Flashback Fridays!

A woman's touch, a woman's touch
The magic of Aladdin couldn't do as much
She's a wizard, she's a champ
And she doesn't need a lamp
A woman's touch can weave a spell
The kind of hocus-pocus that she does so well
With the magic of a broom
She can mesmerize a room
With a whisk-whisk here and a whisk-whisk there

I just recently watched the classic Calamity Jane movie. Love that one! And it reminded me that a womans touch can do a lot. With a little sweeping here, a little painting there (and a lot of the time a mans touch with a power tool) you can mesmerize a room!

 So yes, I think you have probably been waiting in anticipation to see the hidden pictures of the original house when we first bought it. Boy was it in bad shape and a lot of work! It is really easy to forget the grime the dirt and the green shag carpet. Until I look back at the pictures and video that we recently uncovered....and it all comes back to me.

I just have to say that Daniel and I are constantly talking about how THANKFUL we are for this amazing house God provided for us 4 years ago. Little did we know all the benefits and extra tid bits we would find after living here that long. A few things we saw and admired about the house when we were looking at buying it was the beautiful yard, the wrap around porch. The old farmhouse style, that it was built in the late 1800's so it had a lot of character (well some of that character had to be painted over :) And some of the things we found out about it after moving here was how quiet the street was, that we have great neighbors, parking is excellent with plenty of space for guests, there is a beautiful old church a block away that rings its beautiful bells every hour. It plays beautiful hymns and it could never get old. Sometimes I walk out of the house on a misty day, hear the bells and feel like I could be somewhere in Germany. I also love that we are a few blocks away from the library, the farmers market, downtown shops,  thrifts store and Daniels work. All within walking distance! God had a plan and a wonderful spot for us!

Year after year of living in our home I come to love and cherish it more and more. Its comfy and cozy and totally works for our family. With the added on deck now off the kitchen its been a perfect set up!

Now I take you back....

March 2009. We entered this house to see it for the first time (you can see a video here on youtube of the walk through)
And what did we find? 3 colors of shag carpet, dark fake wood paneling, and a kitchen that we called the John Deere kitchen with colors ranging from primary green, yellow, and red. Not to forget the turkey wallpaper. There was peeling paint and a forest scene on the back of the shower.
But Daniel and I knew that it would be a great place to stay and we could see past the cosmetic stuff and know that with a some paint, some sweat, some blood, and some tears we could get this house ship shape! And we did!

NOW I will take you on the tour:
 Since you have already seen most of my house with the tour of my redo a month ago (here) I just thought I would show you the highlights of the few rooms that we were renovated. Plus we never got real good pictures of some of the rooms. So we will stick with the all time worst the kitchen!

Before

Yes, you're eyes are seeing it right. Yellow Green, and the inside of the cabinets were bright RED!

After:

 We shall start with the downstairs renovation. Because that was first. We redid the downstairs and waited a year before we tackled the upstairs.

Just a note, we lived in the house while we were redoing. We closed off the living room as a place where we slept and the basement sink was our kitchen sink. We cook on a campfire stove top and we were basically camping for several months.

you can see a bit of the turkey wallpapering not yet torn down.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEOFRE

AFTER

all the lathe and plaster we took out. And there was plenty more loads we had to take

Adonia in her bumbo. No, we did not leave her up there. Long enough to just snap a picture on the balance beam.

 This was the bay window Daniel eventually put the window seat it.

Before: Our beautiful forest scene on the back of our shower...yuck

AFTER

                                                                             Before                                                                        

 AFTER

It was nice to finally get all the dirt and grime off our feet and clothes and to never be seen again and to acutally get to wash dishes in a real sink instead of a bucket. It was finally finished!


Now to start of our room 1 year later....
I was 7 months pregnant with Creed when this began. And we finished the upstairs I think about 1 week before I actually had him! It was definitely dirty hard work, but it was nice to finally have the space upstairs...and as you will see we uncovered some secret rooms...

.

A lot of hard dirty work

new windows

mudding the sheetrock. my brother and dad

ALMOST FINISHED!

 The kids room....

We uncovered a secret room when tearing out the walls. We decied to make it a play room

making the doorway to the first playroom

AFTER: The doorway to the playroom

laying the flooring in the playroom

Then we uncovered a 2nd space for a playroom. it was perfect because both playrooms were found in the kids room.

AFTER:

little cutie patootie. about 2 years old here

the amazing man wiring

playroom sheetrocked

the room right after we got it done. Its been rearranged since then.

I hope to inspire anyone who is looking to do any renovation. Big or small. If its repainting over an old wall color, or redoing a small peice of furniture. Its amazing how something small can add magic to a living space. You can do it!

Blessings,

Hannah

P.S Don't forget to check out my recent blog post for a chance to win the adorable book "I wanna iguana" I know a lot of you are moms, or even aunts and uncles. Would make a great gift, or a book for YOUR nightstand. :)

CHECK IT OUT HERE!!!