Author: Jamila M. Randall

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Building Our Castle Part 9: Before and After Renovation Pics

This post is all about the pics. I’m blown away by the transformation that took place over the last 4 months.

Despite blown budgets, cracked windows, water leaks, and endless trips to Home Depot, when I look at these before and after photos, I feel deeply satisfied. The entire process of renovating this home, birthing a space we love, alongside my best friend, has been a wild, roller coaster ride.

The to-do-list continues as we embark on thoughtfully furnishing the home, addressing the swamp, a.k.a., pool in the backyard, and endless other home projects, but for now, we pause. We reflect on four months of demo, gutting, planning, designing, changing, changing, changing, and executing our dream casa.

Enjoy!

front view 1

front3

front2

back view

deck

side exterior1

living 1

dining1

dining2

kitchen1

kitchen3

guest bath 1

master bed 1

master bath 1

master bath 2

master vanity

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Building Our Castle Part 8: Welcome Home

flowers

Chris and I have officially spent six nights in our renovated foreclosure-turned-dream casa. For the last four months we watched this abandoned, cedar structure transform into our very own modern, zen retreat.

Contractors swarmed the house, buzzing saws and demolishing old cabinets, rolling paint and laying tile, hanging lights and staining floors, and on and on. The house was a live construction zone, loud and dusty.

Since purchasing the home on that cold February 6th morning, it became habit to leave work each evening, zip by the renovation to check on progress, and revise the ever-changing to-do-list. Then it was off to the condo we were renting for another exhausting night. Rinse and repeat.

When you are involved in a major renovation, you will get to a point where you wonder if it will ever stop. You start to believe that your house will be under renovation FOREVER….and you want to just give up and die.

And then one glorious day…one flippity-fantastic day…the renovation is complete, the inspection is scheduled, and the house is deemed habitable. You drive to your house after work and no one is there. Not one skill saw, not one paint roller. It’s quiet, and clean, and hauntingly empty.

The first thing I did was purchase a cheerful bouquet of flowers–yellow hydrangea, and placed them in the pristine, newly cleaned kitchen.

Home.

It hadn’t felt like our home up until now. It was just a place we visited. A place we resented at times. A place we fell in love with, over and over again.

Presently the house is full of white space. Our ten months living in 700 square feet taught us to live minimally, and we intend to carry that principle in this home as well. There are some clothes in the closet, a few toiletries, some food in the fridge, a bed. With time we will select the right pieces of furniture for our home…(currently obsessing over interior design blogs…but what else is new?).

As one designer wrote, sometimes you need to cleanse the palette in your home. A fresh, open space of possibilities.

I can’t wait to bake cookies in my new oven…and find the perfect reading (napping) chaise…and pick out stylish waste baskets. But until then, I will perch on a kitchen stool and stare into the wooded yard, drop my shoulders and exhale…because I’m home.

 

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Building Our Castle Part 7: Losing Our Marbles While Gaining Our Dream House

Okay, the last few days have been trying. When you are so close to the finish line, every speed bump, snag, or door knob shipment delay feels detrimental. After some Pema Chodron and a cocktail named “The Pain Killer”, the stress level has waned.

When we walk into our house, it resembles a house, not an active, dusty construction site like it has for months. We have arrived at the stage of final finishes and it looks beautiful.

A few highlights:

  • Interior doorknobs! (Well, they are actually levers. I like the idea of opening doors with my elbow when my hands are full)
  • Kitchen back-splash was finished today. We went with gray glass subway tile from Southeastern Salvage in Huntsville.
  • Wall sconces were installed throughout the house. We purchased most of the lights from Richard’s Lighting. Service was impeccable!
  • The plumbing fixtures were installed. We went with polished chrome throughout the design. Chris picked out most of the kitchen and bath fixtures. He done good!
  • We realized the electrical panel wasn’t up to code, so we were required to do a service change. That blew our budget, but at least I know our house isn’t a sitting fire hazard.
  • We chose to stain our front entry doors, rather than paint them, to keep the integrity of the solid wood. The stain color is Minwax “Early American.”
  • From the pictures you will see that our house is many shades of gray. 50? Here’s a list of all the colors we used for those who are interested.

    Exterior Siding: Behr “Antique Tin”

    Window Trim: “Architectural Bronze” ordered from Window World

    Exterior Trim: Behr “Cracked Pepper”

    Interior Walls: Behr “Full Moon”

    Laundry Room & Dining Room: Behr “Intellectual Gray”

    Wood floors: Minwax “Dark Walnut” + “Espresso”= Sexual Chocolate 😉

We are days away from moving in!! And that soaking tub is calling my name…

Enjoy the pics.

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Building Our Castle Part 6: All About That Baseboard (And Other Finishes)

Sorry about that corny title. I’m deeply in house renovation hysteria, and it sounded funny at the time.

It’s been over three months since we purchased our dream forclosure, and we are in the home stretch. There have been quite a few changes since my last post, namely the gorgeous re-finished hardwoods throughout the house. The new, dark “sexual chocolate” hue gives the home a dramatic new mood. 🙂 Oh, yeah, and the outside of the house has been painted!

Highlights:

  • All the hardwood floors have been stained (LOVE)
  • Quartz counter-tops have been installed in the kitchen (I LOVE MY ISLAND)
  • The final touches have been added to the master closet
  • Baseboard and Trim have been installed
  • The vanities are getting prepped for installation in the bathrooms
  • Exterior of the house has been painted! We pondered long and hard and finally decided on Behr “Antique Tin” for all the cedar siding. The trim color is Behr “Cracked Pepper”

So enjoy the pics!

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Building Our Castle Part 5: The Point Of No Return

Three months ago today, when we sat at the attorney’s office, hands cramped from countless signatures, we never imagined what would conspire when we purchased our dream fore-closure.

We had a construction loan in hand.

We had visions of grandeur.

We had pre-renovation delirium.

But now, 90 days into the project, we have experienced highs and lows and everything in between. The visions of grandeur have been tempered by budget constraints. We have a different kind of delirium now–when sticker shock is no longer a shock. I now assume that everything costs 3X what I thought it would cost. We laugh to keep from crying. And Tequila.

Things are moving fast now–less than 4 weeks until move in day!

Here’s a recap of what has happened since my last blog post.

  • We have windows! 22 new windows!
  • We have BEAUTIFUL new entry doors!
  • The floors have been sanded and are being stained as I type this. (For those who are interested, the stain mix is MINWAX 50% “Dark Walnut” + 50% “Ebony” = “Sexual Chocolate”)
  • The white shaker cabinets have been installed and we LOVE.
  • We chose our counter-tops from Town Granite in Madison Alabama. Ask for Ross–he’s the man! We went with Quartz in “Royal Blanc”. White on white on white.
  • And Chris got a new toy–a power-washer which has already proved very useful! (Remind me to tell you about that one time last week, when we painted our rock wall on the front of our house, and how we hated it, and how we freaked out , and how we thought surely the property value of the house had plummeted, and how the power-washer saved the day.)

ENJOY THE PICS!