More About the Old House

All of the pictures below are from construction time, still a little unfinished, but give you an idea of what I’ve done.

I have had recent remodels done to both the kitchen and bathroom. I did some major upgrades before that, so the house is in good shape and has a ‘wow’ factor in both the important rooms. The kitchen, like the house itself, is not big, but I have put in one full wall of pantry, floor to ceiling. The layout is pretty good now, and I splurged on solid surface counters with an integrated sink. The floor is hardwood, but has water damage. I had thought I’d refinish it and paint to cover the damage, but for speed I am now going to have vinyl put down.

new kitchen

kitchen pantry

The bathroom was expanded to use a bedroom closet and the linen closet. I splurged on some furniture pieces, with a cabinet and vessel sink, other storage all to match in dark wood. It has a nice deep tub that holds heat for an hour’s soak. The room is very spa-like. I am really going to miss this luxury I gave myself.

roomy bathroom

great shower and tub

The back bedroom was about the same size as the front, but still needed more storage space. I decided to take the whole back wall, with a second closet from corner to window, and a window seat continuing to the other wall. Under the window seat, I have a covered compartment that holds 4 small window air conditioners during off-season. Those devices are difficult to cart up and down stairs, so this is much more convenient for me. During the summer it gives me storage for blankets and quilts. I lost a good bit of floor space, but again, will not need a dresser, and the window seat is not visually bulky.

new closet and window seat

And It Keeps Raining in SC

I have come to expect rain on July 4th since I’ve lived in the South, but this year was ridiculous. We haven’t had a dry day since I came back from Roanoke this week, and I think there were only a few periods of no rain today. At least with the extremely heavy downpours, I was able to verify we have stopped just about all seepage in the dome. I only saw a few moist spots (not standing water) under doors, and it was a heavy rain. No fireworks to enjoy this year.

I stuck my arm out the front door for this, a bit crooked, but I stayed dry

Here in Seneca we have a new roof on our shed, with overhang for the mower. If it is ever dry enough, the landscaping will be done, then painting the dome outside.

new shed roof

The next big project is, of course, preparing my old house for the market. The good news is that sales in the area are picking up and so are prices. The bad is that I hate to let it go. It is the first house I have owned, plus I’m only the second owner of this 73 year old place. I am still convincing myself it will soon be loved by someone else. I have finally selected more neutral paint colors and started toning down my more saturated colors. I am making good progress on packing and tossing, and expect I’ll have a garage sale of some sort.

I found the wallpaper border in the dining room is well attached and will need to be steamed off. The border in the living room is stuck better than I thought, so both rooms will require a steamer. They were nice and decorative, besides covering up my messy ceiling to wall paint edge, but I don’t plan to use any wallpaper in my future.

I have had a nice milk chocolate color in the living room, to keep the south side room cooler in summer. It has been very cozy, but I changing to a much lighter tan with grey undertones. I painted the small entry, which is mostly trimming in around 4 doorways, and I do like the color – see below. I may do the dining room the same, too.

repainting living room and entry

The hallway, kitchen and bathroom have all been done recently and will stay the color they are. The front bedroom is now an aqua, but very saturated and more shine in the finish than I want. It will be replaced with a sage in an eggshell finish. This took about 5 samples before I found the color I liked, but the large patch I have on one wall is very good. The back bedroom has 2 walls of a wheat color and 2 walls of terracotta color. It has pleased me, but I will paint over the terracotta, with either the wheat or white. This room is on the north side and is better bright.

Last weekend my neighbor removed a junk tree that has been growing between our houses. They even cut branches via my attic window, slowly reduced it in manageable chunks. There is a lot of light shining in now. Here’s a view from my bathroom window as they were working on it.

tree removal, person with chainsaw on left branch