to put built-ins around the piano some day. I’m sure as time goes on the room too will change.
Dining Room Progress
Photos coming soon!
Front Hall Before
We almost never use the front door. Our driveway comes around the back of the house, plus being so far back from the road, most people will drive up to the back door whether it’s visiting family or friends or the delivery man. So right now the dog crate sit in front of the door most of the time, because we don’t have a better place for it right now.
Again we are planning to paint, eventually put down hardwood floors and I would love to get a new door and screen door so we can see our beautiful front yard and let the sun and breeze in!
Laundry/Boot Room Before
This room is multi purpose and a bit tricky. Since we use this door 99.9% of the time, it is where boots and shoes get taken off and put on. Also, because life involves laundry, there is almost always one or two laundry baskets sitting in here waiting to be washed. It tends to make this space crowed. I’d love to figure out a good solution to that problem… someday…
For now, we plan to paint and hang some coat hooks and someday new floors. Maybe tile?
Above is a picture of us trying to fit our new washer and dryer in. It was a really really tight fit but we got them in!
Hall Before
Here’s the hall way leading to all the bedrooms. Paint and new flooring are hopefully in the near future. Although I love hardwoods, that is much more expensive than carpet so we might be replacing all the carpets in the bedrooms this year depending on budget. If all the rooms looked like the hall, I’d probably leave it alone but since the room are, well lets just say much more exciting, I’m looking forward to replacing them.
Hall Bathroom Before
The hall bath is tired and shabby looking. But it will probably stay this way for some time. We might freshen it up by painting the wall and vanity and perhaps doing something with the overbearing upper cabinets, but it definitely needs more than that at some point.
Girl’s Bedroom Before
Although I managed to take most of these pictures showing very little of the dark blue shag carpet, it’s still there. Ben and I are definitely looking forward to replacing the shag carpets.
Although a far cry from how I’d love to decorate the girls room, it still is sweet and works well for them now.
Guest Room Before
Once again, take note of the carpets. Red shag in here! My daughter declares this to be her favorite and gets sad when we talk about replacing it. I told her someday she can decorate her house exactly like she wants. But Mama’s not a fan of shag red carpets!
Master Bedroom Before
The master bedroom thankfully had the carpet replaced at some point. I don’t know how well I’d sleep with, say, pink or green shag carpet… haha!
Our room is pretty basic and in need of some freshening up like the rest of the house.
Painting everything, trim, walls, doors and replacing the carpets are on our list for this room.
Master Bathroom Before
Like the other bathroom, this room needs more than paint. The shower doesn’t drain properly and we can’t fix it without ripping it all out. So we just shower in the other bathroom for now. But we have been super thankful for having a second toilet since moving here since our old house only had one bathroom.
