Our House Plans and Design

Months ago we began researching on whether or not our dream for a complete house rebuild was even an option. We started by talking to several people we know in construction and getting some feedback on options. One particular friend of ours was determined to make this whole thing happen and helped to really support and push us in the right direction. His guidance and encouragement really is what sparked us to jump all in. We are so grateful for that help.  With his guidance we found an amazing team to work with in the pre-planning stage.

 

At first we weren't sure which direction to go. Do we save part of the house? Can we? What kind of condition is our foundation in? (Our house was built in 1961). Should we just bulldoze it all down and start from complete scratch? We needed major help. 

Our first goal was to determine what we were working with as far as our foundation goes. We found an amazing Structural Engineer who came over to do an assessment and help us know our options. Like most older homes, we had some foundation issues but thankfully nothing that was not fixable and also something we could add a second story to. After talking with him we decided our best course of action was to move forward with trying to save our foundation and anything else that made sense. This would save us on total cost which is a top priority for us. Additionally, we really like the idea of using part of our old house for the new.

Next up was meeting our architect (part of the structural team) and letting him know our hopes and dreams. Honestly, I think we were both kind of surprised at this point that all of this was actually moving forward but after living somewhere for 11 years you know what you would like. 

Dreams - a second story, a front porch and a screen porch on the back (we love being outside), open floor plan downstairs with more space to entertain, a downstairs owners suite, fireplace, laundry room, upstairs loft area, a bedroom and bathroom just for Silas, an office for Justin and spare room for guests.  Oh- and a pantry! We have never had one. Our current house square footage is right under 1000 square feet. Its small but worked for us for a long time. We learned how to use every square inch well and hosted many many parties, meetings and all sorts of gatherings there. 

We thought a lot about adding extra square footage to the footprint on the main level - something doable. But honestly we just didn't see the need for it. We've lived in a small space for so long - this was going to feel huge for us. We have a small section of foundation being added at the front of the house but that was it. And with the right design - your space can really work well for you.

Literally blown away the first time I saw this!

I was honestly skeptical of what could actually be accomplished and what I had kind of pictured in my head ended up being nothing what was presented to us - and I'm so glad because they gave us something even better. We are absolutely in love with our floor plans.  Somehow they turned that little house into a beautiful thoughtful space with every single item on our wishlist. They also captured our exterior exactly the way we wanted, even though I don't think we even said what we exactly wanted, lol. I'm pretty sure I said- I like old houses and big porches. That was the only thing I gave him.

I absolutely loved the design process of this project. Our engineer and architect were amazing, listened well and delivered a beautiful product. I cannot wait to see this come together in real life. 

Once we settled on our final plans it was time to get a loan and get to work on figuring out the best way to repair our foundation. It feels like we have been in the planing stage forever but we want to get this part right. It's important our plans are done well, our foundation is correct and all of our permitting is in order. So in the meantime, I dream of our new home that's waiting to be built. 

More on the process of becoming our own General Contractors next! Some of you have already reached out and said this was something you are considering. This was a hard decision but one we are happy about! I'l try and give some info on how that works here in NC, so stay tuned! 

So much of this has been surreal. We have always been thankful for the little home God provided for us 11 years ago. To have a safe and cozy place for us to learn how to be hospitable and use what we were given well. We pray this new space will be the same. We want our home to be a place always where people feel welcomed and loved. A place for laughter and tears and for God's word to be shared and enjoyed. Good meals and gatherings, celebrations and prayer. Expectant for what comes next.

A New Begining

I started this blog 11 years ago. Silas had just been born and my life felt so different. We had bought a house that needed a lot of TLC and I was looking for a creative outlet while I adjusted to being a stay at home mom.  So this space was created as a way for me to document our new little journey as a family of 3. 

Fast forward and here I sit with another turn of seasons. We are currently in a temporary home, we started a new church a year ago, I opened a shop selling my handmade jewelry and goods and Silas is about to be a middle schooler. Sometimes I feel like I have blinked and other days it seems like the days have crept along. Life is so amazing that way.

Since we are embarking on a major home renovation I felt like this was a really great moment to open this space back up and document this crazy journey of rebuilding a house. Honestly, If I'm the only one who looks at this blog anymore I'm good with that. I want to remember this season and celebrate the good things that are currently taking place. It's a very full year for us and at times overwhelming. There are so many decisions being made daily, things are moving more slowly than expected and we are learning so much about what it takes to get through a major remodel together.

I'll be sharing more specific things about our home remodel soon. Honestly, it's hard to even know where to start. I'll begin by saying this project is not typical. It's been a slow plan, one step at a time thing for us. We have had some great, more educated people help us with the pre-planning phase. We had an amazing lender who worked through the best financing for our budget. And, we have had so many talented people in the construction world come alongside of us to get this house built. We are seriously humbled by the support and help offered our way, even in the early stages. 

Most people will think we are crazy. But I think we are used to that by now. I feel like we haven't always gone by the book in life. We love an adventure and this feels like a big one. So without any more intro: Here is a little overview of where we are right now with our house plans-

Our little old house (which we truly love so much) was really in need of some major repairs. We prayed and talked through the best approach for handling the situation. What we came to, was realizing that this was a great moment for us to go all in. We could spend a lot of money patching and repairing. Or we could just take it down to the foundation and build something that would be a good place for our family to grow in for the years to come. This is our home and we love our neighborhood - and let's face it...where are we going to find anything we can afford right now in the Triangle area?  So we began the search for someone who could design something that fits our needs, wants and budget. And wow, were we blown away at the creativity and beautiful plans they came up with!

Our architect and structural Engineer really worked with us to give us a house that used the footprint we already had really well. Everything we asked for they managed to make happen. I would strongly recommend them to anyone in the area looking at home renovations or new builds.

When we settled on the final designs we got all approved for our loan, moved out and began the demo work.

After talking with several General Contractors we came to the conclusion that we were going to do this ourselves. Justin is the GC for our house project. Crazy, we know. But also, not for us. It puts a lot of the decisions in our hands and gives us total freedom on how to do the work.  We can use our own subcontractors and choose which parts of the project to do ourselves to save money. It's taking a little bit longer to go this route but for us it's worth it. How cool is it going to be when we move in and know we did this ourselves? 

The plan for our house is to take it pretty much down to the foundation (save a few exterior walls) and build it back up. We are keeping the exact footprint - with a small extra foundation being added to the front and also adding a second floor. All of the current electric, plumbing and hvac are being removed and completely redone and the current floorpan is completely refigured. Where you see the eat in kitchen area below...that will be our laundry/mud room.  Silas' bedroom and our living room is now our Primary bedroom suite and the kitchen is being moved to where our old bedroom, laundry and spare room was. It's completely different and brand new.

So many people ask us what our timeline is....y'all I wish I had an answer. Right now we are trying to do it as quickly as we can. We have to wait for subcontractor availability, things like windows are taking a long time to get. It's all dependent on so many factors. But...we do know it will be done and it will be amazing.

We took those first few pics of us in our house right before we moved out. Literally we had boxes all over the place the other side of the camera. We saved that little space to grab our last moments together in our home. There are so many memories we will cherish. And it's also weird bc our house is still going to be our house - just different? So, it's bittersweet but exciting and all the feelings.

Below is the most current picture of the house. It's almost gutted. Justin does this in his spare time, weekends, nights, etc. In a couple of weeks we have an abatement company coming to remove our lovely asbestos we discovered and then it's go time. Foundation repairs, foundation extension, roof removal....it's going to get crazy.

Because starting a new home Reno isn't enough I also had the opportunity to start a new business and open up my own little shop in Cary. This was also a crazy whirlwind of events but it truly has been a blessing for us so far. Remodeled has evolved and become something so sweet for me. Now, it's taking on a new adventure as making a brand for itself. 

Sources (Affiliate Links): Gold Sconce Lights

Hand Painted Sign

Table is from Hobby Lobby

Jewelry Displays

Industrial Clothing Racks

My space is in the Painted Tree Boutiques in Crossroads. You can find lots of unique handmade jewelry, tees and hats designed by me and hopefully even more fun things soon.  The whole store is a beautiful way to support local small businesses. I'm so thankful for the support already given. It was kind of scary to do something new and put myself out there. It's one thing to sell on Etsy or at a weekend event..but this is more permanent. It was a major commitment and honestly a dream come true for me. I'm so glad I took the leap and went for it. When I was a kid one of my favorite things to "play" was store. I would completely redo one of the rooms in our house into my own store and make my parents come and buy things from me - haha. Am I the only one?

Something I have noticed - just from taking the time to sit and think through our current life station and write a few things down is how much more appreciative and thankful I am. It's so important to take the time to pause and be thankful. We can so easily get caught up in the daily decisions, current news events or disappointments of the day. It's so essential to stop and see what God is doing around you. If you are feeling overwhelmed I encourage you to take some time and write a few things down. To pray over the specific situations bringing you anxiety and to share your story with others. God is in the details of our life, let's not forget that.

PS- As I am opening this blog back up I have been updating some of the pages here. Our House Tour page is updated with how our house looked right before we left and what we had completed in each space. It's funny now because it's all gone - but I wanted to remember it how it was and how sweet those spaces were for us. As always, thanks fo much for taking the time to stop by and spend a moment with me. I am truly grateful! 

Home Tour: Kids Room Ideas (for boys)

I've been trying to update the blog with a more current home tour.  I've shared our living room and the kitchen and today its time for a full look at our sons room.  

I feel like I'm getting pretty close to having this space complete.  I still have a little list of things I would like to do - like paint the little bookcase by his bed and exchange out the door knobs (but don't we always have a long list of things to do in our home?)

We all love his room and we have loved having Silas help us along the way, like choosing his wall color and deciding wear he wanted to hang things.

A few things we made for his space is this little diy "couch" as Silas calls it and then also deciding to  recover it.  We also installed this little pallet for shelf.  Probably one of Silas' favorite things in his room.

I found this little alphabet decal at Target on clearance for just a couple of bucks, its been great for him as he has been excited about learning letters and letter sounds - plus it filled in the space on this open wall.

)

We added curtains (nothing fancy) but it helped make the room feel more finished, replaced his ceiling light (which I don't think I have a photo of, bad blogger), hung a few old baseball gloves, and found a little elephant for over his bed.

We also framed an animal map of NC because this kid loves to learn about animals, he takes it rather seriously.

Last week I shared our little striped door project - its such a fun addition to his space.  The star we got in Thailand from a church who hand makes them and sells them to raise money for aids care.  One of my favorite things we have.

I love all the little Silas touches in here.  Its definitely a space made for him.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Kids spaces are always fun to be in :).

Simple Pallet Board Shelf

Silas' room is becoming one of my favorites in the house.  We have been slowly adding so many elements that I love and its really starting to feel like a completed space.  His room has been transforming into a big boy room, which is fun and also a little sad at the same time.  But we are enjoying each season.

Pallets: you probably love them or can't stand them.  I'm on the love portion of that statement (of course).  I have been wanting to incorporate a pallet board in some form or another in our house for some time now and this little project ended up being the perfect fit.  I acquired this little pallet board somewhere, somehow and it made its way into Silas' room to act as a little quasi-shelf.  You can see below how its been leaning against his wall for a while and neatly organized with some of his things.  It was time to finally make this spot more permanent (and safe) for our little pallet board.

So we found a little time on a weekend and put together a quick plan to mount this thing to the wall and make it a functional part of his room.  To attach this to the wall I went and found some of the strongest wall anchors I could (pallets are super heavy).  Justin measured, drilled and anchored this monster to the wall.  Its not going anywhere now.  

To give it a little more function we also attached a little yellow hook set I found at Target.  Now Silas has a sweet little place to hang things, display his special little items and store some books.  

I love pallets because one- they are free and two - they add a little rustic touch to a room.  I didn't even bother with cutting or adding anything to the pallet.  It was functional just they way it was for me.

With it now securely mounted to the wall it feels like it actually belongs here now and its great to check one of those little projects off the list!  I have a few more things to accomplish in his room before I can say his room is completed.  For example- hang curtains, recover his little "couch" and Paint his bookcase..so we are getting close (sort of).

So do any of you have a thing for pallets?  Have any fun projects you have done?  Share with me, I'd love to know!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Restoring Shine to an Old Hardwood Floor

If you own an older home that has carpet you often wonder, could there be hardwood floors hidden underneath?  And then you think, "surely no one would cover up a hardwood floor, that seems ridiculous!" That is definitely something we wondered when we bought our house several years ago- but, we were never quite ready to discover the truth.  So we lived with carpet that I really couldn't stand for over 2 years before we even looked.  If you learn anything from me on this blog please learn to check under your carpet as soon as you move in! You never know what treasure lies beneath.

So one random day we got up the nerve to peek underneath.  One of our friends Mark was over and we were watching March Madness and for some reason we thought yes, this is this best time for this. First we pulled back a little by the vents and we could see it - it was right there the whole time.

Boy were we excited, but then a little rush of nervousness ran over us - what was the condition of the floor and were we ready to dive into that?  That feeling was a fleeting moment because we barely blinked and dove right in and started ripping out the carpet.  It's great when you really don't have a plan and you pull out carpet while moving furniture around the whole situation.  Skills.  So, below you can see the condition of the floor.  Not the best but not the worst either.  I was just exited that the floor was seamless throughout.  No weird patches or major issues.

After we got the living room carpet out we decided to pull out the rest.  Two of our bedrooms and the the little hallway is all hardwood (the kitchen, bathroom and addition of the house is not).  The biggest issue the flooring had was paint splatters.  Somewhere down the line I guess the idea of carpet sounded awesome so they haphazardly painted the rooms with no regard to the beautiful hardwood floor.  So for days I scrubbed and scrapped little paint splotches until the floor was clean.  It was pretty awful but worth it.   I'm sure you are all now wondering, why not refinish the floors?  Yes, totally something we want to do but currently our schedule just has not lended us to that.  We just haven't found a good time yet.  So, luckily for us the floor is in good enough shape to get through for a while just the way it is.  Actually the bedrooms are awesome, the only really bad room is the living room - but we are making it work.

So after the paint was all cleaned up I searched around for a good cleaning solution.  I settled on the Bona products.  I have to say, I really like them.  I used the floor cleaner and scrubbing pad that came with it first and then used the floor polish.  I just followed the directions from the bottles.  It was really easy.  Oh, and side note Target carries this product and it cost significantly less than the other large hardware stores.

Another side note, someone really like their round rug years ago.  After you apply the first coat of polish it will look super glossy (I chose the glossy finish as opposed to the satin).  It will not dry this glossy.  I ended up applying 3 coats of polish until I was satisfied with the finish.

Here is the final result...So much better right?  You have to kind of look above at the ripping out of carpet pictures to see the before but it definitely made a huge difference.

I just don't understand why someone covered this up!

If you have an older hardwood floor that you aren't ready to completely refinish yet then I would say give these products a try.  I was super surprised at how much the floors came to life after.

I'm sitting here months later looking at the floor and I can say that the shine is definitely still here.  It has really held up well.  We love, love our floors and love that we are bringing a little bit of the original part of the house back to life.  

House Tour - Updates

I wasn't really sure where to begin with so many changes and projects currently happening at our house.  So, why not start with a mini update.  If you want a quick reminder of how things looked when we moved in and how everything was, you can check out our house tour page.  I'll update that page soon, but for now here's a little glimpse of what we call home.

Can I just say that I am currently loving our living room.  Its cozy, inviting, very much us and I love being in here.  And yes, that's an original hardwood floor.  We unearthed it several months back and it was a much welcomed discovery.  I'll give a rundown post on the wood flooring situation soon.

Our living room and kitchen are completely open to each other in the front of our house.  I love the openness and its great for a small home.   

New flooring is abundant in our house, including a new tiled kitchen floor (new as in last March).  

Also if you look close you can see the trim molding that still needs to be done...all in good time.

Up close and personal with our new floor...can you tell I kind of like it?

My current favorite room to work on - Silas' room.  We've painted, pulled out carpet, replaced lights, added new artwork, etc...and my list is still pretty long on what else we want to do.  

I have let Silas help make the decisions along the way and its been a fun project for both of us.  

Hallway bath...nothing new going on in here but I still love a good white shower curtain.

This room is completely different, the once spare/guest room has been taken over by Silas and is now a playroom.  I am constantly working on the organization in this small space - constantly.

I have purged (mostly while Silas is gone, shhh don't tell him), gathered, grouped and I'm still in the process of making this all work.

Currently I have just been using what we have on hand for organization except for a few bins I grabbed at Target.  But soon I'm going to add in some much needed shelving to really give this room some greatly needed storage space.

We still love our chalkboard doors!  And, yes we do have a Disney countdown currently taking place.  We are actually a lot closer since this photo was taken so - I.cant.wait.

Our bedroom, laundry and bathroom were left off, there isn't much change in those rooms as of right now but I have so many things on my list to do in those spaces.  But now that we are all nicely acquainted again with our home we can start getting serious about the details.  Can't wait to overshare with you soon!  Thanks for stopping by today!