Demo Done!!

Words cannot describe how happy I am with our rennovations! Yes, I feel like I have a brand new house, but it feels so much better than that! It is great to be in the same house that I feel comfortable in and turn it into something that I also LOVE the look of!
Here is the BEFORE picture, huge fireplace and support wall taking up 50 square feet.



DURING the demo process, wall is down to the studs and hole in the ceiling!



AFTER, I cannot believe how much space there is! The fresh new paint, new larger baseboards, new wood floors all look amazing!


So happy with how everything turned out!! Next stop: Operation Decoration!!

Hallmark Hallway!

I am totally obsessed with our updated hallway! We are so excited about our open living and dining room too, but this hallway has had a dramatic facelift. I apologize in advance that I dont have a complete hallway before picture! Im my defense I didnt know I would be so happy and excited about the hallway enough to do a whole blog posting about it!
Before; 1980's globe hall light fixture:




Before; 1980's parquet flooring:



And more before; carpet, chipped baseboards, and parquet:



After; new industrial light, wood floors and tall fresh painted baseboards:


Also notice paint color change and white painted doors!
1980's before:


Updated after:


I'm obsessed! It's still 1 single light but much brighter and more beautiful!

Home Stretch!

Wood floors are down, TV is up! Here's some before, during, and after pics!
Closet before:


Closet extension framing during:


Closet/TV niche dry wall during:


Closet/TV niche painted after:

 
Chair rail, new paint, hung TV complete with wireless remote receptor thingy! All TV components are inside the closet. Oh and I promise you that the TV is centered exactly equally within the niche from left to right!! This picture doesn't look that way, but you better believe that it is. I measured it about 8 times and it's exact. The vertical measurement is a little off but I could care less about that.

Before, boring old coat closet again:


And after, larger, closet TV niche combo, again:

 
Amazing!! This really makes a difference in the living room. Not only will we have more space, but it looks sooooo cool and modern!!

Also seen in this after photo you get a sneak peek of the new floors here in the after shot. More to come on that later!
- Swiss Avenue

Straws and Jars!

I am so happy how my mason jars and straws turned out! These are the wedding favors!!
They have tiny kissing buffalo and our initials and wedding date!



- Swiss Avenue

Without a Trace!

Any sort of trace or hint of a fireplace and a wall are completely gone now!
See here before with wall and massive fireplace:


The progress of taking out the fireplace and wall to the studs:


And now, nothing left, still in progress though, with an addition of a new support beam:


I cannot wait to get paint on the walls and trim!!!!

In The Closet!

Again, here are some more before and after pictures of the closet reno. This is the before shot of our coat closet looking at it from the center of the living room:



And here is the same look of that closet in progress of adding a pantry and TV niche to it:



So the existing closet remains but gets opened up on the other side to create a pantry. A new coat/TV component closet gets built out into the wasted space of the foyer:



And here is a shot of the dry wall completed closet/ TV niche:



Also here is a shot from the hallway of my new pantry!! I don't even know what I'm gonna do with all that storage space:



We have been kicked out of the house since Sunday! They are painting all the trim and doors and walls! Can't wait to see it this weekend!

Demo Derby 3!

Last night we came home to this:
A new built in TV niche and a new closet!!


So this is before:



And... This is after:


On the right is the exisiting closet that's now opened on the other side to form a shelved pantry. I can't wait for all the extra storage!! The framed out left side is the new coat closet. It will be basically the same size that it was. The center outside cut out is what will house the flat screen. Inside the coat closet will be all the tv components. We are getting a wireless remote thingy. I hope all renovations will move this fast!