In August of 2022 we sold our lovely remodeled white home and bought a fixer upper, and boy do I mean fixer upper! From mold, animal urine, asbestos, ant/rat infestation you name it we had it, whew! We had construction delays, long COVID pneumonia and a new puppy to contend with. We moved into a construction zone with our puppy Lillian, needless to say she ate sheet rock several times as we had no interior doors for months. We also had no sinks but one very old, gross sink in the garage because our counters were very delayed for two months after we moved in. We had no appliances for a few weeks after we moved in as well. In spite of the exhaustion I did manage to keep my sense of humor...which kept me sane (well kinda).
We spent our anniversary covered in paint and rat poo (my husband had to go under and hook up the new tub and add new p-trap in the land of the rats under our house). We discovered shortly after that the underneath of the home had become a rotting graveyard of dead, decaying rats. They had gone through the insulation and pressed up against the floorboards to die, and the smell was horrible. A few had chewed the ducting and the smell would come in every time we used the new heating system we just had installed. An ice storm hit and we were unable to use any heat, it was 52 degrees inside the house!
We ended up having to replace the entire underneath insulation and visqueen. My husband spend every free moment under the house for about a week, then friends and contractors stepped in to help him. We hired a company to reinsulate and add new visqueen, after we cleaned the entire underneath out. We had all of the ducts cleaned and finally we could breath inside the house again, whew!
It was so very rewarding to have so many people in the neighborhood stop by and tell us how beautiful our house has turned out and even thank us for doing it! One day while I was working in the front yard ten cars stopped to compliment us on our work! We met so many people in the neighborhood, it has been a very friendly welcoming neighborhood. We are so happy now that we moved and are on one level (no more stairs yay), close to everything including family.
Without further ado here are the dramatic changes we made to the now Little White House.
Welcome in!
Here is the blue before shot of the house
After now The Little White House!
Custom black wrought iron solar/electric hybrid security gate with fleur de lis.
Custom wrought iron fleur de lis trellis with evergreen star climbing jasmie
New front door and trim moulding
New lights and custom signage
New RING security system and doorbell camera installed
Old shop and outbuildings in the back of the house
New back of house with new shed, shop & new covered parking area for boat or RV
Old back of the house...so many invasive weeds bugs and spiders!
Back of house new concrete patios poured
New concrete back patio off of the family room with new exterior door and trim
Old deck with false black widow infestation...good times, good times, NOT!
Cute little white playhouse for the grans, who love it!
Matched our house to the playhouse and it was built by the old Grandma! lol! I couldn't move the day after and cut myself multiple times...I did not miss my calling as a carpenter.
Now for the inside are you ready....be very glad this is not SMELL-a-vision...
Oh the notorious granny blue wallpaper...took a team of people 4 days to remove it and had to have the sheetrock reshot because it was adhered straight to the wall with no texture, 30 years ago!
All new closet doors and beautiful new tall farmhouse trim with Glass knobs
New custom built in laundry center with quartz counter
Old kitchen with oak cabinetry and trim low ceiling for old recessed florescent lighting
Wham, bam and thank you glammed up kitchen with new higher ceiling to match the rest of the house, new cabinet doors and drawer faces in a modern Shaker style cabinet. New huge island with Eloquence mystic white quartz counters.
What girl doesn't dream of two sinks and dishwashers?! Elkay workstation sinks for the win! Moen Weymouth faucets throughout house. Love the vintage Victorian flare with the commercial kitchen function!
Old view from the family room We removed the old peninsula bar and upper cabinets and really opened it up!
New view modern kitchen with a vintage twist. Vintage crystal chandeliers and pendant lights. Weathered white washed oak floors. LVP Pergo flooring, very durable and easy peasy to clean!
Did I mention that I L-O-V-E glass! New drawer pulls for the island were not easy to install but I love these glass cup pulls.
I am loving the grey & white reclaimed glass tile (it's like vintage milk glass and sea glass had a baby)! This kitchen is easy to clean up after family gatherings and entertaining friends because of the two dishwashers (did I mention I had to fight two men to get them, they did not see them as necessary..they obviously do not do the dishes as much as I do)! Our kitchen is now the heart of the home were we all gather and laugh, eat, pray!
Old breakfast nook off of kitchen...granny vibes fosho, the notorious blue wall paper!
After breakfast nook. Wham bam thank you glam! More crystal chandys. Built in open shelf pantry with all of my spices, goodies and teas. Custom mini play kitchen for my grans, they love it!
Old family room with old very stinky brick fireplace, in fact every room had an extremely unpleasant odor of it's own. So glad this is not smell-a-vision, ha!
New family room with updated marble tile fireplace in grey and white modern colours.
Old living room with the notorious blue wall paper no one will forget...had to redo the sheetrock after it came down.
New elegant formal dining room. So glad we took our old vintage chandys from our last place with us!
Old living room
New elegant formal dining room with beautiful crystal chandelier and ceiling medallion.
Down the hallway to the bedrooms/bathrooms. Our builder friend added an new linen closet (one of my fav things)! So grateful.
Old guest bathroom with rose pink counters...sigh. I remember the dusty rose of the 90's! 30 year old fiberglass had to go.
New bathroom with old smells gone...thank you very much! New white quartz counters, new modern cabinet, kohler sink & moen weymouth faucets. New american standard studio s skirted concealed trapway toilet.I love modern colours mixed with vintage styling.
New extra deep guest bath Kohler tub with cultured marble shower surround with moen valve and weymouth trim..really just Lillian's bathtub ;) she is one spoiled puppers.
Old guest bedroom
New grandkids playroom
Old bedroom
New Office/Art Studio
Old Master bedroom
New Master bedroom with new sliding glass door. I love all of the new trim our friend did for us around the doors and closets and everywhere throughout house.
New Master bedroom, YES! It fits our king sized bed.
New master bedroom
Old master bathroom tiny neo-angle 30 year old fiberglass very stinky shower. Entire bathroom smelled like urine very badly. Even after demo we added varnish block to the sub floor to seal out the smells. My husband when under and replaced the p-trap and drains. I used bleach on the walls before our friend primed and painted.
New master bathroom with custom cultured marble shower actually made bigger! New cabinet and white quartz counter. Kohler sink and moen weymouth faucets.
New Masterbath with toto washlet seat new american standard skirted concealed trapway toilet. My husband loves the washlet. We install them all the time for our customers, was nice for him to finally get the one he wanted. Warm seat, sanitary auto self cleaner, built in fan, remote and customizable feature. If you want a bidet seat, go with the toto brand. We have yet to have a problem with one after install.
What a whirlwind the last 18 months have been! We still have more cement work to do on the side of the house, and the back fence to replace sometime later this year....not in a hurry to do more work. Need to rest our old bodies, lol! We are very grateful for our friends, family and contractor friends that helped us tremendously with this crazy remodel and move. We could not have done it without you all! Thank you!
